NEWS RELEASE

Latest electronic medical record technology to benefit Ontarians at community health care organizations

TORONTO, December 6, 2011 – Clients at Ontario’s Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Aboriginal Health Access Centres (AHACs) will soon benefit from state-of-the-art electronic medical record (EMR) technology.

The Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC) today announced the selection of Nightingale On Demand as the new EMR to support client care at CHCs and AHACs across Ontario. The announcement follows a rigorous procurement and evaluation process, with extensive participation from the CHC sector and external business and technical experts.

The AOHC has signed an agreement with Nightingale Informatix Corporation covering a provincial licence for all current and future AOHC member organizations, including CHCs, AHACs, Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics, and Community Family Health Teams. Deployment of the new system will be one of the largest-ever implementations of an EMR in Canada. The project is funded by eHealth Ontario and the centres themselves.

“A provincial EMR licence that covers our members at a fair price is a significant achievement for the sector,” said Adrianna Tetley, Executive Director of the AOHC. “It ensures our members are aligned with the provincial direction for electronic medical records, and are well positioned to benefit from current and future eHealth solutions.”

“We’re very pleased to partner with the AOHC to offer community health care organizations in Ontario a web-based EMR system tailored to their needs,” said Sam Chebib, President and CEO of Nightingale. “This agreement not only broadens our customer base, it gives us an opportunity to build upon our market-leading product and participate in a trend towards the delivery of health care services through community-based health centres.”

The new EMR will be fully bilingual, centrally hosted and provincially certified to meet the latest standards for EMR systems. As a certified system, Nightingale On Demand supports chronic disease management, preventative care, prescription management, and interoperability with eHealth Ontario solutions.

“We were all impressed by the user interface of Nightingale On Demand,” said Dr. Itamar Tamari, a family physician at the Stonegate Community Health Centre and a member of the EMR evaluation committee. “This system will allow staff to get up and running quickly and efficiently, and still meet the complex needs of interprofessional teams at CHCs.”

Approximately 3,500 health care providers will use Nightingale On Demand to provide client care at 83 CHCs and AHACs throughout the province. A number of enhancements tailored to the sector’s interprofessional teams will be integrated into the system.

Quick Facts

• The new EMR is a centrally-hosted application service provider (ASP) model. This reduces local infrastructure needs and makes it a cost-effective choice. It also offers enhanced privacy, security and system management functionality.
• The EMR will support higher-quality care through improved access to a comprehensive client record by health care providers, as well as information to identify trends and improve planning at each centre and across the sector.
• Implementation of the new EMR across the sector will take approximately two years and is scheduled to begin in early 2012.

About the Association of Ontario Health Centres - www.aohc.org

Representing more than 120 health care organizations, the Association of Ontario Health Centres is Ontario's voice for community-governed primary health care. Members include Community Health Centres, Aboriginal Health Access Centres, Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics and Community Family Health Teams.

AOHC member centres work hand-in-hand with those they serve. Each is governed by a board made up of clients, community members, health providers and community leaders. Community governance enables health services to be oriented towards what community members identify as their most important needs. 

About Nightingale Informatix Corporation  - www.nightingalemd.com

Nightingale is one of the fastest-growing health care service and software companies in North America. Based in Markham, Ontario, it is recognized as an industry leader in web-based EMR systems serving the needs of primary care practices, multi-physician outpatient clinics, and large-scale regional health organizations and networks.

Nightingale On Demand (NOD) is a full-featured EMR and practice management solution that automates clinical activities such as documenting client care, writing prescriptions, ordering lab tests and receiving results, as well as scheduling client visits. NOD is a true cloud and web-based system, and is certified by OntarioMD to meet the latest provincial standards for EMR systems.

For more information, please contact:

Mary MacNutt 
Strategic Communications and Campaigns Manager
Association of Ontario Health Centres
Mobile: (647) 992-2642
Email: marym@aohc.org