​​​​​Image of Lydia holding award
Lydia Lee, here at Ingenious Awards Gala, was selected by a panel of industry leaders. (Photo: UHN/SIMS)

"Anytime someone tells me something is impossible, it makes me want to do it more," said Lydia Lee, Senior Vice-President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of UHN, as she accepted the prize for Public Sector CIO of the year at the Ingenious Awards Gala.

Nominated by Dr. Bob Bell, Ontario's Deputy Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, and David Thomas, Vice-President of TELUS Health, Lydia was selected by a panel of industry leaders for changing the course of healthcare technology for UHN and across the province.

As UHN's CIO, Lydia led the development of several technological solutions to improve patient safety.

In 2001, at a time when fewer than two per cent of North American hospitals embraced electronic patient records, Lydia's vision set a new standard. By implementing the Medical Order Entry/Medical Administration Record, or MOE/MAR solution, a computerized medication order entry and administration system, UHN saw a 42 per cent decrease in major ordering and transcription errors.

Taking the "patients as partners in care" seriously, Lydia was an early champion of the myUHN Patient Portal. Designed to give patients online access to their health records, the application reduces their anxiety and facilitates a better relationship with care providers. Through myUHN, patients receive UHN appointment reminders and can see lab results and clinical documentation.

"I nominated Lydia not only for the work she has done for the hospital (UHN) but also for the work she has done for the community of Ontario patients," said Dr. Bell, former President and CEO of UHN.

A champion for providing clinicians with timely and pertinent patient information, Lydia has expanded UHN's reputation as a provincial leader in developing regional health care information systems.

Lydia's dedication to sharing essential information between organizations is changing healthcare in Ontario. For example, the Resource Matching and Referral application, used by 80 participating organizations in Toronto, has sent about 300,000 alternative level of care referrals since 2008. There's also ConnectingGTA, a longitudinal electronic health record housing 115 million types of patient information.

"Healthcare is a knowledge driven industry, and the work that my team and I do is to making sure that that clinicians get the information they need, to care for our patients," Lydia says.​

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