New DI central intake implemented in Northwestern Ontario

KINGSTON and THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Novari Health has announced the implementation of its regional diagnostic-imaging central intake system across Northwestern Ontario. Working with Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) and regional partner hospitals, the Novari referral central intake technology is helping to improve access to care for diagnostic imaging services in the region.

TBRHSC, in collaboration with hospitals in Northwestern Ontario, has established a central intake process for diagnostic imaging referrals supported by Novari software technology. This innovative work is being led by clinicians and administrators at Dryden Regional Health Centre, Lake of the Woods District Hospital, Riverside Health Care, Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, and TBRHSC.

Central intake programs, whereby referrals are sent to a central intake coordinating site, have proven helpful in ensuring that the right patients are sent to the right providers at the right time. Furthermore, referring physicians and nurse practitioners benefit from having a single point of contact for their referrals with the knowledge that every referral will be received, triaged, and routed to an appropriate site as close as possible to the patient’s home and with the shortest wait time.

“The implementation of central intake for diagnostic imaging and expansion of surgical central intake are incredible milestones for healthcare in our region. By leveraging technology, we are improving access to care for patients across Northwestern Ontario. Through hard work and collaboration, we are advancing digital health, and leading us closer to our vision of exceptional care for every patient, every time,” said Dr. Rhonda Crocker Ellacott (pictured), president & CEO, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and CEO, Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.

The Novari system is a comprehensive solution that includes central intake, referral management, waitlist management, provider notifications, analytics, and artificial intelligence. The system’s workflow capabilities can be configured by hospitals and health regions to accommodate unique workflows for each modality and eliminate risks and inefficiencies inherent in legacy based paper-based processes.

Novari technology provides front-line staff and management with accurate and real-time data on the volume of referrals, the status of every patient’s referral, and bottlenecks in the system.

For medical imaging, the Novari technology also includes RadView, an exclusive Novari protocoling feature, popular with radiologists, that provides them with access to all relevant information needed to protocol each requisition quickly and efficiently. The system is complemented by enriched DICOM integration with hospital PACS systems, enabling the uploading of relevant requisition documents into the system and providing easy access for radiologists and medical imaging technologists.

This project involves tight integration with the participating hospitals’ Meditech electronic health record system and enhanced integration with the hospitals’ PACS system, leveraging the DICOM standard.

In addition to this work, the existing implementation of Novari referral management technologies used for surgical services in Northwestern Ontario, has been expanded across the region. The implementation of these systems in the Northwest is due in no small part to the hard work, collaboration and leadership across all surgical partner sites.

Novari Health’s innovative and unique access to care technologies are live and being implemented at hospitals and regional health authorities in Canada and Australia. The Novari access to care platform helps improve access to care, wait times, and drive efficiencies for patients accessing a wide variety of healthcare services including surgery, mental health & addictions, diabetes, cardiac, medical imaging, etc.

John Sinclair, president & CEO, Novari Health, said: “Research and real-life experience have demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that central intake programs improve access to care and the overall efficiency of healthcare systems. As the global leader in central intake software technologies, my team and I are proud to support Northwestern Ontario’s innovative central intake efforts and success.”

About Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), a 425-bed academic specialized acute care facility, is a national leader in Patient and Family Centred Care. As the only tertiary care provider in Northwestern Ontario, we provide comprehensive services to a population of over 250,000 residents in a region the size of France. Effectively addressing the health care needs of patients and families has earned us both Innovation Awards and Leading Practice Designations. As an academic health sciences centre, we teach the next generation of health care providers and advance medical research. Patients benefit from interprofessional teams of dedicated health care providers and access to leading-edge medical technology and clinical trials. To fulfill its teaching and research strategic goals, TBRHSC is supported by Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute (TBRHRI) as a not-for-profit and independent research corporation. TBRHRI is the research arm of TBRHSC and seeks to lead research to improve the health outcome of the people of Northwestern Ontario and beyond. For more information, please visit www.tbrhsc.net.

About Novari Health
Novari Health designs, builds, and implements award-winning enterprise scale software solutions that improve access to care, whilst improving the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare organizations. Headquartered in Canada, with offices in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, Novari is one of the fastest growing digital health solution providers. ISO 27001 certified, Novari Health is a Microsoft Partner, with software solutions hosted on Microsoft Azure’s global network of data centres.