December 09, 2010

Cornwall Community Hospital – Advancing Health System Integration

Patients and physicians at Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH) will soon benefit from quick access to electronic medical imaging test results through the Northern and Eastern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network (NEODIN) DI-r.

The NEODIN DI-r is a regional imaging repository that connects hospitals throughout northern and eastern Ontario. It digitally stores medical images and reports, including x-rays, ultrasounds, nuclear medicine, BMD, MRI and CT scans in a central secure repository. Physicians can then access these important test results while providing care to their patients.

Access to images and reports through an electronic system like the NEODIN DI-r eliminates the need for physical transfer of test results, and the costly duplication of scans when a patient moves from one hospital to another. Most importantly for patients, this network allows specialists at one facility to access reports and images acquired at other hospitals; allowing for more informed, timely medical decisions.

According to Jeanette Despatie, Chief Executive Officer of CCH, this represents an important step in their pursuit of health system integration.

“The NEODIN DI-r is part of our efforts to establish formal linkages and pathways amongst health care providers. We believe the ability to efficiently share information will help improve the quality of care for our patients.”

“Investments like this one at Cornwall Community Hospital are dramatically improving access to patient images and reports,” says Richard Alvarez, President and CEO of Canada Health Infoway. “NEODIN allows specialists to access images from any point in the network at anytime. Already, patients are getting treated sooner and closer to home.”

Cornwall Community Hospital joins forty hospitals in the North West and North East Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and another 19 hospitals in the Champlain LHIN (the greater Ottawa region) in their involvement with NEODIN. Upon completion in 2011, NEODIN will service almost two million Ontarians across 840,000 square kilometres, from the Manitoba border in the west to Hawkesbury in the east.

”We are proud to provide the network and be a funding partner on an initiative which advances health care delivery and benefits to Ontarians,” said Greg Reed, President and CEO, eHealth Ontario. “This project illustrates how collaboration within the health care system can improve patient care.”

Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) has provided $21.7 million and eHealth Ontario has provided $20 million in funding to support the transfer of diagnostic images and reports between the health care organizations in Northeastern Ontario. The project is part of the Ontario government’s ehealth agenda and Infoway’s vision for a pan-Canadian electronic health record system.

Contact Information

Cornwall Community Hospital
Natalie Mohamed
Coordinator of Corporate & Public Communications
(613) 938-4240 ext 2723

NEODIN
Heather Phillips
Communications Lead
416-988-0580

Canada Health Infoway
Dan Strasbourg
Communications Advisor
416- 595-3449

eHealth Ontario
Heather Brown
Communications Advisor

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