HITS eHealth Office
eServices Insider
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Utilizing the Delegate Model
in the Family Health Team Setting
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Beamsville Medical Centre Family Health Team is a rural family medicine clinic comprised of 9 physicians, nursing, office, and laboratory staff, and an allied health professional team (nurse practitioner, dietitian, social workers, diabetic educators, pharmacist, chiropodist and hypertension nurse).
Their team provides comprehensive care and primary care needs to all ages in the Lincoln community of the Niagara Region.
Thank you to the Beamsville Family Health Team for providing a look inside how they are utilizing eConsult to improve patient experience and care.
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Gillian Ryan, Nurse Practitioner (left) and Dr. Bernhard Volz (right) are championing the use of eConsult at their rural family practice clinic, the Beamsville Medical Centre Family Health Team. |
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How does the use of eConsult in your practice improve your patients'
experience?
The use of eConsult improves our patients' experience as our clinicians are able to access a huge network of specialty opinions on a timely basis.It improves our ability to either diagnose or treat conditions that we previously may have sent out for external referral, or where an external referral is still required, we’re able to find out the patient work up required beforehand.
It also allows us to increase our own knowledge and confidence in the information we gain through eConsult.
What EMR does your team use and how do you incorporate eConsult into your clinical workflow?
Our team uses Practice Solutions by Telus, or PS Suite. The physician or nurse practitioner will write a referral letter in the patient's chart, then send a message to our referral clerk indicating the specialty needed and what documents to attach with the referral. The referral clerk will input the referral letter into the OTNHub for eConsult, then submit it on behalf of the physician. Once a consultation note has been received, the referral clerk will then notify the physician. Our centralized e-mail address allows the referral clerk to keep track of pending eConsult referrals and upload the consultation note into the patient's EMR.
Did You Know?
We have a custom form available for PS Suite that assists with incorporating eConsult in your clinical workflow. Contact us to receive the form and a quick tutorial!
How has utilizing delegates made using eConsult easier?
The process of delegating the referral submission to a dedicated referral clerk has made it easier on the physicians to reduce their administrative work load. The referral clerk is able to keep track of pending eConsult referral responses similar to external referrals.
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Before or while using eConsult, were/are there long wait times to see specialists in your area? Are there particular specialties that have especially long wait times?
Yes, there can be long wait times in our community to see specialists. Some specialties are worse than others, and this naturally has intensified since the pandemic started.
Some particular specialties with lengthy wait times include gynecology, otolaryngology, orthopedic surgery, dermatology, neurology, and pediatric specialties.
We use eConsult to provide our patients with better access to specialty opinions without the lengthy wait times.
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eConsult Custom Form Now Available
For PS Suite EMR Users
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For users of Telus PS Suite EMR, a new eConsult Custom Form is available for primary care providers using eConsult on OTNHub!
Designed to help integrate sending and receiving eConsults into your clinic’s workflow, this custom form works particularly well when you are utilizing a delegate and minimizes the need for primary care providers to navigate away from the EMR. A delegate is a member of your team (medical admin, referral clerk) who can send and receive eConsults on behalf of a physician or nurse practitioner.
Contact the HITS eHealth Office at econsult@hitsehealth.ca to sign up for eConsult, register your delegate and/or receive the eConsult custom form file.
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Updates from the Ontario eServices Program |
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Fall 2021 eConsult & eReferral Webinar Series |
Join us for the Ontario eServices Program Fall Webinar Series and learn how we can support you, as clinicians, and Ontario Health Teams, in adopting eConsult & eReferral. |
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These services help to ensure Ontario patients have informed choices for equitable and timely access to specialists and health/community services and smoother, safer transitions in care. |
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Improving Access to Specialty Care during COVID-19 using eConsult & eReferral |
Tuesday, October 5th 12:00-12:40pm
Learn how eConsult and eReferral can support you and your clinic in improving access to specialty care during COVID-19.
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Improving Clinical Workflows with eConsult & eReferral |
Tuesday, October 19th, 7:30-8:10am
Learn how you can efficiently and effectively build eConsult and eReferral into your clinical workflow.
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Ontario Health Teams - Improving Access to Specialty Care and Community Services through eServices |
Thursday, October 21st, 12:00-12:40pm
Learn how the Ontario eServices Program can support Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) adopt eConsult and eReferral and the benefits for the OHT priority patient populations.
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New Abortion Care Provincial Group
Available on eConsult
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The Ontario eConsult Service is pleased to launch the Abortion Care Provincial BASE™ Managed Specialty Group.
The Abortion Care Provincial BASE Managed Specialty Group:
- Provides aid in determining if a patient is an appropriate candidate for medication abortion
- Assistance in identifying necessary investigations (if any) and interpreting results pre- and post-medication abortion
- General tips for prescribing Mifegymiso and medications for symptom management
- Assistance in managing complications during and post-medication abortion
This specialty is available province-wide through the BASE™ Managed Specialty option via the Abortion Care, Obstetrics and Gynecology specialty categories.
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New Quick Guide for Sending eConsults |
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- Key responsibilities when sending an eConsult
- An overview of how to send an eConsult
- 5 key elements of a high quality eConsult request
- Important information about privacy, consent, documentation and billing.
For more eConsult resources, visit
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Data as of August 2021.This data has been reproduced with permission from the Ontario eConsult Centre of Excellence. For more information, please contact eConsult@HITSeHealth.ca. |
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For more information on anything in this email, or to schedule a follow-up appointment with our team, please contact us at the email listed below. |
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