Management Information System Standards
New MIS Standards for 2025 available!
AVÐÇÇò regularly works with members of the health care community to review and revise the MIS Standards to enhance the information available for health system decision-makers.
Reporting-related changes include the areas of:
- Community clinics/programs and community day/night care expanded reporting options
- Health human resources enhanced reporting
- Mental health and substance use changes to reporting for community services
- Purchased services (agency costs) additional reporting options
- Secondary financial account expansion
- Stepdown units new reporting options
- Transplantation services reporting changes
- Undistributed account expanded reporting options
- Virtual hospital reporting
- Workload measurement system changes to reporting for service activities and workload reporting for students
The summary of 2025 changes contains key information for health care organizations for implementation.
The Standards for Management Information Systems in Canadian Health Service Organizations (MIS Standards) is a set of national standards for gathering and processing data and for reporting financial and statistical data on the day-to-day operations of a health service organization. It provides a framework for integrating clinical, financial and statistical data.
The MIS Standards includes
- Chart of accounts
- Accounting principles and procedures, and use of information
- Workload measurement systems
- Glossary of terms
- 2025 changes
Benefits of the MIS Standards
This national standard helps to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Canada’s health service organizations across the continuum of care. Ministries or departments of health report detailed financial and statistical data, generated with the MIS Standards, to AVÐÇÇò’s Canadian MIS Database (CMDB).
The MIS Standards also provides the standard for reporting data to the Canadian Patient Cost Database (CPCD). Some health service organizations report to both the CMDB and CPCD by submitting organization-level costs to the CMDB and patient-level costs to the CPCD. Data collected and reported based on the MIS Standards facilitates
- Accountability reporting by managers for resource use
- Development of budgets based on meaningful workload and activity projections
- More precise resource allocation
- More informed management decisions
- Comparison of costs and services provided
How does AVÐÇÇò use information submitted to the CMDB and CPCD?
The Financial Standards and Information (FSI) team uses data submitted to produce reports and products on the effectiveness and efficiency of Canada’s health care systems.
AVÐÇÇò’s use of CMDB and CPCD data
| Report or product | Description |
|---|---|
| Health workforce: Data tables | These Quick Stats reports contain data on the supply, workforce, inflow/outflow and provincial and territorial trends of Canada’s health workforce. |
| Cost of a Standard Hospital Stay (CSHS) | This indicator measures the relative cost-efficiency of a hospital’s ability to provide acute inpatient care. |
| Patient Cost Estimator | This interactive tool estimates the average cost of various services provided in hospitals. |
| Corporate Services Expense Ratio (CSER) | This indicator measures the percentage of an organization’s total expenses that were spent in administrative departments such as finance and human resources. |
| Hospital spending | This report looks at hospital expenditures, including a breakdown of the share of hours worked by staff in acute inpatient units, emergency services and long-term care units in hospitals. |
FSI also uses submitted data to generate rates that provinces and territories use for reimbursement of services. This occurs when patients receive treatment outside of their home province or territory. An indicator similar to the CSHS is under development to determine the cost of a day in long-term care for residents.
How to obtain the MIS Standards
Core Plan subscribers can obtain the MIS Standards 2025 at no cost. To find out whether your organization has already downloaded the MIS Standards or is a Core Plan subscriber, please email help@cihi.ca.
The MIS Standards is also available for purchase. Vendors who wish to purchase the MIS Standards must complete a licensing agreement.
The MIS Standards is published in PDF and Excel formats.
How to learn more about the MIS Standards
AVÐÇÇò offers self-directed online learning and web conferences (recorded and live) related to the MIS Standards. Please visit .
For more information, please contact us at fsi@cihi.ca.
If you would like AVÐÇÇò information in a different format, visit our Accessibility page.