Previous: Submit Your Plan | Adopt a PDS-compliant system (if applicable)
Onboarding Overview
Providers will be assisted with all of the steps below through your PDS Plan in the PDS Service Desk. Your client management system vendor, as well as data champions, will also play an important role in procurement and implementation.
(1) Understand the MHA PDS, (2) Submit your plan, (3) Adopt a PDS-compliant system (if applicable), (4) Begin onboarding to the MHA PDS, (5) Begin submitting & accessing reports.
Onboarding Checklist
This document is intended as a quick reference for health service providers currently onboarding to the MHA PDS.
What does it mean to "onboard" to the MHA PDS?
The MHA PDS is a set of data collected by service providers and submitted to the Ontario Health. Onboarding to the MHA PDS means that service providers at your organization have begun collecting the MHA PDS data elements within your PDS-compliant client management system, and your vendor has connected your client management system to the Ontario Health MHA PDS repository to begin ongoing submission.
What is a PDS-compliant system?
Software vendors have partnered with Ontario Health to submit data directly from their customers' client management systems (CMS) to the MHA PDS repository. Compliant systems have been built to capture all necessary MHA PDS data elements within the front-end screens/workflows service providers use to manage their clients (registration/intake, service delivery, discharge, etc.), as well automatically submit MHA PDS data to Ontario Health in the required format.
There are currently four PDS-compliant systems available to service providers: CaseWORKS (VitalHub), CRMS, EMHware, and TREAT (VitalHub).
How do I begin collecting the MHA PDS?
If you are not already using a PDS-compliant system, please read more information on client management system migrations here.
If you are already using a PDS-compliant system, begin by understanding the data elements within the MHA PDS. Then, reach out to your vendor to initiate the process of adding these data elements to your CMS screens and workflows. Your vendor should provide materials and training. When your organization is ready, add the MHA PDS data elements to your live CMS environment and allow service providers to begin collecting the data.
This process may take some time.
How to I begin submitting the MHA PDS to Ontario Health?
The high-level steps for this process include:
- Make a MHA PDS Plan
- Complete the Client Information Form
- Sign off on legal agreements
- Wait for Ontario Health to configure the connection between your CMS and the MHA PDS repository
- Perform validation test
- Enable the connection to allow ongoing submission (go live)
Many of these steps are facilitated by your CMS vendor. Service providers may begin collecting the MHA PDS before all the submission-related steps are completed.
What is the "validation test"?
Before your organization begins submitting the MHA PDS on an ongoing basis, your vendor must test connection between your system and the Ontario Health MHA PDS repository. This test is performed on your production/live system and involves enabling the connection to Ontario Health for around 2 hours. None of the data submitted during this test is used for analysis or decision-making.
This is not a test of your organization's "data quality." Rather, this test ensures your vendor and Ontario Health have correctly configured the connection between respective systems, and tests that your vendor has configured the submission format of the MHA PDS correctly.
What happens after I begin submitting the MHA PDS?
The first 3 months (or more if necessary) of your submission is considered stabilization period; your data will not be used for analysis or decision-making. Rather, Ontario Health, DATIS and your organization can assess and resolve any potential data quality issues that may arise during this preliminary submission period.
After you begin submitting, your organization will be given access to MHA PDS Provider Reports through an Ontario Health reporting portal. DATIS will check in with all submitting service providers 3 months after they go live to introduce the portal, reports and discuss preliminary data quality.
Previous: Submit Your Plan | Adopt a PDS-compliant system (if applicable)
