Physician IT

Canadian EMR evaluation site goes live

RICHMOND, B.C. – CanadianEMR, a web site that’s the brainchild of former General Practitioner Alan Brookstone (pictured), MD, is now up and running. It’s the country’s first-ever site that independently evaluates and rates Electronic Medical Record systems so that physicians can make better decisions about computerizing their practices. It can be accessed at: www.canadianemr.ca.

Dr. Brookstone is a family physician and influential EMR consultant who closed his family practice earlier this year to concentrate on developing the web site and an EMR test lab in Richmond, B.C., just outside Vancouver.

Comparison information is already available on core group of EMR vendors; others are being encouraged to list their products in the CanadianEMR Comparison Engine. Vendors can contact Dr. Brookstone and his colleagues by email at info@canadianemr.ca.

CanadianEMR is unique in that actual physician users of various EMRs are rating the capabilities of the systems. EMR systems are scored using a five-star scale, much like products in Consumers Report, resulting in an easy-to-use guide to clinical information systems in Canada.

The site has a number of important features:

• An EMR comparison engine allows physicians and other viewers to compare EMRs quickly and easily, in one location, without having to go to each vendor individually, get their materials and do a manual comparison.

• Users are able to e-mail a side-by-side comparison to one or more people to facilitate sharing of information and decision-making.

• An EMR 5-star rating system allows physicians who are already users to rate their experience with the EMR. This provides reliable information about user experiences with regards to a particular EMR.

• An Education Centre is currently in development. This component will support clinicians who are either making a decision to purchase a system or want to enhance their use of their EMR.

• The existing CanadianEMR blog, which has been running for several years, has been fully integrated into the new web site. It will continue as a moderated and important part of the site, facilitating discussion on key topics across the country relating to EMRs.

Vendors of EMR systems are invited to list their products on CanadianEMR and to optionally create an enhanced vendor profile. Similar in concept to the advertisements found in the yellow pages, an enhanced profile provides vendors with a mechanism to provide in-depth information on their products at the time physicians are considering their options.

The fees charged for the enhanced vendor profiles will fund continued development of the site, along with financial contributions from the founding site sponsors: Telus, Microsoft, and Intel.

EMR vendors who are CHITTA members qualify for an exclusive 10% discount on Enhanced Vendor Profiles. This discount is in addition to a 7.5% discount for a one year upfront payment. Both InfoClin www.infoclin.ca and the Branham Group www.branhamgroup.com have contributed significantly to the evolution and development of the site.

The next step for CanadianEMR is to work closely with the vendors, informatics community and physicians to refine the ranking algorithm so that information provided by physicians is both fair and balanced.