New technology to streamline the transfer of patient information in Southwestern Ontario has taken a big step forward.
Beginning Aug. 16, four area hospitals and a number of long-term care homes within Erie St. Clair connected to a state-of-the-art health information exchange system designed to allow for the seamless sharing of up-to-date patient records.
Along with the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, Windsor Regional Hospital, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and Erie Shores Healthcare are joining the Ontario eHub Health Information Exchange. As well, a total of 28 LTC homes within the Erie St. Clair region will join 29 London-based LTC homes and 12 London-area hospitals with the system that provides health-care workers with instant access to information. It allows care providers to start patient care right away by eliminating the need to wait for the patient’s history, as well as removing the need for unnecessary tests or delays.
According to a recent media release from TransForm Shared Services Organization, the patient information project utilizes the hospitals’ instance of the Oracle (Cerner) Health Information System (HIS). By the end of 2024, the goal is to connect all 63 hospitals across Ontario, using the Oracle system, with LTC facilities in various regions using PointClickCare for electronic health records.
The flagship initiative – dubbed Project AMPLIFI – was created in part in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which highlighted a need to strengthen health-care integration.
Project AMPLIFI program director Andriana Lukich said the “two-way exchange” of patient health information provides improved visibility into the patient’s or resident’s clinical condition upon admission to a health-care facility.
“Through the completion of discrete data reconciliation, clinicians at both the hospital and long-term care home will spend less time manually entering clinical information from paper, reducing transcription errors,” Lukich said. “Patients are expected to experience higher quality of care and a reduced need to re-share their story and clinical history repeatedly across care settings.”
CKHA president and CEO Lori Marshall said the system will save time and benefit patients.
“Ensuring our patients and those who care for them can exchange accurate health information quickly and efficiently, particularly those from long-term care homes who may have cognitive issues, is an important step forward in providing top-notch health care to our community,” Marshall said. “We have an aging population, often with complex needs, and being able to access up-to-date information at the time a patient arrives helps provide the best care in the most efficient manner possible.”
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is the delivery partner leading Project AMPLIFI over a three-year period and is supporting sites across Ontario to implement a bi-directional data exchange between long-term care homes and hospitals. The initiative is being aided with the support of TransForm Shared Services Organization, a not-for-profit, shared service organization founded by the five hospitals located within Erie St. Clair to manage their hospital IT and supply chain needs.
