Business rules
The business rules are formally stated constraints governing the characteristics of data. These constraints may be used to validate data and support consistent, semantically interoperable, high-quality point of care data capture and sharing by health systems across Canada.
The business rules are formally stated constraints governing the characteristics of data. These constraints operationalize the Semantic Common Data Model of the Pan-Canadian Health Data Content Framework by supporting its structure and ensuring consistent implementation, validation and use of data to facilitate semantically interoperable, high-quality point-of-care data capture and sharing across health systems in Canada.
For business rules associated with a semantic common data model, the audiences typically span both business and technical collaborators and can include Digital health solution vendors and product developers, health system implementers and system integrators, data architects and information architects, standards and interoperability specialists, quality assurance and testing teams, Clinical informaticists and domain experts, health care organizations and program leaders, Policy and standards development organizations, researchers and analytics teams among others.
Business rules should be applied when designing, implementing, validating and maintaining digital health solutions that create, store, exchange or consume data. Each rule describes a specific constraint or requirement that supports the structure and intended meaning of the Semantic Common Data Model. Users should review the applicable business rules to understand what data elements are required, permitted, or restricted, and how relationships between data elements must be represented. Business rules can be used to guide data capture, assess data quality, validate conformance to the framework, and support consistent interpretation and exchange of information across systems and jurisdictions.
Each business rule table contains the following headings:
Rule#: identifies the unique number assigned to each rule
Rule description: Provides a narrative for each rule
Use Cases Impacted: List the use cases impacted by the specified rule
Refer to the Release Notes tab in the business rules Excel workbook for a detailed summary of the changes made to the business rules.
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How to cite:
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Business rules. Accessed November 02, 2026.
