When Dianne Beattie talksB about the digital imaging hospital information network she oversees, her focus isn't on the IT equipment in London but the residents of southwestern Ontario who get better health care because of it.
Like the patient who arrives at a hospital outside London on the Friday afternoon of a long weekend and doesn't have to spend several days fretting before the X-rays are read, she explains.
Or the elderly person in Owen Sound who can be examined by a specialist in London without making the lengthy, and sometimes arduous, trip to London for an appointment.
"We're improving people's access to the system and the quality of care they're receiving," she says. "We're also making sure that the right information about patients is getting to health care providers at the right time."
Beattie is the integrated vice-president and CIO of information management and strategic alliances for St. Joseph's Health Care and the London Health Sciences Centre, two teaching hospitals that play key roles in the functioning of the Southwest Ontario Digital Imaging Network Project.
It was started in 2002 when hospitals in the region began discussing ways of sharing digital diagnostic services. Since then the network has expanded to 19 hospitals around and north of London and west to Chatham and Windsor, Beattie says.
For the Ontario Hospital Association, the London network is a shining example of what increased adoption of e-health and the expansion of hospital information networks could mean in terms of improved patient care.
There are other good examples of similar initiatives. Ottawa area hospitals have set up a network to link all their laboratories. The major downtown hospitals in Toronto have created a network for sharing patient data that is also available to other hospitals in the region.
Then, there's the Ontario telemedicine network that allows people in remote regions of the province to see specialists without leaving their communities.
"This kind of data sharing is the next frontier in health care," says an OHA spokesman.
Beattie says the hospital network is good for patients but also for family doctors and the specialists.
"Whether they are in the regional hospital or their offices, the family doctors can see all the information that the specialists here are basing their diagnosis on. And it adds flexibility to the work life of health care providers," by enabling them to gather information faster and more efficiently.
The impetus for the imaging network began with a shortage of radiologists in the regional hospitals in southwestern Ontario.
"A radiologist from London would have to visit the four small hospitals in the Thames Valley. Now that image is sent to London for examination rather than waiting for the radiologist's next visit. People don't have to stay in hospital so long.
"We still do work in the regional hospitals, but this system provides a lot better backup," Beattie continues. It also ensures that a patient's record is kept up to date and available to every health care provider.
"It shows each hospital can still provide a lot of services and get economies of scale by collaborating with others," she notes. "Together, we can provide high quality care and better access for everyone."
Ideal model
The London model works well when there is a large urban centre with smaller rural communities around it. It is being looked at by other regions in the province.
The network is based on a PACS (picture archiving and communication system) system developed by GE Healthcare. The system makes digital images of patient diagnostics, such as X-rays and MRIs, which can be reviewed by specialists. They can then send their findings electronically, through the network, to family doctors and regional hospitals.
Both Canada Health Infoway and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care provided funding for the imaging network. It is seen as a model for other hospital networks because it is organized as a shared or cooperative initiative among hospitals-rather than each hospital developing its own system.
The OHA says there are a lot of "exciting things happening in the use of data sharing among hospitals." It is moving health care away from individual practitioners to teams that link hospitals, specialists and family doctors.
The association says that in a recent survey of e-health practices such as information networks among its members, the average Ontario hospital was at the 59th percentile on a scale of zero to 100. The result shows that while hospitals are working on implementing practices such as the London network, "there is still a lot of hard work ahead."
(Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist based in Ottawa. He can be reached atalex.binkley@sympatico.ca)
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