Exposición: forma, temas, recorrido tonal

This priority will improve health outcomes by: embracing and implementing technology that will result in more time being spent on patient care and less time on administrative tasks, finding innovative ways to improve access to care and reduce wait times and travel, and reducing duplication and non-value added work.

Technologies will be sought that enable care to be provided as close to home as possible for patients, and reduce the need for extended travel; this includes the use of virtual health technologies. Other technologies that enhance system-wide planning, provide mobility and empower health care providers to access and record information at point-of-care, whether it is in a hospital or at a patient’s home, will be pursued. Just as importantly, technologies that increase efficiency, reduce the possibility of error (be it medical or transcription), and provide decision- support information (e.g. alerts of adverse drug interactions) will be employed.

C U R R E N T S TAT E

2013

2016

2013 - 2016 eHealth Priorities | 2013-2016 North West LHIN eHealth Services Plan

eHealth Initiatives

The following eHealth initiatives will advance our third priority and contribute to building an integrated eHealth framework. 1. cNEO/Provider Portal – Establish a portal to simplify the process of viewing patient clinical information. A portal allows authorized health care professionals to access and view a patient’s clinical information in a comprehen- sive, seamless manner, thereby improving efficiency and decision-making.

2. Telemedicine/Telehomecare – Assist in the expansion of Telemedicine and Telehomecare services at health care organizations to reduce distance barriers and enable access to care closer to, or at, home. This will result in reduced travel time and costs, improved and equitable access to specialists and other health service providers, and reduced hospitalizations.

3. Electronic Resource Matching & Referrals – Implement a Resource Matching & Referral (RM&R) solution to enable electronic referrals between health service providers, and to match available system resources with patients’ needs. This will ensure alignment with the current provincial initiative to standardized processes and practices for resource matching and referrals. RM&R will improve access to care by reducing the time waiting for refer- rals and will reduce the Alternate Level of Care (ALC) wait times.

4. Mobile Technologies – Where feasible, utilize mobile technologies to record and access patient information elec- tronically at point-of-care, and monitor the location of people and assets (e.g. electronic visit verification). This will result in benefits such as reduced transcription errors and costs, improved access to timely up-to-date information, improved decision-making, and increased effectiveness in managing service delivery.

5. Geographical Information System (GIS) Technologies – Determine the feasibility of using GIS technologies to integrate data from a wide range of data sources, such as public health, municipal, primary care, hospital, and com- munity organizations. This will increase effective planning and monitoring of data across geographical areas, sectors, and facilities, and improve the communication with, and mobilization of, partnerships across sectors. 6. Medication Management System (MMS) – Work in partnership with eHealth Ontario to implement the Medication Man- agement System. This provincial system will provide a comprehensive record of medications written and dis- pensed for a patient, and will enable prescriptions to be sent electronically to pharmacists. This will improve patient safety and will streamline the process for patients to obtain prescriptions.

7. Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) – Implement an Emergency Department Information System to ef- fectively manage patient flow and patient documentation, including triage, tracking, nursing and physician charting, disposition, charge capture, and management reporting (HIMSS Analytics). This functionality is in alignment with EMRAM Stage 3. It will provide up-to-date information to better inform decision-making, will improve patient care and safety, and increase overall health system efficiency.

8. Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) – Implement a Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system (also referred to as Computerized Provider or Practitioner Order Entry). CPOE enables hospitals to enter orders for their patients electronically, and have these orders sent electronically to the departments (e.g. laboratory) or organizations (pharmacy) that are responsible for filling it. CPOE enhances patient safety and increases efficiencies by streamlining the order entry process. This is in alignment with EMRAM stage 4.

9. Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) – Implement eMAR functionality throughout the region to improve the safety of administering medications at point-of-care by improving the quality, safety, accuracy, and flow of medication information and the administration of it, from the prescribing physician, to the pharmacy, to the bedside

2013 - 2016 eHealth Priorities | 2013-2016 North West LHIN eHealth Services Plan 40 nurse. This includes making use of electronic data, best practices, patient identification information, and drug decision-support information – such as dose range warnings – to prevent adverse drug events. Implementation of eMAR is referenced in the EMRAM Stage 3 level.

10. Closed Loop Medication Administration – Implement closed loop medication administration to maximize point-of-care patient safety processes for administering medications. This includes the integration of CPOE, eMAR and Pharmacy systems (which may include automated dispensing machines and robotic devices), as well as, bar- code or radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies to identify the patient, the nurse administering the medication, and the medication. This will reduce medical errors, increase patient safety, and increase efficien- cies. Implementation of closed loop medication administration is in alignment with EMRAM Stage 5.

11. Consumer eHealth – Identify opportunities to provide consumer eHealth solutions that directly support/empower patients to do things such as access their own health information (e.g. medications), book appointments on- line with their health care providers and communicate securely with them, or view publicly reported wait times. This will improve access to care and increase efficiency.