Enabling Data Sharing for Hospital-to-Community Transitions in the Toronto Region: A Stakeholder-Informed System...

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Healthcare Systems Engineering
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Significant data sharing gaps persist between Ontario hospitals and community health agencies, hindering effective patient care transitions.
• The Toronto region exemplifies these challenges within Ontario's broader healthcare system.
• Lack of standardized discharge communication protocols contributes to fragmented patient information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a system-level architecture for standardized discharge communication.
• To enhance provincial interoperability within the healthcare system.
• To address cross-sector data gaps and improve continuity of care.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 26 multi-sector stakeholder interviews to gather requirements.
• Utilized a House of Quality (HOQ) matrix to map stakeholder needs to functional features.
• Designed a centralized discharge eHub platform architecture.

Main Results:

• A system-level architecture for standardized discharge communication was developed.
• The proposed eHub platform integrates with existing eReferral infrastructure (Patients before Paperwork initiative).
• Key features include interoperability, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) integration, secure sharing, and analytics.

Conclusions:

• The proposed eHub architecture offers a viable solution to close cross-sector data gaps in Ontario's healthcare system.
• Standardized discharge communication and enhanced interoperability are crucial for improving continuity of care.
• Leveraging existing infrastructure like eReferral can facilitate the implementation of such platforms.