Elliot Lake hospital joining patient record-keeping alliance

The board of trustees at Elliot Lake’s St. Joseph’s General Hospital is looking at signing on to a new system that will hold patient records electronically. The system, known as The ONE, will allow for record-sharing among 23 hospitals in northeastern Ontario.

"At the March 31, 2021, St. Joseph’s General Hospital Elliot Lake Board of Trustees meeting, the board unanimously approved CEO Jeremy Stevenson leadership team’s recommendation to enter into a memorandum of understanding with 23 northeastern Ontario hospitals to partner in improving patient services through a collective electronic patient records management system simply known as The ONE," says a release from the hospital.

"The vision of The ONE is one patient, one record, one system. This facilitates the seamless movement of patient information to ensure high-quality health care that is enabled by technology and is available at the right place, right time, and for the right caregiver within our hospital and our many partner hospitals.

"ONE introduces the centralization of patient records in a safe, confidential and secure records management system using administrative software known as Meditech Expanse," says the release.

"Shared electronic record system across North East Ontario Hospitals will enable improvements in patient care, patient safety, easy referrals among hospitals, population health and promote system-wide efficiencies,” said Sanjeev Kumar, the hospital’s chief financial officer and executive lead for the Meditech Expanse project.

“Meditech Expanse places the patient and their care journey at the centre of all we do with one patient record in one system,” said Connie Free, chief nursing executive and director of clinical services and patient relations. "Our patient’s information is in one central repository and information is shared instantaneously throughout the continuum of care. Clinicians will have immediate access to real-time clinical information about their patient to support clinical decision-making to deliver safe, high quality, coordinated, patient-centric care.”

“This initiative reflects the leadership and goals set out by the St. Joseph’s Hospital Board in their previous established strategic plan related to improvements in the patient care experience and will align well with our future vision and strategic plan,” said CEO Stevenson. “This initiative is one of many that St. Joseph’s Hospital Elliot Lake, St. Joseph’s Manor and the Oaks are undertaking to transform their facilities into centres of excellence for patient care.”

Other benefits of Meditec:

• Helps prevent medication errors
• The system promotes evidence-based clinical practices, increased patient safety and offers advanced clinical tools, developed by over 80 hospitals in Ontario.
• The system is the foundation for other health information sharing initiatives with primary care, long term care, community and home care, and other providers across the system
• The fact that the regional record is shared by all 23 hospitals will facilitate:
  • Faster and safer transfer of patients between facilities
  • Sharing of patient information across clinical programs
  • Population health data collection and analysis
• Provides care teams with complete and timely access to a patient’s journey