April 2024 eTips Newsletter

Tips and advice on EMRs and digital health tools you can use NOW

From the CMO's Desk

Honouring Physicians on Doctors’ Day (May 1)

National Physicians’ Day is commemorated across Canada on May 1 to coincide with the birthday of Canada’s first female doctor, Emily Stowe. In Ontario, we call it ‘Doctors’ Day’ to recognize the contributions of physicians to individual lives and communities.

As physicians, you do more than diagnose and treat illnesses – you work as problem solvers and carers of people at their most vulnerable. OntarioMD (OMD) has worked alongside physicians for 20 years. We know the value of your health-care contributions and your dedication to serving your patients. We appreciate your challenges and will continue to explore technologies to help lighten your burden. We hear your concerns and will never stop advocating for meaningful change to put the joy back in health care by letting doctors be doctors, not administrators.

OMD is honouring Ontario doctors with a Doctors’ Day social media campaign to highlight 2023 OMD Luminary Award winners and to say thanks to all doctors for all you do. We thank you for providing excellent care and offer you help with EMRs and other digital health solutions to make your workload more manageable, whenever you need us.

We're only an email away at support@ontariomd.com.

Tip from a Peer Leader

OMD Peer Leaders comprise a network of over 60 physicians (family doctors and other specialists), nurse practitioners, nurses and clinic managers. As expert users of OMD-certified EMRs and other digital health and virtual care tools, they work with our Advisory Service Team to help you with your EMR and digital workflows. Discover what our Peer Leader Program and Advisory Service can do for you.

Specialist Series: Customize Your EMR to Be More Than a Digital Paper Chart

Your EMR includes a wealth of patient information. View the video with OMD Specialist Peer Leaders Dr. Vandana Ahluwalia (Rheumatology), Dr. Laila Bishara (Endocrinology), and Dr. Mahesan Srivamadevan (Cardiology) to learn how to tailor your EMR to show the information you need during patient encounters.

Advice from the General Counsel and CPO

Digital Health Virtual Symposium: Legal, Privacy and Security Implications of Using New Technologies

Doctors are modern-day heroes in white coats, working tirelessly to provide exceptional patient care in a rapidly evolving world. With the rapid proliferation of new technologies, it is imperative to scrutinize their legal, privacy and security implications. Have these technologies been vetted with the requisite expertise to assess their suitability for clinician use? What privacy standards govern these solutions? How do these technologies align with existing regulatory frameworks and what steps are being taken to ensure their compliance? These are some of the questions that run through my mind in my role as General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer.

At this year's OMD Educates: Digital Health Virtual Symposium on June 14, we will discuss these considerations, along with other topics such as AI, enhanced billing, secure messaging, and front office efficiencies, to name a few. To learn the latest information on these subjects, and hear from André Picard, our keynote speaker, award-winning author, journalist, and health columnist, register for early bird savings (over 30%) by April 25.

If you can't attend the virtual symposium, your conference fee gives you access to the recordings of the sessions to view at your convenience for four months.

OMD Change Management & Adoption Services

Still Using Paper MTO Forms? There’s a Better Way!

With eForms, OMD is making form completion easier for you. eForms are digital forms that you can complete from the convenience of your EMR and submit electronically. Other forms that are available in your EMR are delivered through FAX to the recipient. With eForms, you no longer need to fax paper or digital forms, only to have them sent back because they are outdated or have incomplete information. There are 16 forms available from the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), with more on the way!

Make form submission easier for yourself and request eForms today!

Leverage Our Expertise to Meet Your OHT’s Digital Health Needs

OMD is involved with Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) in every area of Ontario. We deliver digital tools to clinicians in all OHTs. We can support clinicians in your OHT with:

Training and education
Change management and adoption of existing or new digital health tools
Preventive care and integrated care pathway projects

Digital Health Drug Repository (DHDR): A Valuable Item in Your Patient Care Toolkit

It’s crucial for clinicians to know about the medications that patients are taking to avoid adverse drug events. DHDR provides up-to-date information on drugs dispensed to patients, which you can access seamlessly through your EMR. Join the many clinicians who have access to DHDR. (Please note: DHDR is still not available to TELUS Health EMR users. Please speak to TELUS Health if you are their client and want access to DHDR.)

Contact support@ontariomd.com or your local OMD Advisor to connect DHDR to your EMR.

OMD Education

We present at many events and conferences to engage with you, your staff and other health system stakeholders. Hope to see you at one of them!

Recent news:

OMDEducates: AI 101: Intro to AI and AI Scribe (Mar. 20) – In a session moderated by CMO Dr. Chandi Chandrasena, Dr. Rosemarie Lall joined the Director, Information Services at the Centre for Effective Practice, Anne Dabrowski, in the first in a series of AI webinars.
OMDEducates: Primary Care - Secure Messaging – Part II (Apr. 3) – In part two of this collaborative offering of OMDEducates webinars on secure messaging, OMD and Ontario Medical Association (OMA) representatives discussed using the tool to reduce physician burden.
OMA Enhance Family Practice Billing (Apr. 9) – This joint OMD-OMA webinar with the Family Medicine Health Human Resources Lead at University of Toronto's Department of Family & Community Medicine, Dr. Ryan Banach and OMD Advisor Katie Peter, featured tips and tricks to help identify billing opportunities, reduce missed payments and leverage EMR features to enhance practice billing.

What's coming up:

73rd Annual Refresher Course for Family Physicians (Apr. 17-19) – Stop by our booth to meet our OMD Advisors and sign up for products and services or receive support for your EMR and digital health needs.
Digital Health Canada Innovation Rounds (Apr. 24) – In a webinar entitled, "Navigating Administrative Burden: Meaningful Digital Health Solutions for Community Family Medicine", Dr. Chandi Chandrasena will speak about family physicians' administrative burden and the need to consider the impact of newly designed systems or tools on clinician users. Dr. Clare Liddy will then talk about Ontario Health's PatientsB4Paperwork (Pb4P) initiative.
Northern Constellations & Connections 2024 (May 2-4) – OMD Advisors will be on hand to address your EMR and digital health questions at this crucial medical and health sciences conference in Northern Ontario.
OMA District 2 Session: Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Healthcare (May 8) – Hear Dr. Chandi Chandrasena speak on artificial intelligence in the session, "AI: The Art of the Possible in the Community".
Pri-Med Canada (May 8-10) – Have EMR questions? Join thousands of clinicians at this three-day conference for clinical evidence-based education for all health-care professionals. Stop by our booth and meet with our team of OMD Advisors.

OMD Educates: Digital Health Virtual Symposium (Jun. 14) – Join us at our conference for community physicians (specialists and family doctors), clinic staff and stakeholders with dynamic live-streaming sessions on topics that matter to you. Register by April 25 for 30% early bird savings.

OMDEducates.com: Your Digital Health Knowledge Repository Site

Bookmark our site if you’re looking for:

Advice on EMRs and Digital Health Tools: Learn how the OMD Advisory Service can help you use these tools effectively.
More Patient Data: Ask a question or sign up to receive drug information, hospital reports, and lab results through your EMR.
Tools and Resources: e.g., EMR tools, ‘how to’ videos, EMR Communities of Practice, and more.
Training and Education: e.g., Get Peer Leader advice, find out about upcoming educational events, watch recordings of past webinars, etc.

If you have a suggestion for a tool, training or resource you and your peers could use, email us and you could see it on OMDEducates.com?

Looking for Ways as Community Family Physicians and Specialists to Improve Your Practice?

Have you been asked to complete a CPSO quality improvement (QI) project this year? The Office of Continuing Professional Development at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine, together with OMD, has announced the return of its popular workshop, Essentials for Practice Improvement for Ontario Physicians. This online synchronous course is designed for clinicians with little to no knowledge of QI who want to:

Spots are limited: reserve yours today.

Cohort 1: Register now!
Dates: April 26, 2024, May 17, 2024, May 31, 2024

Cohort 2: Registration to open soon.
Dates: October 4, 2024, October 25, 2024, November 15, 2024

Need Help with Your EMR?

Your EMR should be a benefit, not a burden. If you need help, our OMD Advisory Service can assist you! We can help you use your EMR better to save you time and frustration.

We are experts in all OMD-certified EMRs! Through our EMR Lab, we can develop tools and suggest helpful workflow improvements.

Have you joined our EMR Communities of Practice (CoP)? CoP is a virtual place for EMR and digital health tool users, including clinicians and office staff, to come together and improve upon their knowledge, discover upcoming changes, ask questions and learn from colleagues. Find out more about OMD EMR Communities of Practice and join the CoP for your EMR!

We can connect your EMR to drug information, eConsult, eForms, hospital reports, and lab results.

If you prefer to talk to a peer, our Peer Leaders can also help you. Contact support@ontariomd.com and help will soon be on the way!

We can help you protect your patient data through our FREE CME-accredited online Privacy & Security training.

Important Reminders

Changing EMRs or Practices, Moving Your Practice? OMD Needs to Know! 

All EMR Users 

Please notify OMD at support@ontariomd.com when switching to another EMR, moving offices or joining a different clinic. We also need to know if you’ve changed your email address or phone number. 

HRM Users

If you’re moving, switching Internet providers, changing your Internet plan, or switching EMRs, your IP address may be changing and OMD needs to know! We need to update our records to make sure your EMR continues to receive patient reports through HRM. Please notify OMD at support@ontariomd.com a minimum of 7 business days in advance of the change with a complete change request and a valid IP address to ensure you don’t experience any service interruptions.

Partner News

OntarioMD and CHIMA partner to enhance digital health literacy and education for health care professionals

OntarioMD and the Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA) have joined together to collaborate on shared objectives that support physician practices and help enhance health data literacy among physicians and medical office assistants. The partnership will help advance digital health in primary care through targeted professional development initiatives and advocacy for the awareness and adoption of the Health Information Certified Associate (HICA) certification for frontline health information professionals. Learn more about the partnership.

Calling all Primary Care Clinicians, Clinic Managers and Medical Office Assistants!

Comprehensive primary care is the foundation for an effective health system, but more support is needed to ensure your clinic runs as efficiently as possible. Since a well-run clinic depends on high-performing administrative staff, the team at Women's College Hospital (WCH) is working with health system leaders to understand interventions that may help administrative staff in your clinic. WCH is conducting a survey—please take a moment to ask your medical office administrative staff to complete it. The survey results will directly impact efforts to support you in delivering high-quality and efficient patient care.

Complete the survey to support the face of primary care.

Please direct any questions to the study coordinator at MOAsurvey@wchospital.ca.