EMR Specifications FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What are Ontario EMR Specifications?
2. What has changed since EMR Specification v4.1?
3. When is the set of Ontario EMR Specifications effective?
4. My EMR is certified for Specification v4.1A - do I need to upgrade?
5. What happens if the certificate for a physician's current EMR is suspended?
6. What happens if the certificate for a physician's current EMR is withdrawn?
   

Answers

1. What are Ontario EMR Specifications?

Ontario's EMR Specifications are the business and technical requirements that EMR offerings must meet in order to be certified by OntarioMD. Certified EMRs position physicians to access the patient information contained in regional and provincial digital health assets such as Health Report Manager (HRM), the Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS) and  and future assets as they become available.

By certifying an EMR offering, OntarioMD does not warranty the functionality of the EMR or the ability of the EMR vendor to support the EMR product and services. Only the EMR vendor can warranty the functionality of its product and provide the necessary services to support it. However, OntarioMD has processes it can invoke to remedy issues that may arise with conformance to the Ontario EMR Specifications.

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2. What has changed since EMR Specifications v4.1?

The Ontario EMR Specifications was restructured from to one comprehensive EMR Specification into several individual EMR Specifications. These individual EMR Specifications collectively represent the major components of Ontario EMR Specification v4.1/4.1A. Moving forward, each EMR Specification will be managed individually and will be published with its own specific version that will evolve independently of the others over time.

Ontario EMR Specifications:

• Core EMR Specification v4.2
• EMR - OLIS Specification v4.2
• EMR - HRM Specification v4.2
• EMR - CDM Specification v4.2
• EMR as a Service Specification v4.2*

* EMR as a Service v4.2 remains Draft Approved at this time.

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3. When is the set of Ontario EMR Specifications effective?

The following individual EMR Specifications are effective April 1, 2015:

• Core EMR Specification v4.2
• EMR - OLIS Specification v4.2
• EMR - HRM Specification v4.2
• EMR - CDM Specification v4.2
• EMR as a Service Specification v4.2*

* EMR as a Service v4.2 remains Draft Approved at this time.

At this time, publication of these individual Specifications does not trigger a new validation or certification requirement for the existing EMR offerings that have a certificate for EMR Specification v4.1/4.1A. Any new EMR offerings will be validated and certified according to the Ontario EMR Specifications that are in effect at the time.

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4. My EMR is certified for Specification v4.1A - do I need to upgrade?

Publication of these Specifications does not trigger a new validation or certification requirement for the existing EMRs that have a certificate for EMR Specification v4.1/4.1A.

A complete list of EMRs certified by OntarioMD is available on the Certified EMR Details page.

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5. What happens if the certificate for a physician's current EMR is suspended?

Funding:

There will be no impact to a physician's current funding if an EMR certificate has been suspended. Physicians who have implemented the EMR and are receiving funding will continue to receive funding.

Support:

In all cases, the agreement between the physician or physician group and the EMR vendor is still in effect and the physician(s) and vendor are required to fulfill their respective obligations. The vendor must provide ongoing support and maintenance of the EMR.

For physician groups that have not yet implemented an EMR under the EMR Adoption Program:
If the EMR vendor has not achieved the Technical Implementation Date (TID) for your group, the group will have the right to terminate its agreement with the EMR vendor.

For physician groups that have gone live with a certified EMR offering:
If the vendor has not upgraded the physician group to the applicable current Specification or Fix Release within the required deadline, the group has the right to terminate its EMR agreement with the EMR vendor.

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6. What happens if the certificate for a physician's current EMR is withdrawn?

If a certificate for a current EMR is withdrawn, in order to remain in the Ontario EMR Adoption Program, physicians will be required to migrate to another certified EMR. The use of a certified EMR enables physicians to access provincial information digital health assets such as Health Report Manager (HRM), the Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS) and  and future digital ealth assets . The Ontario EMR Adoption Program also provides transition support to assist physicians in their efforts to optimize EMR use.

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