Project AMPLIFI
Project AMPLIFI is a province-wide clinical data integration initiative funded by the Ministry of Health, and being led by St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. The project is intended to improve the continuity of care for long-term care residents by streamlining transitions between care institutions, leading to safer care for Ontarians and more efficient workflows for providers.
Project AMPLIFI will implement PointClickCare’s Post-Acute Care Network Management software solution to support the exchange of health information between healthcare institutions. Participating hospitals will be integrated with their networks of long-term care homes to support efficient, streamlined transfers for patients and residents.
Background
As patients move from one healthcare institution to another, their medical information and history needs to be exchanged between care settings, and made available and accessible electronically to their care teams. Currently, patients are often transferred between hospital and long-term care home with minimal documentation of their symptoms, recent treatments, or updated medical information. When documents are provided, they are mostly in paper format, requiring manual copying of information. By addressing this communication gap and enabling the electronic exchange of health information, there are opportunities for improved patient outcomes, improved provider workflow efficiencies, and a reduction in medical errors that should improve patient safety.
The Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission Report emphasized the importance of improved healthcare integration. It suggested establishing a coordinated system of care between hospitals and long-term care homes. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the important role that data integration plays in the seamless transition of care for vulnerable populations. In response to this report, the Government of Ontario announced through the 2021 Fall Economic Statement, that improving patient transitions is a provincial priority and committed funding to support the sharing of clinical data across the province.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is a premier academic and research healthcare organization, and a member of the St. Joseph’s Health System. In 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital completed a pilot project to digitally integrate the hospital information system (HIS) with the electronic medical record (EMR) of health system partner, St. Joseph’s Villa Long-Term Care (Dundas, Ontario). The pilot integration demonstrated value through improved workflow efficiencies for care providers and saved time by reviewing and integrating external electronic documents into the patient's local record. As the first Canadian hospital to complete this integration, and a direct result of the project’s success, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton was tasked with leading Project AMPLIFI.
Health Information Exchange Functionality
- Successfully match patient records between software systems.
- Facilitate exchange of clinical information between hospital information systems and long-term care home electronic medical records.
- Exchange summaries of patient encounters containing read-only data for viewing in real-time during the patient admission or arrival process.
- Exchange a specific discrete data set (problem lists, medications, allergy and immunization records) that can be imported and/or reconciled into the patient’s local chart.
Project Timeline and Budget
Project AMPLIFI is funded for a three-year period ending March 31, 2024. Provincial funding covers the software integration and implementation costs, as well as the annual software licensing fees. As part of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s commitment to the Ministry of Health, an extensive benefits evaluation is being completed to determine the value of this integration across the province. The Ministry of Health will use the evaluation to assess the usefulness of the technology as part of the decision to commit post-project and operational funding for Project AMPLIFI.