e-Health is about leveraging the advances in information technology to share the health care information of patients among authorized health care providers, across all clinical settings. The end benefit: delivering better patient care.

The health care industry is significantly behind other industries in reaping the benefits of information technology. To improve efficiency and system integration that will deliver care that meet patient's health care needs, the health care system must leave the paper-based model behind, and leverage the advances in information technology.

The Ontario Government recognizes the benefits of information technology and has a comprehensive e-Health strategic approach to bring about the necessary changes in our health care system.

Currently, e-Health in Ontario is comprised of a series of projects that represent the building blocks for a secure electronic health care system in Ontario.

The journey toward an integrated e-Health system in Ontario still has significant milestones ahead. However, a number of major advancements have been reached :

For example, Ontario's telemedicine system, operated by the Ontario Telemedicine Network, is one of the most comprehensive in the world. It provides patients in remote areas of the province access to health care professionals and specialists that would otherwise involve travelling long distances from home, and possibly increased wait time for specialized care.

The list of drug therapies for Ontarians who are recipients of Ontario Drug Benefits or Trillium Drug Program are now available electronically for health care providers to access in 181 Ontario hospital emergency departments. The program will soon be rolled out to other clinical settings in hospitals, such as clinics, in-patient admitting and Family Health Teams.

Ontario also has an extensive electronic Child Health Network (eCHN). eCHN is one of Canada's largest electronic repositories, with records of over 900,000+ children in Ontario representing more than 2.4 million visits and accessed by approximately 5,000 authorized health care providers at 98 hospital sites across Ontario.

Establishing an electronic health record for each person using Ontario's health system is central to the delivery of better, safer and more efficient care. The electronic health record will contain all the information on a patients' medical history, such as prescriptions, laboratory tests, x-ray and imaging, hospital admissions and physician diagnoses and care, transported via a secure network that will be accessible by authorized health care providers across the province, where ever the patient needs care.

The vision for Ontario's health care system is to ensure the delivery of the right information about the right individual to the right person at the right place at the right time, to improve the care and health outcome of each patient.

Check the site frequently for information about e-Health in Ontario.