The use of eReferral technology is a crucial tool in improving equity and accessibility to specialty services in the healthcare system. This innovative technology allows patients to access primary care and find specialists who may not have been visible or available otherwise. For instance, Ocean’s Healthmap provides users with the ability to search for health services for any patient demographic, resulting in a comprehensive list of all providers in Ontario that offer the required service. In 2022, Ocean received approximately 531,000 eReferrals, or 44,250 per month, leading to the elimination of approximately 420,000 fax pages each month. (1) Digitizing patient data is good for the environment and helps to ensure the protection of patient privacy through secure and safe transfer of their information.
Use of Ocean has resulted in impressive improvements in care delivery, including a 20 per cent reduction in surgical wait times and a 52-day reduction in wait times for certain referral pathways. Unnecessary MRIs were reduced by 12 per cent.
Demonstrating Ocean’s leadership in this area, the Ontario government has chosen Ocean’s technology to power its Ontario eServices Program eReferral rollout. Our team is collaborating with the eHealth Centre of Excellence to assist in overseeing the development and implementation of coordinated access and eReferral in Ontario. With its platform expanding rapidly, Ocean is poised to revolutionize access to healthcare across Canada.
Explore further how WELL is revolutionizing access to healthcare in Canada by downloading our 2022 ESG Report.
(1) This statement assumes that each electronic referral saves 10 pages that otherwise would have been faxed back and forth.
