QHR to connect over 72 physicians to AccuroEMR

QHR Technologies Inc. ("QHR" or the "Company"), a leading Canadian Healthcare technology provider announced that its Electronic Medical Records (EMR) division, Optimed Software Corporation, will connect over 700 users including 72 physicians, in the community of Barrie, Ontario to its Accuro®EMR, creating the largest integrated healthcare network in Canada using one EMR software.

Barrie & Community Family Health Team (BCFHT) first implemented EMR with Clinicare Corporation in February 2008. In December 2009 QHR acquired Clinicare for Optimed.  With this announcement, BCFHT will be joining 449 other physicians who formerly used Clinicare in upgrading to Optimed's Accuro®EMR.

With BCFHT employing 72 of the community's family practice physicians, the vision is to connect all of the region's healthcare providers on Accuro®.  Georgian College and the local Nurse Practitioner clinics will be utilizing the BCFHT IT infrastructure.  Georgian Radiology, who provides diagnostic imaging services to the Barrie region, signed with Optimed in mid-March.

"As the central hub to patient care, we envision using Accuro®EMR for more than just our team, we saw it as an integral part in caring for our community in an innovative way and synchronizing all health professionals throughout the Barrie community," said Dr. Brent Elsey, Medical Director for the BCFHT. 

"The Barrie and Community Family Health Team is working on this EMR implementation as part of a joint venture partnership which includes The Barrie Family Health Organization Physicians and Barrie Medical Clinics Inc.  The partnership is just another aspect of how the Family Health Team in Barrie is working to ensure the most cost effective delivery of health services while enhancing both the quality and access to care for patients" said Michael Feraday, Executive Director of the BCFHT.  "The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care initiated the Family Health Team approach to primary health as a way to bring together different health care providers to co-ordinate the highest possible quality of care for patients in Ontario."

This integration between health care providers in the region will also be greatly beneficial to the Medical Office Assistant students at Georgian College, many of whom will work in the Barrie healthcare community once they graduate.  Having Accuro®EMR as part of the college curriculum and as the EMR used in the nurse practitioner clinics where students get hands-on experience will enable the students to be fully trained in all areas of clinical care, including EMR.

"In fact it is quite brilliant.  Using one EMR that services all partners in a region is a model that I'm sure, moving forward, will be very popular, but for us, it means we are taking an innovative step forward in training students to be ready day one for working in our health-care community," said Dr. Cassandra Thompson, Dean, School of Health & Wellness, Georgian College.

On the heels of successfully passing validation testing for OntarioMD's CMS 3.0 specification and becoming funding eligible in November 2010, the team at Optimed are delighted.

"We are excited to be a part of this ground-breaking integration in the Barrie region," said Al Hildebrandt, President of Optimed and CEO of QHR Technologies Inc.

"Working diligently with these exceptional physicians and educators to create an integrated network that further enhances patient care, saves time and models innovation is certainly, a privilege.  Our team can provide the support, knowledge and stability a project of this size needs," said Hildebrandt.

Optimed has been successful in offering an EMR that suits both the needs of General Practitioners and Specialists.  Understanding that each practice has specific needs and workflows, Accuro®EMR has incorporated the best of breed features into one EMR that can be customized for each practice or clinic. This makes Accuro®EMR a good fit for the Barrie community project, as they integrate general and family physicians, specialist physicians, allied health professionals and college students to create a community clearly focused on patient healthcare. 

All eyes are on this diverse group of health practitioners creating a regional network that will certainly be a historic, forward-thinking model for other regions, as OntarioMD and Ontario eHealth work to drive EMR adoption across Ontario.

Currently, Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) interfaces with BCFHT's Clinicare system though OntarioMD's new Hospital Report Manager(HRM)  application, sending over 10,000 hospital reports every month directly into their EMR. On average, these reports, once transcribed, are sent within 30 minutes from the hospital to the family physician -- a process that used to take as long as 12 days.  Optimed has already redeveloped the HRM interface in Accuro®EMR.