UHN's four hospitals will this week begin sending medical record reports through OntarioMD's Health Report Manager (HRM) to family physicians and specialists across the province.
HRM seamlessly connects hospital information systems electronically to the certified electronic medical records (EMRs) of physicians across Ontario, which is a critical piece of digital health's goal of enabling the exchange of patient information between many diverse health information systems.
The sharing of information between hospitals and family physicians is immediate, meaning they no longer have to wait for paper discharge summaries in the mail but receive reports in their EMR's inbox. They know right away which patients were discharged from the hospital and the tests and treatments that were performed while the patients were there.
"The addition of the UHN hospitals is a huge addition to HRM and is a bonus for family physicians who use EMRs not just in the GTA but all over Ontario," says Lydia Lee, Senior Vice-President and Chief Information Officer at UHN. "Patients from across the province visit our hospitals every day and having the ability to electronically send our medical reports to their family physicians means much faster and more efficient follow-up care."
Nearly 7,000 physicians receive reports from 139 hospitals and 40 specialty clinics across Ontario via HRM. The province's goal is to connect all eligible hospitals in Ontario by March 31, 2018.
