Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences - First Hospital in Canada to Achieve Top Honour for Completely Paperless Medical Record System

WHITBY, ON, Oct. 22, 2014 /CNW/ - Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) has received the prestigious HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 award.  Ontario Shores is the first hospital in Canada and the first mental health hospital in the world to receive this prestigious recognition.  This designation is awarded to healthcare organizations for having a completely paperless health information system which advances the use of patient data to ultimately improve process and performance.

"Achieving Stage 7 reflects the high standard of quality at Ontario Shores and demonstrates how we are advancing care for individuals living with mental illness," says Karim Mamdani, President and CEO at Ontario Shores. "Our electronic medical record system improves the delivery and quality of care that we provide and standardizes clinical documentation in an environment which is efficient, secure and collaborative," adds Mamdani.

Offered by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the Stage 7 award signifies attainment of the highest level on the Electronic Medical Records Adoption Model (EMRAM).  It scores hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database on their progress in completing 8 stages (0-7), with the goal of reaching Stage 7 – the pinnacle of an environment which is truly paperless.

"Ontario Shores has created a wonderful achievement in the pantheon of Stage 7 organizations. They are the first exclusively behavioural health facility to earn Stage 6 and now Stage 7 and the first Stage 7 in Canada," says John P. Hoyt, FACHE, FHIMSS, Executive Vice President, HIMSS Analytics. "They deliver care in multiple modalities with care plans that are truly patient specific, all in an electronic method. There is a high degree of use of structured documentation with generous discrete data generated to feed analytics and reflex rules that drive best practices. Ontario Shores is truly a leader in their field in the use of EHRs."

This final stage, Stage 7, represents an advanced patient record environment, where there is a complete electronic system in place. With this designation, paper charts are no longer used to deliver patient care and the electronic medical record is used to improve the quality of care offered as well as advance patient safety.

Clinical information can be readily shared in a manner that supports the use of patient data to improve performance and transform clinical practices to one which is evidenced-based, ensuring that patients and families are recipients of recovery-oriented care.  Additionally, some key patient safety and quality of care strategies include the use of computerized physician order entries where prescribed medication is entered electronically replacing a physician's handwritten note thus significantly reducing the risk for errors.

The process to award a hospital this prestigious Stage 7 designation includes a site visit by an executive from HIMSS Analytics and former or current chief information officers to ensure an unbiased evaluation of the Stage 7 environments.

HIMSS is a global organization that produces health IT thought leadership, education, events, market research and media services around the world.

About Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences:
Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) is a leader in mental health care, providing a range of specialized assessments and treatment services for people living with complex mental illness. Patients benefit from a recovery-oriented environment of care, built on compassion, inspiration and hope. Ontario Shores engages in research, education and advocacy initiatives to advance the mental health care system.

SOURCE: Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences

Andrea Marshall, Manager, Communications and Public Affairs, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, 905-430-4055 ext. 6581, Cell: 905-439-0224, [email protected]