Electronic hospital reports improve patient care:
Barrie hospital leads the way with digital patient records

Barrie's Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) is now electronically sending 2,500 patient reports per week to physicians at the Barrie and Community Family Health Team (BCFHT). The reports are sent directly into the patient's Electronic Medical Record (EMR) at the BCFHT.

"Timely access to hospital reports on my patients helps me offer better care," says Dr. Anne DuVall, Lead Physician at the BCFHT. "When patients come in for follow-up care after visiting Royal Victoria Hospital, I already have received an electronic copy of their report."

In the past, these reports were sent in paper format (mail, fax, hospital pick up), taking as long as 12 days to reach the patient's family physician.

Jennifer Paradis, a patient at the BCFHT, says: "I have experienced firsthand how this new system can speed up access to care. After a recent trip to Royal Victoria Hospital's Emergency on a Monday, my test results were sent back to Dr. DuVall that very same day and by the end of the week, I had a referral to another physician and a treatment plan laid out. Knowing that the wheels were in motion so quickly greatly reduced my anxiety over having to wait for results."

This new electronic Hospital Report Manager has been developed as a computer application that can work at any hospital in Ontario to communicate with physicians using an EMR subsidized by Ontario's EMR Adoption Program.

The partners for this project include RVH, the BCFHT, OntarioMD (a subsidiary of the Ontario Medical Association that manages Ontario's EMR Adoption Program), eHealth Ontario (which funded and provided network services for this project) and the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network (which sponsored the proposal and coordinated the partners' participation).

For further information: Paul Kilbertus, OntarioMD, (416) 623-1248 ext. 5316