TORONTO, Ontario, Canada – December 4, 2018 — Canadian healthcare administrators, clinicians, hospitals and ministries of health are focusing on improving access to care for patients. Novari Health’s unique access to care software platform is enabling dramatic improvements for Canadians accessing healthcare services and in shortening wait times.
Long wait times in Canada for many healthcare services like mental health and joint replacements require innovative new ways of doing business. This is exactly what is happening in the communities of Milton, Oakville and Mississauga, Ontario. The Halton Healthcare Central Intake Program is providing centralized and coordinated referral management for addictions, mental health, diabetes and foot care referrals. Building on the success of these clinical “pathways” the MH Central Intake Program has gone live with a centralized and coordinated access to care model for all hip and knee replacement referrals.
Leveraging Novari’s eReferral and central intake technology, all hip and knee referrals are initially processed at the central intake program and then quickly electronically routed to one of a few rapid assessment centres (RACs) where patients are examined. It is anticipated that approximately 70% of patients at a RAC will be surgical candidates and their eReferral sent to an individual orthopedic surgeon. Under this new of model care, patients receive a quick surgical assessment as to their appropriateness for surgery. Patients who are surgical candidates will experience shorter consult wait times, often referred to as “Wait 1”. Patients for whom surgery may not be appropriate can be quickly diverted to other non-surgical treatment options. Busy surgeons receive only clinically appropriate referrals from the RACs, and with fewer patients waiting to be seen, wait times go down. Referring primary care physicians and nurse practitioners in the Mississauga Halton region have a single point of access for their hip, knee, diabetes, mental health and foot care referrals.
Centralized intake and subsequent intelligent routing of patient referrals is only possible and scalable at a regional or provincial level with an enabling software platform like Novari’s. For security and scalability, the Novari software platform is hosted on the Canadian Microsoft Azure data centres. Many of the 14 health regions (LHINs) in the province of Ontario have invested in the Novari access to care software platform for a variety of referral pathways including hip & knee referrals.
“The folks at the Halton Healthcare Central Intake Program continue to break new ground on improving patient access to care. We’ve been at their side as their technology partner and together we have demonstrated the power of innovation and technology to make a real difference for patients in need of care”
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John Sinclair CPHIMS-CA,
President, Novari Health
“Advocacy for reduced wait times in medicine has been a major component of my professional career over the past 20 years. Seeing Novari solutions come to life in the Mississauga Halton region in a way that produces real results leaves me with a great deal of
satisfaction.”
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Dr. Chris Simpson,
Former Chief Medical Information Officer, Novari Health
About Novari Health
Based in beautiful Kingston Ontario and with satellite offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Boston and Sydney, Australia, Novari Health specializes in designing, building and deploying enterprise-scale software solutions that improve access to care for patients and at the same time the delivery of healthcare. Our Novari Access to Care® integrated software platform includes modules that enable eReferrals, coordinated care, telemedicine, surgical eBooking, wait list management and air traffic control-like functionality, that helps patients get the right care at the right time by the right provider. Novari is an award-winning Microsoft partner.
Contact
John Sinclair
President
