ConnectingOntario

We source goods and services through MERX – under the private tenders section. We also run regular vendor information sessions where we provide information about the projects we fund. For details on what you need to know to work with us, visit our vendor relations page.

Schedule a meeting with our group of integration experts by emailing architecture@ehealthontario.on.ca.

Ontario’s EHR Connectivity Strategy describes how health care information will be connected to create a provincial EHR. Review the strategy and / or contact us at architecture@ehealthontario.on.ca

We provide specific guidelines for securely connecting to the EHR. Learn how to securely connect.

We offer a range of security services to health service providers to protect patient data in the EHR. These include identifying and evaluating security risks, helping clients comply with EHR policies, security training and responding effectively to security incidents. Find out about our program and how we can help your team.

Contact us anytime at Connecting.Security@ehealthontario.on.ca.

The guide is a booklet that provides a common framework for applying security controls to protect personal health information. There are two versions: One for small medical offices, and another for complex organizations such as hospitals and regional care centres.

We developed the Guide to Information Security for the Health Care Sector in consultation with key stakeholders in the health care community, including physicians, hospital employees, the continuing care sector, labs, local health integration networks (LHINs) and vendors.

The guide would be of interest to individuals responsible for information security programs and for managing security risks within the health care community.

The guide is divided into subject areas and is designed so that users can quickly scan and go directly to sections of interest for details.

The ConnectingOntario solution gives patients, or their substitute decision maker(s), the option to restrict access to patient data within the solution. If a patient restricts access to his / her data, health care providers querying the solution will not be able to access any patient information to which a consent directive has been applied.

A patient may restrict access to either:

• All of his/her reports in ConnectingOntario (Domain Consent Directive);
• A particular report (health information custodian (HIC) – Record Consent Directive);
• A particular provider from a particular HIC (HIC – Agents Consent Directive);
• A particular provider (Agent Consent Directive)

Overriding a Consent Directive

The ConnectingOntario solution permits a health care provider in special cases to temporarily override a patient’s or their substitute decision maker(s) consent directive.

Health care providers can override the consent directive under the following circumstances:

• With the express consent from the patient or their substitute decision maker(s)
• Understanding, on reasonable grounds, that the override is necessary for the purpose of eliminating or reducing a significant risk of serious bodily harm to the individual to whom the personal health information relates, and it is not reasonably possible to obtain the consent of the individual in a timely manner;
• Understanding, on reasonable grounds, that the override is necessary for the purpose of eliminating or reducing a significant risk of serious bodily harm to a person other than the individual to whom the personal health information relates or to a group of persons;
• Temporary overrides will be logged in the ConnectingOntario solution interface, along with the identity of the overriding health care provider. We will notify the HIC if one of their agents overrides the consent directive.

Patient radiology reports and images such as hospital-based CT scans, ultrasounds, MRIs, mammograms and X-rays are included in our secure picture archiving and communications systems and DI repositories. The implementation of these systems has eliminated the need for film and paper diagnostic images.

The EHR gives patients, or their substitute decision maker(s), the option to allow or restrict access to patient data within DI common service, which enables the sharing and viewing of patients’ diagnostic images and reports from across Ontario. If a patient restricts access to his/her data by applying a consent directive, providers querying DI common service will be unable to access information relating to that patient information to which a consent directive has been applied.

Consent directives can be made, modified or removed to restrict or allow the following:

• All of a patient’s records (Domain Consent Directive) 
• A particular report (Record-level Consent Directive)
• All users from a particular organization (HIC-Agent Consent Directive).

Applying Consent Directives

If a patient contacts a health information custodian (HIC) and wishes to either place a restriction on access to his/her information, or reinstate access (remove the restriction), the HIC should:

• Capture the consent directive information on the EHR consent form, and
• Submit the consent directive information to us by faxing it to 416-586-4397 or 1-866-831-0107.

We will send the HIC a confirmation that the request has been fulfilled. The HIC should then provide notice to the patient that the consent directive has been successfully applied.

In instances where a patient requests to place a consent directive on, or reinstate access to, records contributed by more than one HIC, the patient should complete an EHR consent management form, or contact us directly at 416-946-4767.

In all instances, we will apply consent directives within seven days of verifying the identity of the patient making the request. The party who received the request for the consent directive then notifies the patient that his/her request has been fulfilled. If you cannot notify the patient, we will notify him / her on your behalf at your direction.

Overriding a Consent Directive

DI common service permits a health care provider to temporarily override a patient’s consent directive. If you perform a consent override, we will ask you to confirm the purpose of the override, and to subsequently notify the patient of the occurrence. An override can only be performed at the express consent of the patient, or to reduce the risk of bodily harm to the patient or persons other than the patient. Consent directive overrides are in effect for four hours.

A temporary override will be logged in DI common service, along with the identity of the overriding health care provider. We will notify the HIC if one of his/her agents overrides the consent directive. Once contacted by us, it is the HIC’s responsibility to:

Investigate the override to ensure it was for one of the reasons stated above, and notify the patient of the override at the first opportunity.

If a consent directive override is applied for the purpose of eliminating or reducing a significant risk of serious bodily harm to a person other than the individual to whom the personal health information relates or to a group of persons, the HIC should provide a written notice to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario as soon as possible indicating that this type of override has occurred.

The drug profile viewer is available to health care providers in all Ontario hospitals as well as a limited number of community health centres. For more information, contact our support team at dpv@ehealthontario.on.ca.

If your site is using the drug profile viewer, contact your organization’s local registration authority to request access.

All other requests can be submitted to our service desk:
Tel: (905) 826-5551
Toll Free: 1-866-250-1554
Email: servicedesk@ehealthontario.on.ca

Drugs covered by the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) program, the Trillium Drug Program (TDP), or drugs for which patients have received special approval, and which have been dispensed by an Ontario pharmacist, are displayed on a recipient’s drug claims history. Health care providers are able to view the names, dosage forms, strengths and quantity of the drugs which have been dispensed to a patient. In addition, the prescriber and pharmacy information are displayed. Drug products that are not provided under the ODB / TDP programs – including over-the-counter medication or herbal products – will not appear on the drug claims history. It is important that patients taking these types of products inform their health care providers.

See our DPV clinical interpretation guide for more details.

For any clarification regarding medications in the drug claims profile, contact the dispensing pharmacy or prescriber.

For all other inquiries, contact our service desk:
Tel: (905) 826 – 5551;
Toll Free: 1-866-250-1554
Email: servicedesk@ehealthontario.on.ca

Direct the patient to ServiceOntario. For more information or to find the location of the nearest office, contact ServiceOntario’s Infoline at 1-800-291-1405 (TTY 1-800-387-5559).

Across the province, 23 labs contribute to OLIS with more than 3 billion lab results now included in the system. See which labs are participating.

OLIS gives patients, or their substitute decision maker(s), the option to restrict access to their lab data in OLIS. They may restrict access at either:

• The patient level – which restricts access to all lab test results, or
• The test level – which restricts access to a particular test (to be specified at the time the test is conducted).

Restricting access at either of these levels means only the following are allowed to see it:

• The health care providers who were named on the lab requisition (e.g., the ordering or copied provider),
• The reporting lab, the lab that performed the test and the organization that placed the test request.

If a patient restricts access to his / her results in OLIS, other health care providers involved in that patient’s care will not be able to access any patient information submitted into OLIS.

When a restricted provider queries lab results for this patient, the clinical viewer will notify him / her of this.

Overriding a Consent Directive

In special cases (with the express consent from the patient or the patient’s substitute decision-maker) the patient directive restricting access to the test can be overridden by a provider from within the clinical viewer.

All consent overrides in OLIS are temporary and will last for a duration of four hours, after which, access will once again be restricted. Such an override is logged in the system, along with the identity of the overriding health care provider. OLIS logs all accesses to its data, and an audit of this information can be requested. In addition, a notification letter will be sent to the patient by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care informing them of the override.

In cases where a health care provider obtains the express consent of the patient or the patient’s substitute decision-maker to override a directive restricting access, the ministry, as the custodian of OLIS, requires the provider to make a note in the patient’s chart and clarify for the patient that although the consent override is temporary, the information that the patient has allowed the provider to view will be saved in the system, flagged as sensitive, and may be available to other providers involved in the patient’s care.

Further, in the case that a substitute decision-maker has provided consent to override the consent directive, the ministry requires the provider to note the individual’s name and relationship to the patient in the patient’s chart. In the event the computer application / viewer service(s) does not have the functionality to support this requirement, the provider is required to record this information manually.

This information must also be available to eHealth Ontario upon request.

ONE ID is eHealth Ontario’s digital identity and authentication system which allows health care professionals to securely access electronic health care applications such as ConnectingOntario with a single user name and password.

ONE ID establishes your digital identity and recognizes your professional credentials. This ensures only authorized users are accessing and using eHealth Ontario services. It’s the first step in accessing a number of digital health applications managed by eHealth Ontario and other organizations.

ONE ID authenticates the identity information of users through a managed registration process. For CPSO members, ONE ID utilizes information provided by CPSO as identity evidence for verification purposes.

This identity information allows clients to create a ONE ID account, which is tied to their “real world” identity.

With this credential, clients are able to enrol in eHealth Ontario services such as ONE Mail and under the sponsorship of an organization to digital health services, such as ConnectingOntario.

As a CPSO member, you will be able to setup up your ONE ID account within minutes of completing the registration process.

From the CPSO website, you will be redirected to the ONE ID account creation page to register. Some identity information (e.g., legal name, date of birth, CPSO license number) will be prepopulated for your convenience based on information from your CPSO account.

Note: you will need to setup your own challenge questions/challenge phone number, select a password and review/edit your information as necessary.

Nothing. This service is fully funded by eHealth Ontario.

The naming convention for ONE ID accounts uses the following format: firstname.lastname@oneid.on.ca (e.g. JOHN.SMITH@ONEID.ON.CA)

Go to https://oneid.ehealthontario.ca, then enter your username and password into the login screen.

eHealth Ontario collects personal information about registrants in order to verify their identity when enroling them for services, such as ONE Mail, clinical viewers, and the eHealth Ontario Portal, as these services may contain personal health information.

To register for ONE ID via the CPSO Portal, the following information is required:

• Legal First & Last Name (*)
• Challenge Questions
• Date of Birth (*)
• Regulatory College (*)
• Gender (*)
• Registration Number (e.g. CPSO Number) (*)
• Email
• Phone

(*) Provided by CPSO

This information is used to establish a unique digital identity for each registrant which helps prevent duplicate registrations, and facilitates subsequent registration activities (e.g., updating information).

eHealth Ontario only collects this information to register and verify the identity of individuals using the information services that it provides. Personal information is not permitted to be used for any other purpose.

eHealth Ontario’s Service Desk is available for support 24/7 for all of its services and can be reached at 1-866-250-1554 or servicedesk@ehealthontario.on.ca.

Challenge questions are a knowledge-based authentication feature used to securely verify an individual’s identity.  Challenge questions may be used for purposes such as a second-factor authentication, calling into the eHealth Ontario service desk, and recovering your password.

It is a phone-based secondary means of identity verification through a separate and unconnected communication channel (in addition to the ONE ID login ID and password).

The phone challenge number represents a practical way to add further security to your ONE ID account. It improves security by adding a second factor that relies on a piece of information only you would have (such as a mobile phone number).

Once you add a phone challenge number when creating your account, whenever you log in from an unrecognized computer or through a new IP address, this additional challenge will verify your identity to make sure your account is secure.

You will be prompted to select the phone number you would like to use and one of the following contact options:

• A call-based user receives a call and presses a specified key to acknowledge receipt of the phone call
• A text-based user receives text with a unique 6-digit verification code that must be entered on the ONE ID screen

If you do not have a phone available at the time of challenge, you can select the “click here” link to be directed to the Challenge Questions as an alternative.

Once you have successfully completed your phone-based challenge, you can proceed to access your required service(s). The phone-based challenge should take no longer than a minute to complete.

Further information can be found in the FAQs on eHealth Ontario’s support webpage.

If any of the information prefilled on the screen (e.g. Legal First Name, Date of Birth, and License Number) is incorrect, please contact the CPSO Physician Advisory Service to have your record corrected:

CPSO Physician Advisory Service

Phone: 416-967-2606
Toll-Free: 1-800-268-7096 Ext. 606
Email: feedback@cpso.on.ca

Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday, 8 am – 5 pm

You will be notified by CPSO when your record has been updated. Once complete, you can then retry your ONE ID self-registration from the CPSO Portal.

For more information on ONE ID, please visit: http://www.ehealthontario.on.ca/en/health-care-professionals/one-id

For general inquiries regarding ONE ID registrations, contact an eHealth Ontario Registration Agents at: Registration.Agents@ehealthontario.on.ca.