July 15, 2009 (Toronto, ON) – Northern Ontario is once again at the leading edge of an important new e-health service. The service, called a Diagnostic Imaging Repository or “DI-r” will enable electronic transfer of medical images and the associated doctors’ reports between hospitals in Northern and Eastern Ontario. Today marked the official opening of the repository’s data centres in Thunder Bay and in Sudbury with a visit to the Thunder Bay Data Centre by representatives of Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) and eHealth Ontario, the project’s funders.
Forty hospitals in the North West and North East Local Integration Networks (LHINs) and 19 hospitals in the Champlain LHIN (the greater Ottawa region) are involved in the project; also referred to as NEODIN – the Northern and Eastern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network. When completed in 2011, sharing of images and reports through the NEODIN DI-r will service almost two million Ontarians across 840,000 square kilometres from the Manitoba border in the west to Cornwall and Hawkesbury in the east. The result will be better access to health care services, particularly for patients in smaller communities. The $34.8 million project is funded by eHealth Ontario and Infoway.
On today’s tour of the Thunder Bay facility, Susan Hughes, one of the project’s clinical specialists, demonstrated how images can be viewed from North Bay General Hospital using the NEODIN DI-r. It took just seconds for the high quality images to appear.
“If a patient from the Cancer Centre in Thunder Bay had to be referred to an oncologist in Ottawa for treatment that could not be provided locally, the oncologist would be able to access that patient’s imaging procedures. Although separated geographically, the technology of the DI-r allows the physicians access for consultation, referral and emergency services enhancing the patient’s ‘continuity of care,’” explained Susan.
Bruce Sutton, Chief Information Officer of Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, St Joseph’s Care Group and co-sponsor of the NEODIN project, commented on how the system will provide better access and better care. “We often see patients in our Emergency Departments who have potentially life-threatening head injuries. Whether the patient is referred into or out of Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, the imaging procedures would be available for the accepting physician through access to the DI-r. This means the accepting physician could have access to the images prior to the patient’s arrival and that could be anywhere across the North West, North East and Champlain LHINs; providing the best possible care for the patient.”
“In addition to improving health services, the NEODIN project is bringing high value, high technology jobs to the North”, said Sutton.
“Having technology in place to quickly share diagnostic images amongst radiologists and physicians located far away reduces the need for travel, saves money and saves precious time, which is particularly vital in urgent situations,” said Richard Alvarez, President and CEO, Canada Health Infoway. “Repositories are essential to our goal of having the tools in place to instantly share the diagnostic images of Canadians with the specialists who need to see them, and is a core component of the electronic health records being built for every Canadian.”
Canada Health Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government. Infoway jointly invests with every province and territory to accelerate the development and adoption of electronic health record projects in Canada. Fully respecting patient confidentiality, these secure systems will provide clinicians and patients with the information they need to better support safe care decisions and manage their own health. Accessing this vital information quickly will help foster a more modern and sustainable health care system for all Canadians.
eHealth Ontario is a new organization that plays the leading role in harnessing technology and innovation to improve patient care, safety, and access in support of the Ontario Government’s health strategy. eHealth Ontario published the first eHealth strategy for Ontario in March, 2009, which is focused on providing a comprehensive, patient-focused, secure and private electronic system. eHealth Ontario will drive the transformation of Ontario’s healthcare system, building toward an electronic health record for all Ontarians by 2015.
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For more information:
Dan Strasbourg
Director, Corporate Communications
Canada Health Infoway
(416) 595-3424
Rob McLellan
Communications Lead
NEODIN
(416) 768-2841
Heather Brown
Communications Advisor
eHealth Ontario
(416) 568-4238