Integrated solutions will make information sharing more efficient

THUNDER BAY, ONT. – As the largest and least populated region of the province, Northwestern Ontario has a unique set of challenges in meeting the needs of its diverse and geographically dispersed patient population. While most of the area’s 238,000 residents will visit Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) at some point in their lifetime, the vast majority will also seek healthcare elsewhere with PCPs, specialists, or referral organizations.

TBRHSC understands the importance for health data, especially medication history, to follow patients between all venues of care, so they developed a Digital Health Strategic Roadmap.

After meeting with groups of patients and providers, TBRHSC recognized that a new EHR platform, data more accessible for decision making, and transitions between facilities smoother.

The health system recently began implementing the first phase of their roadmap, which will establish a single, person-centered digital record with a new electronic health record – for seamlessly exchanging health information between providers.

The EHR will also serve as the foundation for advanced analytics and research to improve outcomes and health equity.

“Providers should be able to access timely clinical information from a variety of sources, through a single, more meaningful view,” said Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s Regional chief information officer Cindy Fedell. “This comprehensive patient record will provide a more complete picture of our patients at the point of care and enable more shared care planning.”

TBRHSC selected MEDITECH Expanse to establish an integrated EHR across its hospital, ambulatory, and primary care providers. In addition to providing more connected care and new digital tools, the EHR will bridge the workflow between provincial and federally organized care. It will also enable TBRHSC to connect to the Provincial Health Record.

As part of its digital transformation, the North West – comprised of TBRHSC and dozens of other healthcare providers across the region – is planning to join ONE Healthcare Information Technology Services (ONE HITS), which operates one of MEDITECH’s largest Expanse instances. ONE HITS has already brought more than 20 hospitals together to share resources and develop standard order sets, documentation templates, and dictionaries.

“We would all like to reduce the amount of time doctors and nurses spend administrating or navigating disparate systems,” said ONE Healthcare Information Technology Services CEO Brenda Muto.

“The goal has always been to improve the experience for clinicians and give them back more time on direct patient care. We are partnering with TBRHSC to achieve this goal by providing a comprehensive view of the patient record, enabling clinicians to make more informed decisions while also increasing their efficiency. They shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get all the necessary information.” Implementing one digital patient record will save time between nurse shift handovers as well as transfers between TBRHSC and other facilities in the ONE network.

“Our member facilities cover a large geographic area, but all of the ONE HITS sites are working together to put the patient at the center of their experience and break down facility barriers,” Muto said. “Transfer volumes are quite high within our membership right now, so if we can save time and reduce errors, that’s incredible improvement.”

The North West anticipates establishing a single patient record will improve clinician experience and ease of use. In Northwestern Ontario, many doctors and nurses hold positions at several facilities – one day working at a hospital and another in a local family practitioner office. By joining ONE HITS and gaining access to a single MEDITECH Expanse instance, clinicians will benefit from easier transitions as they move between sites.

“The Expanse EHR has already been vetted by 23 plus hospitals and designed specifically around how we work in remote and rural communities,” Fedell said. “And as we take it one step further by joining ONE HIS, we can provide more efficiencies than we ever could independently.”

As part of its digital transformation strategy, TBRHSC will leverage Expanse to address health equity. Residents of Northwestern Ontario have higher than average rates of several chronic health issues, including diabetes, COPD, and alcohol use disorder. Various tools embedded in Expanse will provide advanced clinical decision support, alerts for possible drug interactions, and prompts for potential complications like sepsis.

“Thunder Bay and ONE HITS have a forward-thinking approach to meeting the unique challenges of the region,” said MEDITECH director Nick Palmieri. “We are excited to partner with them and share the goal of transforming healthcare delivery throughout the North.”