Ontario eReferral Specification

Status

The Ontario eReferral Specification Interim Release was completed on June 18th, 2010.  Copies of the Interim Release specification are available and can be obtained by sending a request to standards group

eHealth Ontario  has developed an Ontario Standard for the electronic transfer of referrals between health care providers. Electronic information connectivity within the circle of care is a fundamental driver for adoption of information technology in health care today. Exchange of information for referral purposes has been recognized as one of the most important processes in the relationship among healthcare providers.

Process

The Ontario eReferral Specification was developed by gathering existing Ontario business and  technical requirements (e.g. Alternate Level of Care Resource Matching and Referral, eReferral & Access Tracking, and others) as well as existing eReferral Standards (e.g. pan-Canadian eReferrals, international standards, etc.).

The Ontario eReferral Specification was validated with numerous Ontario stakeholder groups from Dec 2009 to March 2010, as follows:

  • Ontario eHealth Executive Sponsor (Dec 2009)
  • eReferral Steering Committee (Dec 10, 2009,  Feb 2, 2010)
  • eReferral Business Review Group (Jan 26, 2010)
  • eReferral Technical Review group (Mar 11&12, 2010)
  • Public Review (Mar 22 – April 9) – starting Mar 22, 2010

The three week Public Review of the eReferral Specification was completed on March 22, 2010. Over 80 comments were received at the end of the public review period.

Materials from the Ontario eReferral Specification will soon be submitted to Canada Health Infoway Standards Collaborative for possible inclusion to pan-Canadian eReferral Standards.

Additional Information:

If you have any questions on the specification, please do not hesitate to contact ehealth standards at ehealthstandards@ehealthontario.on.ca.