March 07, 2011

Communities served by Ontario Community Health Centres to receive next generation electronic medical

SUDBURY – Patients in Sudbury and throughout the province, who use Ontario’s Community Health Centres (CHCs), will soon have access to a new state-of-the-art bilingual electronic medical record (EMR) system funded by eHealth Ontario and the CHCs.

The new EMR system will be used by 2,500 health care providers (social workers, dietitians, and diabetes educators) and 600 ordering clinicians (physicians and nurse practitioners) in over 100 CHC sites across the province. It will enable them to collaborate more effectively on coordinated, client-centred care. This fall, deployment will begin for the 73 CHCs and 28 satellite sites throughout Ontario.

“A more up-to-date EMR system for Community Health Centres will enhance their effectiveness in delivering health care to people who face access to care barriers,” said Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. “They will be able to provide more preventative care and better manage complex chronic diseases.”

The Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC), the provincial organization representing Ontario’s Community Health Centres, will facilitate a procurement process to select a vendor for the next bilingual EMR system. The procurement is one of the largest of its kind ever initiated in Canada.

“The CHCs will be better able to serve the people of Sudbury who rely on their services”
Rick Bartolucci, MPP for Sudbury

“This upgrade to a next generation French and English EMR will put CHCs in a better position to participate in eHealth and will align them with provincial eHealth priorities and objectives,” said Greg A. Reed, President and CEO of eHealth Ontario. “I’m pleased to be making this announcement in northern Ontario, an area that is at the forefront of implementing eHealth initiatives and connecting its health care facilities.”

“We are very pleased to be aligned with the province’s eHealth direction,” said AOHC Executive Director Adrianna Tetley. “This is a major step forward and will ultimately enable CHCs’ interprofessional teams to share information with labs, hospitals and the rest of the health care system so that clients receive even higher quality care.”

“People served by Community Health Centres already enjoy the benefits of collaborative care delivered by interprofessional teams,” said Jacqueline Gauthier, Executive Director of Sudbury East Community Health Centre. “This investment means those teams will have state-of-the-art tools to support a model of care that delivers so many benefits to the communities they serve.”

Quick Facts

• Ontario’s Community Health Centres (CHCs) are the only primary health care organizations that combine primary health care services with a wide range of other health promotion and community development services.
• CHCs serve over 350,000 clients each year with staffing levels that range from 12 in the smallest site to 200 in the largest.
• There are 73 centres and 28 satellite sites across the province.
• Approximately 2,500 health care providers (social workers, dietitians, and diabetes educators) will use the bilingual EMR system as well as 600 ordering clinicians (physicians and nurse practitioners).
• More than 5 million Ontarians currently have their health records managed by an electronic medical record.
• Deployment will begin in September 2011 and will be completed by September 2013.

 

For further information please contact:

Kathy Tudor
Communications Advisor
eHealth Ontario
416-946-6470
kathy.tudor@ehealthontario.on.ca

Mary MacNutt
Strategic Communications and Campaigns Manager
Association of Ontario Health Centres
647-992-2642
marym@aohc.org

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