Grant: Foundation Grant

The World Health Organization (WHO) routinely collects global information on causes of death and diseases/conditions using a system called the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Since its original release in 1893, ICD has evolved to become the standard by which global, national, and local health information systems and databases support population health and healthcare performance monitoring. These, in turn, facilitate surveillance, healthcare planning and research. To support advancement of medical science in disease specification and new conditions, the WHO regularly updates the ICD. It is currently preparing the 11th version (ICD-11; released June 2018, implementation planned for 2023/24), which will track 40,000 additional clinical concepts over ICD-10 (1989) and integrate new features such as richer descriptions of diseases/conditions, the tracking of disease severity and progression, and disease clustering. This new version is poised to catalyze the advancement of health and medical sciences, the identification of optimal clinical care pathways, and evidence-based decision-making. Research is required to explore and understand the extensive ICD-11 adoption challenges faced by healthcare systems worldwide, and to develop the methods, technologies and approaches needed to overcome these challenges. This is the goal of the proposed research program. Dr. Hude Quan is the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre in Classification, Terminology and Standards at the University of Calgary and a world leader in ICD health data science and methodology. CIHR funding will enable global ICD-11 preparedness and adoption, and advance Canadian and global health information research and practice. Thomson Reuters has identified him as one of the world's most highly cited researchers. Collaborators include the WHO, Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information.