NACRS (National Ambulatory Care Reporting System) Clinic Lite is a low-cost, low-burden data collection and reporting option for Canadian ambulatory clinics. It reduces the requirement for clinics to perform manual data capture and retrospective coding, which makes data submission easier and faster.
NACRS Clinic Lite (Submission Level 0) data is available in the Portal NACRS project.
NACRS Clinic Lite captures 17 mandatory data elements that provide key information on
- Who the patient is and where the patient is from
- What brought the patient to the clinic and what was done
- Who provided the service, and when and where
- When the patient left and where the patient went
This information can be used to
- Measure key elements and variables of ambulatory care, which can improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of service
- Analyze patient-level data for planning and evaluation of ambulatory care services equity, access, adherence to policies, and sustainability
NACRS Clinic Lite is easy to implement and is customizable to meet the needs of a variety of outpatient and community clinics. Data can be sourced in an automated manner from existing electronic systems, which means there is little or no need for training.
The tool is an effective way to obtain information about equity, efficacy, access and sustainability pertaining to ambulatory care. It allows users to view their clinic’s data for timely performance monitoring and comparisons with peers who submit information to NACRS.
Health care organizations, health authorities and ministries of health can use information from NACRS Clinic Lite to transform the cost and delivery of care, which can result in improved access, quality and outcomes.
Contact CIHI for more information about Clinic Lite data.