AIMS, answered straight

Does every Ontario pharmacy really need a medication incident reporting platform?

Yes. Under the College's AIMS Program changes, all pharmacies must have selected and onboarded to a medication incident reporting platform by the effective date. Pharmacies choose their own platform, provided it can contribute to ISMP Canada's National Incident Data Repository and meets the College's published criteria.

Which dates actually matter?

Two. The platform, the unique staff logins and the supplemental Standard of Practice all take effect on the January date. The first quarterly CQI meeting has to have happened by the April date, three months later, which is the one most vendor pages leave out.

Is NarcCount's AIMS module really free?

Yes, and with no end date. There is no per-user fee, no card at sign-up, and no cut-down free tier: anonymous reporting, the incident register, causal-factor analysis, CQI meetings and actions, safety self-assessment tracking and unique staff logins are the whole module, and the whole module is what is free.

What is the catch?

That we would rather be the software your team already has an account on when you come to look at narcotic reconciliation, which is the product we do charge for. That is the entire commercial reason. A pharmacy that only ever uses the AIMS module never pays us anything, and nothing in the module is withheld to make you buy the other one.

Can NarcCount send my incidents to the repository today?

No — and this is the one place a pharmacy should read any vendor's page carefully. NarcCount is not yet able to submit data to the NIDR. Submission requires a Data Submission Protocol Agreement with ISMP Canada and successful API testing, neither of which is complete. Until then, NarcCount cannot be used to meet the NIDR submission requirement of OCP's AIMS Program. The Ontario College of Pharmacists does not approve or endorse incident management platforms.

So do I wait for NarcCount, or onboard somewhere else?

Neither, exactly. Keep whatever platform you need in order to meet the submission requirement, and use NarcCount for the recording, the CQI meetings and the self-assessment tracking, which costs nothing and commits you to nothing. It does not have to be an either/or decision taken before anybody has confirmed anything in writing. NarcCount is not yet able to submit data to the NIDR. Submission requires a Data Submission Protocol Agreement with ISMP Canada and successful API testing, neither of which is complete. Until then, NarcCount cannot be used to meet the NIDR submission requirement of OCP's AIMS Program. The Ontario College of Pharmacists does not approve or endorse incident management platforms.

Do I still have to sign a data sharing agreement with ISMP Canada?

Yes. Every Ontario pharmacy enters into a data sharing agreement with ISMP Canada regardless of which platform it selects. No vendor signs it for you, and a vendor implying otherwise is describing something it cannot do.

Does the platform have to include a safety self-assessment tool?

No, but the pharmacy must have access to a validated one, and where the platform does not include it the pharmacy is required to subscribe to one. The nationally accepted tools are ISMP Canada's Medication Safety Self-Assessment (MSSA) and Think Research's Pharmacy Safety Self-Assessment (PSSA). NarcCount tracks yours and reminds you when the next one is due; it does not provide one, and a platform is not permitted to validate its own.

Do relief and occasional pharmacists need their own login?

No. The unique-login requirement covers registered pharmacists and pharmacy technicians whose primary place of practice is your pharmacy. Relief and occasional staff are exempt, and access for other pharmacy staff is at the Designated Manager's discretion.

Is NarcCount on the College's recognized list of platforms?

No. That list names platforms which have completed testing for data submission to the repository and have an executed agreement with ISMP Canada, and NarcCount has done neither. The College also states that it does not approve or endorse specific platforms, and that responsibility for confirming a platform meets the criteria rests with the pharmacy. NarcCount is not yet able to submit data to the NIDR. Submission requires a Data Submission Protocol Agreement with ISMP Canada and successful API testing, neither of which is complete. Until then, NarcCount cannot be used to meet the NIDR submission requirement of OCP's AIMS Program. The Ontario College of Pharmacists does not approve or endorse incident management platforms.

Can my technicians report anonymously?

Yes, and anonymously means anonymously. An anonymous report is written through a session carrying no identity at all, so there is no reporter to look up afterwards — not by the Designated Manager, not by a platform administrator, not by us. It is a property of how the record is written rather than a policy we promise to keep. What management does about a report is fully attributed, by contrast: the Standard protects the reporter, not the reviewer.

What patient information does NarcCount store?

None that identifies anybody. There is no field for a patient's name, address, phone number, email or date of birth, because none exists in the schema — the College asks for an age range and a gender, and those are what the form asks for. Free text is checked for identifiers as it is typed.

How often do CQI meetings have to happen, and what has to be recorded?

At least once every quarter. Keep a record of the meetings held and who attended; the Standard also requires that the outcomes of staff communications about medication events are documented, which is the half most pharmacies cannot evidence at an assessment. NarcCount records the date, the attendees, the decisions, and when and how the outcomes were shared with staff.

If I use the free module and later want to leave, can I take my records?

Yes. Export the incident register to CSV at any time, and print any single incident as a report. Nothing about the free module holds your own history hostage.

Do I have to buy the narcotic reconciliation product to use the AIMS module?

No. They share one login and one audit trail and are otherwise independent. A pharmacy with no subscription can record incidents, run CQI meetings, track its self-assessment and invite its whole team, indefinitely.

A question that is not here? Ask it — contact us. The dates on this page are the College’s: January 1, 2027 for the platform and the Standard, April 1, 2027 for the first CQI meeting.