Ontario's AIMS requirement, and a module that costs nothing
Every Ontario pharmacy needs an incident management platform by January 1, 2027.
What the College requiresShow less
The Ontario College of Pharmacists' AIMS Program changes take effect on January 1, 2027: by that date all pharmacies must have selected and onboarded to their chosen medication incident reporting platform. Pharmacies choose their own platform, provided it can contribute to ISMP Canada's National Incident Data Repository, and the College covers the cost of submitting that data. The supplemental Standard of Practice takes effect the same day, adding unique logins for registered staff at their primary practice site, a safety self-assessment every two years, and quarterly continuous-quality-improvement meetings. After choosing a platform, the Designated Manager signs ISMP Canada's Data Sharing Agreement naming it.
AIMS medication-incident module — in development for the January 1, 2027 requirement.
NarcCount is building a full AIMS incident-management module: incident and near-miss recording, causal-factor analysis, CQI plans and quarterly meeting records, safety self-assessment tracking, and daily de-identified submission to ISMP Canada's National Incident Data Repository.
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.
Source: OCP — Timelines for changes to the AIMS Program (last updated November 3, 2025) — read 2026-09-06.
The AIMS module is free. Not free for a year — free.
What NarcCount sells is narcotic and controlled-substance reconciliation: importing your purchase, dispensing and destruction records, computing expected on-hand, and producing the count documentation an inspector asks for. It is an optional paid subscription. A pharmacy that only uses the AIMS module never pays us anything.
What is included, and why it is freeShow less
NarcCount's AIMS module is free, with no end date, no per-user fee and no card at sign-up. There is 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 all free.
We would rather be the platform your team already has an account on when you come to look at narcotic reconciliation. That is the only commercial reason.
Try the fifteen fields right now
A worksheet with all fifteen mandatory fields, to print or paste into your pharmacy’s platform. Nothing you type leaves your browser. It is not a reporting platform: it records nothing and submits nothing to the National Incident Data Repository.
Four things a pharmacy has to be able to do
Report, Document, Analyze, Share. The quoted lines are the College’s wording; the rest is what NarcCount does.
Report
Anonymously record medication incidents and near misses soon after they occur into a medication incident reporting platform that (a) complies with OCP's criteria for reporting platforms and (b) contributes data to ISMP's National Incident Data Repository to support shared learning and to help identify systemic issues.
One screen, sixteen questions, and an anonymous submission that carries no identity at all: nothing a platform administrator could look up later.
Document
Document required and relevant details of medication incidents and near misses in a timely manner. Document CQI plans, outcomes of staff communications about medication events, and subsequent quality improvement initiatives or changes implemented.
All fifteen of the College's mandatory fields are captured, and the CQI side records the plan, who owns it, when it is due and how the outcome will be measured.
Analyze
Analyze incidents and near misses for causal factors soon after they occur and implement appropriate steps to minimize the likelihood of recurrence. Analyze individual and aggregate data to inform quality improvement initiatives. Develop CQI plans and measure the outcomes of changes implemented. Complete a safety self-assessment every two years.
Causal-factor analysis sits on the review screen, so the report stays anonymous while the analysis is attributed. The analysis page shows where errors happen and which factors recur, and the self-assessment record tracks the two-year cadence.
Share
Communicate relevant details of a medication incident or near miss promptly to all pharmacy staff, including causal factors and actions taken. Schedule CQI meetings with pharmacy staff at least once every quarter. Share successful interventions, changes, or best practices that have helped reduce risk.
The quarterly meeting record captures attendance, decisions, and the date and method the outcomes were shared with staff.
Source: OCP — Supplemental Standard of Practice: Mandatory Standardized AIMS Program in Ontario Pharmacies (approved December 8, 2025) — read 2026-09-08.
The requirements in full, including the fifteen mandatory fields →
Built to be used at 6pm on a busy Friday
Under-reporting is what this program exists to prevent, so the reporting form got the design effort.
One screen, 16 questions
The College mandates 15 data fields. NarcCount asks 16 questions on one screen, most answered with a tap. One field, contributing factors, is analysis, so it sits on the reviewer's screen.
Anonymous means anonymous
An anonymous report carries no identity at all, so nobody can look it up afterwards: not a manager, not an administrator, not us.
No patient identifiers, by design
There is no field for a patient's name, address, phone, email or date of birth. Age band and gender are two taps. Free text is checked for identifiers as it is typed.
The CQI half, not just the form
Quarterly meeting records with attendance, decisions and how they were shared with staff. Corrective and preventative actions with an owner, due date and outcome measure. Self-assessment reminders.
Unique logins for your whole team
Invited by email, with no per-user fee, so nobody has a reason to share a login.
Your records, exportable
Print a single incident, or export the register to CSV.
The same login also reconciles your narcotics
Narcotic and controlled-substance reconciliation is the paid product: import your purchase, dispensing and destruction records, get variances flagged, and print the count documentation an inspector asks for. Ontario expects a reconciliation at least every six months.
Same account, team and audit trail as the AIMS module, which works the same if you never buy it.
Start with the checklist
The College’s checklist for Designated Managers has 9 items, each with a deadline. Here it is in full, with what NarcCount does for each, including where it does nothing.
Already have a NarcCount account? Sign in and open the AIMS module →
NarcCount supports your AIMS obligations; it does not replace your professional judgment or your pharmacy’s regulatory responsibilities. The requirement described on this page is the Ontario College of Pharmacists — AIMS Program changes, and every quotation links to the document it came from.