November 10, 2007
The Secure Email for Health Project initiated by the Renfrew County Community Care Access Centre in 2005 is enabling even the smallest providers in the county’s health care system to improve client services. Executive Director Remy Beaudoin says linking service providers through the Internet can reduce clients’ waiting time and protect their personal information.
“[Computer technology] permits us to make a healthcare system in Renfrew County that’s all inclusive and capitalizes on volunteer assets,” says Beaudoin.
Renfrew County is the first community in Ontario to launch this type of program, says Diane McKinnon, Executive Director of Renfrew County Community Futures Development Corporation. “It’s breakthrough technology for the service providers,” she says, and “is transforming health care” in the area.
Over 100 organizations and businesses have collectively benefited from the project so far. These include 24 local healthcare agencies, such as volunteer based organizations, as well as 75 private and public healthcare providers, such as pharmacies, medical laboratories, contracted service providers and every physician’s office.
Including the volunteer-based agencies and smaller organizations was critical to the success of the project, says Beaudoin. These agencies make an important contribution to the county’s healthcare system. Without their participation, there would be more gaps, he says.
The real winners are the healthcare clients, says McKinnon. That’s because secure email helps the providers become more efficient and improve patient care.
Clients who come to any entry point in the system have to provide basic information about themselves before they can be served, says Beaudoin. When they are referred to another provider, their confidential information would be transferred through a secure server to the new provider. This lets agencies focus on the reason for the referral and reduces the chance of making errors in client information.
This is the first step along the way, says Beaudoin. Ideally, all their relevant medical information would be transferred as well, but this is very complex and is five to 10 years down the road. To ensure privacy there would have to be a way to determine who needs what level of information.
“This is a fine example of our knowledge based economy,” says McKinnon.
The project is a partnership among the Community Futures Development Corporation, the Community Care Access Centre and the Ontario government’s Smart Services for Health Agency, which provides the secure channels.
The CFDC’s contribution of computer infrastructure for the smaller agencies was essential to the project, says Beaudoin. The CFDC provided up-to-date computers to the volunteer-based agencies that wouldn’t have been able to participate without support.
He says piloting the project in Renfrew County has helped the local agencies provide optimal care and strengthen their working relationships.
The project fits the CFDC mandate by increasing community capacity, McKinnon says. “What better project could there be than to improve healthcare in the community?”