Descriptions of Community Care Access Centre Applications Containing Personal Health Information
INFORMATION & REFERRAL APPLICATIONS
Health Care Connect is an application that helps CCAC staff link Ontario residents who do not have a family physician with a doctor who is able to accept new patients. Patients without a family physician can register with a valid OHIP card and complete a health questionnaire to determine their need for family health care services.
CARE COORDINATION APPLICATION
Client Health & Related Information System (CHRIS) is a web-based technology platform that holds the patient health records for each of the 14 CCACs. CHRIS provides the CCACs with detailed client records, case-management tracking and support, while enabling health-system integration to/from the community. It allows CCAC intake staff to assess patients, refer patients to community services, and initiate care plans.
Document Management System (DMS) is a patient-based document library, integrated with CHRIS, that provides secure storage for CCAC patient personal health information. It is accessed and managed by authorized CCAC staff. DMS includes documents received as part of a patient referral from a hospital or family physician, updated medical referrals when health professionals are required to delegate treatments or procedures for a patient's treatment, documents completed by a CCAC Care Coordinator, reports completed and received from CCAC contracted service providers, communications from long-term care (LTC) homes, etc.
Bed Board Management (BBM) is a bed inventory-management system used by CCACs for long-term care, as well as complex care and rehab placement. It matches patients waiting for service and provides reservation management for long-term care, short stay or respite. It also allows long-term care homes and hospitals to view the wait-list for particular bed types and services at their organization, which assists them in planning for capacity and room assignments.
APPLICATIONS FOR CCACs TO COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER HEALTH PARTNERS
Health Partner Gateway (HPG) is a portal application system that supports the timely and secure exchange of information between a CCAC and a service provider. Service providers can access HPG to receive and respond to service offers, and access referrals and important patient records required for quality health care delivery. This allows CCAC Care Coordinators to receive prompt patient status updates to better coordinate patient care.
Community Health Portal (CHP) is an application that provides service providers, physicians and hospital staff with real-time health information about CCAC patients. Through CHP, CCAC Care Coordinators can share a summary of a patient's services, assessment(s) and other status documentation. Authorized health partners can access relevant information of patients actively receiving CCAC services.
Our patient-assessment application is a software system integrated with CHRIS that contains a set of standardized assessment tools used by CCAC Care Coordinators to assess the needs of their patients. This information can be shared between CCACs. A number of types of assessments are used by CCACs and the type of assessment used for a particular patient depends on the location of the patient and type of needs.
The RAI-HC (Home Care) is a comprehensive assessment that is done either in hospital prior to discharge or in the home of a patient who has chronic or complex health conditions. Assessment gathers information related to an individual's strengths, risks and changes in health, which in turn helps CCAC Care Coordinators to work with patients and families to plan and deliver services to meet those needs. The assessment supports the patient's care needs and ensures the patient receives the right care in the right place, at home or in another setting, such as long-term care.
The interRAI-CA (Contact Assessment) is an intake screening assessment for use in the community or hospital to determine a patient's need for a more comprehensive assessment, urgency for home care service provision and the need for specialized services.
The interRAI-PC (Palliative Care) is an assessment instrument that is used in community settings for all adults in a palliative care setting. It provides a comprehensive assessment of strengths, preferences and untreated health needs. The information collected from the assessment allows CCACs to provide an evaluation of all untreated health needs and to develop a care plan.
Integrated Assessment Record (IAR) for CCAC Assessments is an application that allows authorized users to view a consenting client's assessment information to effectively plan and deliver services to that client. Copies of the assessments completed by CCAC Care Coordinators are provided to an IAR repository put in place by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. CCAC assessments are only shared with IAR if the CCAC patient grants consent to share the information. Assessments in the IAR are viewable by staff in CCACs, hospitals, long-term care homes and other health partners who have been granted permission. This ensures that all heath-service providers have ready access to the information they require to provide care to their patients.
OTHER INTEGRATIONS WITH CCACS' CHRIS
eNotification is a web-service interface that enables participating CCACs to be notified of active CCAC clients who meet certain criteria and are visited by Emergency Medical Services (EMS), present to a hospital emergency department, or are admitted to or discharged from hospital.
eReferral is a web-service interface that supports an automated method for a Referring Partner (i.e., acute-care hospital) staff to refer clients being discharged for CCAC assessment and services. The Referring Partner users identify the need for referrals to a CCAC in their system, at which point the system automatically sends the information to CHRIS for the CCAC user.
Client Information Query is a web-service interface that enables authorized partner systems to query CCAC client health care information from CHRIS. The client information available through this interface includes: Client and Contact information, Allergies, Risk and Safety information, Care Plan and Community Support Notes, Client Diagnosis, Referrals and Services.
ConnectingOntario is an initiative that will enable health care providers and organizations to share and access electronic patient information across the care continuum in the greater Toronto area, northern and eastern Ontario, and southwest Ontario. Clinicians will be able to securely access their patients' health information through a clinical viewer (portal) and/or an electronic medical record (EMR).
INFORMATION SECURITY AT THE LHIN SHARED SERVICES ENTITY
HSSO has put in place privacy and information security controls around personal health information or other personal information. HSSO adheres to the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA) and its regulations as well as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
HSSO maintains comprehensive and robust administrative, physical and technical controls, consistent with industry best practices, to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of personal health information while being transferred, processed or stored. There are multiple layers of security controls, including industry security best practices for system protection, encryption protocols, firewalls, physical access controls, privacy impact assessments and threat and risk assessments. All staff are required to complete privacy and security awareness training annually and sign confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements.
