Ontario Shores achieves HIMSS Stage 7 in three areas

WHITBY, Ont. – Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) has been recognized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for revalidating and achieving Stage 7, the highest level of maturity, for the following three maturity models: Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) for inpatients; Outpatient Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (O-EMRAM); and Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity (AMAM).

Ontario Shores is the first mental-health hospital in the world, and the first hospital in Canada to receive three Stage 7 achievements.

“These Stage 7 achievements represent our commitment to optimize the use of data and technology to advance the quality of care. We have tremendously dedicated teams who worked tirelessly to embed technological advancements and advanced analytics to directly improve patient care,” said Karim Mamdani (pictured), president and CEO, Ontario Shores.

HIMSS is a global advisor, thought leader and member-based society committed to reforming the health ecosystem through the power of information and technology.

“Ontario Shores’ innovative use of technology is a shining example of bridging the gap between mental healthcare and digital possibilities. Their forward-thinking approach is transforming the landscape of mental health support and offering hope to countless individuals,” said Julius Bogdan, vice president, Analytics, HIMSS.

These significant achievements reflect Ontario Shores’ continued commitment to ensuring the highest quality of care is met using electronic medical records (EMR) while optimizing its data and analytics tools to create actionable insights to improve patient outcomes and service delivery, as well as operational and financial efficiency.

During the two-day validation process, HIMSS noted several Ontario Shores’ innovations in their review and recognized the outstanding work in the case studies, the prevalent use of data throughout the organization, and the great work being done by staff. Areas of focus included the patient portal, suicide prevention strategy, and measurement-based care, to name a few.

Ontario Shores first achieved the Stage 7 designation in 2014, becoming the first hospital in Canada and the first mental-health hospital in the world to achieve the HIMSS Analytics EMRAM Stage 7 Award. It was the first hospital in Canada to receive revalidation in 2017 and 2020. In 2021, Ontario Shores achieved Stage 6 for AMAM and has been working towards Stage 7 since that time.