TransForm – Working to Connect Ontario Health Systems
October 10, 2023 – Connecting the medical records of patients across the healthcare continuum to affect better, more efficient and coordinated patient care has moved another step forward for acute care hospitals and Long-Term Care (LTC) homes in the Grey-Bruce region.
As of October 5, 2023, all hospitals in the Grey-Bruce region are now live on Ontario eHub and contributing patient data that can be accessed by other sites connected to the eHub. The collaborative partnership between TransForm and Project AMPLIFI is achieving the vision to improve the continuity of care for Long-Term Care residents by streamlining transitions between care institutions, leading to safer care for Ontarians and more efficient workflows for providers.
With a seamless, 2-way connection through Ontario eHub, hospital healthcare providers who work with patients arriving from Long-Term Care homes or other hospitals connected to the Ontario eHub will be able to:
- Immediately access up-to-date and accurate patient health records from previous health settings
- Save time and resources normally spent faxing and phoning previous health providers
- Quickly and easily reconcile allergies, medications, problem lists and immunizations into the patient’s hospital chart
- Increase patient safety by reducing transcription and medical errors during care transitions
- Upon discharge, digital documentation of the patient’s hospital visit is immediately available to other connected health care facilities, including encounter details, discharge instructions, and key lab and procedure results, recent vital signs and symptoms.
The goal is for patients to experience a higher quality of care, a reduced need to re-share their story and clinical history repeatedly across care settings, and decreased readmissions to hospital. This is a significant benefit and improvement, as well, for patients from hospitals and LTC homes in smaller communities who are regularly transferred to larger regional hospitals for services such as cancer care, dialysis, cardiology, and trauma care.
“TransForm has been working with Grey-Bruce health system hospitals to connect to the Ontario eHub. Today, they successfully began contributing their patient data so it is now available for LTCs in their area and other connected sites to view. This helps make patient transitions between health systems more efficient and safe,” said TransForm Project Manager and provincial implementation lead, Wendy Wilson.
TransForm leads the project management oversight for all Ontario eHub connection projects for the 63 hospitals with the Oracle Health Information System (HIS), as part of Project AMPLIFI for Oracle Health hospitals.
The Ontario eHub Health Information Exchange (HIE) is being funded by the Ministry of Health through Project AMPLIFI. As part of Project AMPLIFI, the Ontario eHub Health Information Exchange implementation will also support clinical information exchange between Oracle hospitals.
The following hospitals are now connected to Ontario eHub:
Brightshores Health Systems – Lion’s Head | Brightshores Health System (Formerly Grey Bruce Health System) |
Brightshores Health Systems – Markdale | |
Brightshores Health Systems – Meaford | |
Brightshores Health Systems – Owen Sound | |
Brightshores Health Systems – Southampton | |
Brightshores Health Systems – Wiarton | |
Hannover and District Hospital – 90 70th Avenue | Hanover & District Hospital |
South Grey Bruce Health Centre-Chelsey – 39 2nd Street SE | South Bruce Grey Health Centre |
South Grey Bruce Health Centre-Durham – 320 College St. | |
South Grey Bruce Health Centre-Kincardine – 1199 Queen St. | |
South Grey Bruce Health Centre Walkerton – 21 McGivern St. | |
Orillia Soldiers Memorial (OSMH): 170 Colborne St. W. | Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital |
Muskoka Algonquin (MAHC): Bracebridge – South Muskoka Memorial Hospital Site,75 Ann Street, Bracebridge, | Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare |
Muskoka Algonquin (MAHC): Huntsville – Huntsville District Memorial Hospital Site, 100 Frank Miller Drive, Huntsville | |
Almonte General Hospital (AGH): 75 Spring St. | Almonte General Hospital |
About TransForm SSO:
TransForm Shared Service Organization is a not-for-profit, shared service organization founded by the five hospitals in Erie St. Clair to manage their hospital IT and supply chain needs. As a leader in health system innovation, TransForm SSO has developed and implemented advanced initiatives that improve efficiency and help customers focus on providing outstanding care and service. Our goal is to provide exceptional customer service, find new opportunities to reduce costs, increase efficiencies while improving the performance of healthcare organizations and helping our member hospitals. Our award-winning team is well-equipped to help the health system thrive. To learn more about TransForm SSO, please visit www.transformsso.ca or follow us on LinkedIn: TransForm Shared Service Organization and Twitter: @TransFormSSO.
About Project AMPLIFI
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is the delivery partner leading Project AMPLIFI over a three-year period and is supporting sites across Ontario to implement a bi-directional data exchange between Long-Term Care homes and hospitals. Project AMPLIFI enabled the implementation of the Ontario eHub to exchange patient health data with Long-Term Care Homes in our region.
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For more information on Ontario eHub, please contact:
Michelle Watters, Director, Stakeholder Relations, Performance and People
TransForm Shared Service Organization
Mobile: 519-401-904
Email: [email protected]
For more information on Project AMPLIFI contact:
Andriana Lukich, Program Director, Project AMPLIFI
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton