eHealth

Ontario started planning for electronic health records in the late 1990’s but there was no single body responsible for getting the job done.

That’s why e-health was created.

We know that in order to offer Ontarians the best possible care, we need to modernize our health care system by investing in electronic health.

But building an electronic health system is an enormous undertaking. It’s an initiative that takes years and requires an unprecedented level of coordination. Today, there are millions of electronic records throughout the province – but they’re not as portable as they need to be. For example, a doctor in a hospital can’t necessarily access the health records stored at a patient’s doctor’s office.

But we know this is important. And that’s why we have eHealth. It’s beginning to link systems together to give a comprehensive and accurate electronic health record for every Ontarian -- so they can get quality care as quickly as possible and save the system millions of dollars at the same time. That’s why an integrated electronic health system is so important.

And the people on the ground – the doctors, the nurses, the surgeons – agree with us. They tell us that electronic health is going to help us drive down wait times, reduce duplication and unnecessary tests, and put a stop to many avoidable prescription drug errors. It’s going to lead to safer, faster, more dependable health care that will ensure we can get better value for the health care dollars we spend in Ontario.

That kind of reform is important, which is why we’re plowing ahead to ensure that all Ontarians have access to an electronic health record by 2015. That’s where we’re going.

There’s no doubt, there have been bumps along the road. We learned from our mistakes and took immediate steps to change the rules so that what happened at eHealth can’t happen again – there, or anywhere else in government.

And we’re not letting these setbacks slow us down. eHealth has turned the corner and we’re excited about the future.

Electronic Medical Records

More than 7,000 doctors, who care for 6.5 million Ontarians, are using electronic medical records. To put that in context, six years ago only 770,000 Ontarians had access to electronic medical records. That’s an 800 per cent increase in just six years.

By 2015, all Ontarians are slated to benefit from an electronic health record.

Already, almost 2 million children have an electronic health record that gives doctors and nurses across the province access to a child’s hospital-based health information.

Replacing paper with electronic records means fewer errors and more time spent on patient care, and easier clinical data analysis. Physicians, hospitals, specialists and providers in the circle of care can share information securely, quickly and easily.

Using Digital Images to Diagnose

For the first time in Ontario’s history, all x-rays and MRI results produced in a hospital — in every part of Ontario — are digital. That means one doctor can share test results with another in real time.

It’s like switching from a Polaroid camera to a digital one – you can share the image with more than one person living in more than one place.

It means we don’t have to physically transfer images, which speeds the process up and means patients can receive a diagnosis sooner.

It also means doctors can avoid ordering duplicate tests, which reduces radiation exposure for the patient and frees up health care dollars that we can spend on tests for other patients.

This ensures patients can get results and treatment more quickly, and can help reduce wait times for an important surgery.

Preventing Adverse Drug Reactions

When doctors know which drugs a patient is using, they can prevent adverse drug interactions. Sometimes, when a senior arrives at an emergency department, it can be difficult to make sure that doctors have a full picture of all the drugs that senior is currently taking.

Now, having access to a database known as the Drug Profile Viewer helps ensure that doctors can view a senior’s drug history and make the right decision about any further prescriptions. The viewer helps doctors and nurses identify potential negative drug reactions, which saves lives and ensures they can treat seniors with confidence.

The viewer displays medication histories in emergency departments, in-patient units, hospital wards and clinics and in-patient pharmacies for the 2.6 million patients who are Ontario Drug Benefit recipients.

Using Digital Images To Avoid Transferring Patients

In Ontario, we have 13 neurosurgery centres which provide excellent, specialized care to patients with severe head injuries from all over the province.

Before we created the Emergency Neurosurgery Image Transfer System, a patient who had a serious head injury but didn’t live near one of these 13 centres would have to travel – sometimes great distances – for specialized care.

Transferring a patient with a major head injury can be very dangerous for the patient and very costly for the system – a single transfer can cost as much as $25,000.

With the creation of our new transfer system, we are ensuring that patients can avoid unnecessary transfers. Neurologists at any one of the neurosurgery centres can now examine scans 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The neurologist can recommend an immediate treatment procedure and decide whether a patient with head trauma needs to be transferred to another facility to receive serious and immediate care.

Since January 2009, ENITS has helped 2,400 patients avoid transferring to another hospital and saved more than $50 million. That’s just by ensuring anyone who gets a brain injury anywhere of the province can benefit from instant electronic access to a specialist.

All 100 acute care hospitals across the province are now using this transfer system.

Did you know? 
Prior to ENITS all head trauma cases were transferred either to the USA (38%) or to a neurosurgical centre within the province (62%).

Bringing Existing Systems Together

Having an electronic medical record is a good start. But to ensure our records are working to their full potential, we need to make sure we can share them and integrate them with all the other systems we have throughout the province.

Work is underway to ensure health care providers will be able to share electronic health information they currently have for Greater Toronto Area residents.

The ConnectingGTA project will allow 700 service providers to securely share patient health information across the five GTA Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).

Patients will receive better, faster and more coordinated health care from their providers - and providers will be able to share information more effectively. It will also reduce duplicate tests on patients which will save time and money.

The first phase of ConnectingGTA will be completed in 2013. Similar systems will be rolled out in regions across the province – and eventually connected together by 2015.

Did you know?
Margaret Mottershead, CEO, Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres, says that “Connecting GTA and future information sharing hubs, is one of the most significant initiatives in advancing quality of care, across the continuum of care, undertaken in this province to date.”

We’re going to keep driving ahead to deliver electronic health to Ontarians because we know that electronic health records are the key to the future of health care.

Electronic health records will help us drive down wait times, reduce duplication and unnecessary tests, and put a stop to avoidable prescription drug errors. Ultimately, they will save lives, improve care and save significant amounts of money.