Lessons Learned: Implementing a Common EMR Across the Province of Ontario

The Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC) represents 73 Community Health Centres, 10 Aboriginal Health Access Centres, 13 Nurse-Led Practitioner Clinics and 11 Community Family Health Team. In 2011, the Community Health Centres and shortly thereafter the Aboriginal Health Access Centres decided to procure and implement a common electronic medical record (EMR) system. The AOHC acted as the signing authority and implementation arm of the project. To date, 85 unique organizations are participating on the same EMR with 37.5% greater use than the average physician’s office in Ontario*. While the EMR implementation is an impressive feat, the CHCs and AHACs are also leaders in Ontario when it comes to standardized health information. Centres have developed a standard data entry manual which allows for information from the EMR to be aggregated, compared and reported on for researchers and funders. This webinar will describe the lessons learned for one of Canada’s largest EMR implementation projects.