eConsult improves patient care through timely access to specialist advice, and often eliminates the need to send patients for in-person specialist visits. Physicians and nurse practitioners use a private and secure web portal to send a specialist a clinical question about their patient and receive a prompt response, generally within two days.
In addition to deploying eConsult to clinicians across the province, OntarioMD is leading the integration of eConsult with clinician EMRs. EMR integration of eConsult complements the service on OTNhub by offering clinicians an additional, convenient access point.
Convenient eConsult Access Through EMR Integration
The 21,000+ EMR-connected clinicians across Ontario prefer to access digital health
tools through their EMRs, to improve patient access and clinical workflows. That’s
why OntarioMD has been working with clinicians and EMR vendors to make eConsult
available through certified EMRs.
Findings from our eConsult EMR Integration Outcome Evaluation Final Report show that:
90% of clinicians who use eConsult through their EMRs agree that this method improves workflow.
90%
of clinicians with access to eConsult through their EMRs agree that using the
EMR-integrated version motivates them to use it more.
80% of
clinicians who use eConsult integrated with their EMRs report that eConsults
are easy to submit.
Clinicians who
submit eConsults through their EMR save nearly 5 minutes compared to submitting
via the web-based solution
eConsult EMR integration is currently available through QHR Technologies' Accuro® EMR, Avaros EMR, YES EMR and YMS EMR. OntarioMD is working closely with other EMR vendors to integrate the eConsult service. All OntarioMD-certified EMR vendors are encouraged to review the specification and contact us at emr@ontariomd.com to facilitate deployment.
Access to eConsult through your EMR will depend on your EMR vendor's specific timeline for incorporating eConsult into their EMR offerings. In the interim, as EMR integration is underway, we encourage you to continue using eConsult through OTNhub.