What is Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS) Deployment?
The Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS) gives authorized health care providers access to lab test orders and results from hospitals, community labs and public health labs. As patients move between hospitals, family physicians, home care and long-term care settings, OLIS makes viewing patients'current and past test results easier and enables treatment decisions to be made at the point-of-care. Clinicians using an OntarioMD-certified electronic medical record (EMR) can access the latest lab results for their patients in OLIS or perform patient queries.
OLIS Deployment is a service provided by OntarioMD on behalf of Ontario Health to connect community-based family physicians, specialists and nurse practitioners using a certified EMR to OLIS.
A note on patient consent to access lab results through OLIS: Patient lab results provided through OLIS are considered Personal Health Information. A Health Information Custodian (HIC) can rely on implied consent to access these results when they are part of the patient's circle of care for the purposes of providing health care to the individual. A patient has the right, in some circumstances, to restrict/block access to their results. This may restrict the lab results you see. For more information, please visit the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario website.
What are the benefits of OLIS?
Patient Benefits
- Family physicians, specialists, hospitals, home care long-term care facilities can all access patients' lab information
- Family physicians using OntarioMD-certified EMRs can access patient lab results quickly to identify trends from lab histories and manage patients with chronic diseases more effectively
- Fewer visits to the lab for unnecessary or duplicate laboratory tests
Physician Benefits
- Timely access to patient lab information for improved decision-making
- More comprehensive and complete laboratory test information
- Better coordination of care between multiple practitioners and within health care teams
- Easily integrated into workflows and no need to wait for paper lab results to arrive
Who can get OLIS?
Any community-based physician or nurse practitioner using an OntarioMD-certified EMR can get OLIS. If you have a certified EMR, talk to your OntarioMD Practice Advisor to get started.
How do I get OLIS?
Contact your OntarioMD Practice Advisor to initiate OLIS deployment in your practice. If you are a certified EMR user and do not yet have an OntarioMD Practice Advisor, please e-mail OntarioMD at support@ontariomd.com.