Physician IT

Saskatchewan announces preferred EMR vendors

REGINA - The Saskatchewan Medical Association has announced a list of preferred vendors for its Electronic Medical Record Project. The announcement was made last month by Dr. Milo Fink (pictured), who is President of the Saskatchewan Medical Association; among the first to publicize the information was the CanadianEMR web site, which provides a range of information to physicians about the state of eHealth in Canada.

As reported by CanadianEMR, the Saskatchewan Medial Association has selected the following as its current list of preferred vendors after an RFP process:

• Med Access Inc. - EMR
• Nightingale Informatix Corporation - Nightingale on Demand
• Optimed Software Corp. - Accuro EMR
• Practice Solutions Software Inc. - PS Suite

The selection of the above as preferred vendors means that the Saskatchewan Medical Association intends to move forward with contract negotiations and further conformance testing with each of these vendors.

In a letter to members of the Saskatchewan Medical Association, Dr. Fink stated it is important to note that any final selection and award for each of these vendors is conditional upon successful negotiation of a formal written contract between the SMA and the vendor, and the vendor passing further conformance testing. Unless and until this occurs, the vendor’s proposed solution is not eligible for reimbursement under the SMA’s EMR Program. Only upon the SMA’s announcement of final selection and award will the vendor’s solution be eligible for reimbursement.

The SMA intends to commence contract negotiations and further conformance testing with the selected preferred vendors immediately.

Meanwhile, British Columbia has progressed a step further with its own EMR program. In a December 18th email to members from Dr. Bill Mackie, President of the BC Medical Association, he stated: Conformance testing, the last step in the PITO EMR vendor selection process, was completed as scheduled on December 11, 2008.

Of the six companies that made it to that last step, one vendor withdrew and five passed the conformance test.

The five PITO-Qualified EMR vendors therefore are:

• EMIS Inc.
• Intrahealth Canada Ltd.
• MedAcess Inc.
• Osler Systems Management
• Wolf Medical Systems.

More information on the PITO program and the PITO EMR vendors is available at: www.pito.bc.ca/EMR/EMRs.htm.

According to CanadianEMR, the PITO program is now moving ahead: to date 630 physicians have already gone through the orientation phase, 337 physicians have selected their vendor and 87 physicians have gone “live” on PITO-qualified EMRs.

More than 1,900 B.C. physicians have applied for funding and 1,400 have been selected as of December, 2008. As well, 15 local relationship managers (LRMs) and 25 Physician Champions are located throughout B.C. and are helping physicians successfully navigate the transition.

Visit CanadianEMR at www.canadianemr.com