Ottawa, ON — The Digital Governance Standards Institute (DGSI) is pleased to announce the beginning of work on a new National Standard of Canada, CAN/DGSI 143 Elder Living Open Architecture (ELOA): Interoperability Specifications for Senior Living Operational Technology.
The standard will establish interoperability specifications for technology systems used in senior living operational environments, including retirement communities, assisted living communities, and long-term care homes. It is intended to support more consistent and reliable data exchange across systems used throughout the resident lifecycle, from initial inquiry and admission through residency and discharge.
Senior living operators increasingly rely on a wide range of operational technologies, including customer relationship management systems, waitlist and occupancy management platforms, activities and wellness programming tools, dining services, maintenance and work order systems, family communication platforms, visitor management, access control, IoT sensor integration, staff scheduling interfaces, and operational analytics. However, many of these systems operate in isolation or depend on costly proprietary integrations.
CAN/DGSI 143 is being developed to address this gap by defining minimum requirements for data models, message exchange patterns, event definitions, and conformance criteria that allow systems to exchange resident, operational, and administrative data more effectively. The proposed standard is technology-architecture neutral and is intended to complement, not replace, existing clinical frameworks such as HL7 FHIR and interRAI.
By supporting interoperability in senior living operational technology, CAN/DGSI 143 aims to help reduce data silos, improve operational efficiency, support better coordination across services, and strengthen the technology foundation needed for innovation in senior care environments.
The DGSI is inviting interested stakeholders to come forward and participate in the Technical Committee responsible for developing CAN/DGSI 143. Participation is encouraged from senior living operators, technology vendors, resident and family representatives, industry associations, government and regulatory representatives, technical experts, and other interested parties with relevant knowledge or experience.
If interested in participating, please contact:
Darryl Kingston
Executive Director
darryl.kingston@dgc-cgn.org
You can also consult the standard’s current page at CAN/DGSI 143.
About the Digital Governance Standards Institute
The Digital Governance Standards Institute develops digital technology governance standards fit for global use. The Institute works with experts, as well as national and global partners and the public to develop national standards that reduce risk to Canadians and Canadian organizations adopting and using innovative digital technologies in today’s digital economy. The Institute is an independent division of the Digital Governance Council. To learn more about the organization and its initiatives, visit www.dgc-cgn.org or contact info@dgc-cgn.org.