Timelines for Changes to the AIMS Program
November 3, 2025To support pharmacies in planning for upcoming changes to the AIMS Program, including the selection of a medication safety reporting platform of their choice, the College is sharing a timeline of actions that need to take place prior to implementation in January 2027.
AIMS is an important program that helps keep patients safe. The consistent and mandatory standard for medication safety for all pharmacies in the province enables continuous quality improvements and shared learnings to reduce the risk of medication incidents and prevent patient harm. The overall changes to the AIMS Program are designed to promote ongoing engagement and utilization of the program that best achieves the goal of reducing the risk of harm associated with preventable medication incidents in pharmacies.
The OCP Board has approved a change to the AIMS Program to give pharmacies flexibility and autonomy to select their own medication incident reporting platform that can contribute to the National Incident Data Repository (NIDR) for Community Pharmacies and meet criteria outlined by the College. Pharmacies will be responsible for covering the costs of their chosen reporting platform, while the College will cover the cost to submit data to the NIDR.
Additionally, at the September 2025 meeting, the Board directed a public consultation on additional proposed changes to the AIMS Program that include updating the supplemental Standard of Practice and adapting the NAPRA Model Standards of Practice for Continuous Quality Improvement and Medication Incident Reporting by Pharmacy Professionals. Feedback from the consultation will be shared with the Board in December 2025 prior to any final decisions being made.
The following timeline outlines the actions pharmacies are required to take prior to January 2027:
As of now:
- Newly accredited pharmacies are no longer required to onboard with the Pharmapod platform.
- Existing pharmacies should continue using the Pharmapod platform until December 31, 2025.
As of December 31, 2025:
- Pharmacies have the flexibility to choose their own medication incident reporting platform in accordance with program requirements
- Pharmacies that do not choose to enroll with the Pharmapod platform will no longer have access to the platform, including no ongoing access to the pharmacy’s historical data contained in the platform.
- Pharmacies that wish to retain their pharmacy’s historical data recorded in the Pharmapod platform can follow the instructions here to download a copy of their data: How to Download Your Pharmacy’s Historical Data from the Pharmapod Platform.
- We strongly recommend that this process is completed as soon as possible or by December 15 at the latest to allow for adequate time to access your reports ahead of the December 31 deadline.
During 2026:
- Pharmacies that have decided to choose a new platform should review medication incident reporting solutions that meet the College’s criteria and sign up with the platform of their choice.
- Pharmacies are still expected to meet the requirements of the AIMS Program, including recording, documenting, analyzing, and sharing learnings about the incident. If a pharmacy has not yet made a decision on which medication incident reporting platform they will use, then it must record medication incidents locally until such time that it has begun to use a chosen platform that meets program requirements. A template form will be made available on the OCP website as an option for pharmacies to record medication incidents.
As of January 1, 2027:
- All pharmacies must have selected and onboarded to their chosen medication incident reporting platform.
For more information about these upcoming changes, please visit the Changes to the Assurance and Improvement in Medication Safety (AIMS) Program webpage. Any questions may also be emailed to [email protected].