Volume 2, Issue V March 2017 Statistical Update March 2017 Hospitals/Clinical Centres: 85 GPs using Healthlink: 4018 Practices: 1516 Inside this Issue eprescribing Patient Portal ereferrals MedLIS MN-CMS Welcome to the Q1 2017 Healthlink newsletter. I am happy to take this opportunity to update you on developments in the project, newly launched services and plans for the coming year. I hope it will be a useful source of information and I am keen to hear your thoughts and feedback. Gemma Garvan, Programme Delivery Director for Access to Information, ehealth Ireland eprescribing An eprescribing pilot began in December 2016 with 9 pharmacies in Cork. This service which is a collaboration between Healthlink, HSE, GPIT, CompleteGP, McLernons, PCRS and the IPU enables GPs to print prescriptions using plain paper rather than on dot matrix printers. The new prescription is a single page document which contains a bar code as well as a list of items for the patient. The file is sent to a central repository so the patient can choose which participating pharmacy they wish to go to. The pharmacist will use a bar code reader to scan the script which provides confirmation that the script has not been amended in any way. The prescription is then dispensed to the patient as normal. eprescribing also enables the reimbursement process to be more streamlined. Previously the hard copy paperwork from the multipart form had to be returned to PCRS but now the copy can be sent digitally. The work stream and solutions for this innovation arose from a challenge issued to ehealth Ireland by the Director General in response to requests from numerous GPs to address the practical problems associated with using old printers and associated paper processes. To date there have been over 10,000 prescriptions of which 6,900 have been fulfilled/ dispensed. The pilot shall be reviewed later this year with a view to making any necessary system changes or enhancements and a decision made as to when this service can be rolled out nationally. Referral Stats PMS Developments If you would like to join the Healthlink newsletter mailing list, please email your details to info@healthlink.ie Patient Portal We were delighted to have the opportunity to demo the prototype of MyHealthPortal to Minister Simon Harris at the Innovation Showcase last December. Minister Harris was very impressed with the functionality and supportive of the technology which will give patients secure online access to their own health information, whenever they require it.
New Services & Project Updates ereferrals The number of electronic General Referrals continues to grow and in January represented over 17% of all referrals for OPD services. In the last three months alone, over 50% of GPs have used ereferrals and to date 70% have used the service at least once. We are working with a number of hospitals to increase the number of specialties that can be referred to electronically as well as to increase the response rate back to the GPs. We are also working with the practice management system vendors on making enhancements and suggested improvements to ereferrals functionality in the accredited systems. The specialist Ophthalmology referral pilot with Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital has concluded. We are now compiling the pilot report and will seek signoff from both GPs and Hospital in the coming weeks. An Endoscopy referral pilot is underway in St. Vincent s Hospital. The number of referrals is increasing each week and we are already at the halfway point of the pilot target. We hope to be in a position to go live with this service by the end of Q2. MedLIS The National Medical Laboratory Information System ( MedLIS ) project will replace all the existing systems in the 43 HSE and voluntary laboratories with the Cerner Millennium system. The system will be deployed as a central single instance of the software and database. This model will facilitate the electronic patient-centred storage of complete laboratory diagnostic data and allow clinicians and other health care providers to have access to full laboratory information on each patient on a 24/7 basis. Healthlink are at an advanced stage of testing of the proposed GP solution which will encompass both ordering and transmitting of results. We will be contacting a number of GPs shortly to request participation in a pilot. Maternal & Newborn Clinical Management System The MN-CMS project is the design and implementation of an electronic health record for all women and babies in maternity services in Ireland. This record will allow all information to be shared with relevant providers of care as and when required. The first hospital to go live with the new system was Cork University Hospital in December 2016. Babies born in CUH that day are the first in Ireland to have an electronic health record from birth. University Hospital Kerry was the second hospital to go live on 11th March. Plans are in place to roll out the system across the country with the next implementations due to take place in The Rotunda Hospital and the National Maternity Hospital. The introduction of this new system in Ireland also marks the introduction of the first national electronic patient chart for maternity anywhere in the world. This means that every maternity hospital in one country will be using the same electronic chart with standardisation of the information flow and collection which has very obvious advantages for the patient and carers. Healthlink are currently working on shared-care and discharge summary messages which will be exchanged between GP practice software systems and MN-CMS. Other Messaging Updates Out of Hours reports from MIDOC in Longford and Westmeath are now being sent to all General Practitioners. Two new message types are live from Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital - A&E Notifications and Inpatient Admissions.
Services at a glance - Outbound messages per hospital Hospital/Clinical Centre Page 3 Lab Radiology Discharge Summary Discharge A&E A&E Letter Death OPD Waiting List Inpatient Admission Cardiology Report Outpatient Clinic Letter Alliance Strencom AMNCH ж Bantry General Beacon Beaumont Cappagh CareDoc Cavan General Connolly CUH Coombe Crumlin Ennis General Affidea Kerry General KDoc Letterkenny ж Limerick Louth County Mater Mater Private Mayo General MedLab Merlin Park MIDOC Mullingar General Naas General NVRL Nenagh NEDoc Our Lady s, Drogheda Our Lady s, Navan Portiuncula Portlaoise Roscommon County Rotunda RVEEH ShannonDoc Sligo General South Infirmary Victoria South Tipperary SouthDoc St. Columcille's St. James's St. John of God s St. John s, Limerick St. Luke s, Kilkenny St. Mary s, Phoenix Park St. Michael's St. Vincent s St. Vincent s Private Temple St. Tullamore UCHG Waterford WestDoc Wexford Live ж = Planned Volume 2, Issue V Co-op Report
Referrals by hospital Number of messages received by date Live ж = Planned Breast Prostate Lung Pigmented Lesion Neurology General AMNCH Bantry General Hospital Beacon Hospital Beaumont Hospital Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital Cavan Monaghan Hospital Connolly Hospital Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital Cork University Hospital Kerry General Hospital Letterkenny University Hospital Louth County Hospital Mallow General Hospital Mater Private Hospital Mater Public Hospital Mayo University Hospital Mercy University Hospital Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore Naas General Hospital National Maternity Hospital Holles Street Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Our Lady's Hospital Navan Portiuncula University Hospital Roscommon University Hospital Rotunda Hospital Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital Sligo University Hospital South Infirmary Victoria Hospital South Tipperary General Hospital St. Columcille's Hospital St. James's Hospital St. Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny St. Michael's Hospital St. Vincent's University Hospital Temple Street Children s University Hospital UL Hospitals Group University Hospital Galway University Hospital Limerick University Hospital Waterford Wexford General Hospital Year Neurology Prostate Breast Lung General Pigmented Lesion Total 2015 521 1268 17785 776 33980 1081 55411 2016 453 1674 21603 1005 115495 2637 142867 2017 86 424 5299 291 33106 614 39820 Total 1060 3366 44687 2072 182581 4332 238098 Volume 2, Issue V Page 4
Practice Management System Developments Healthlink are finalising a list of development requests for 2017 with the Clanwilliam Group and Complete GP relating to HealthOne, Socrates, Helix Practice Management and the Complete GP systems. Among these requests are some enhancements to ereferrals functionality. Development is currently being scoped and we will keep you informed of when new functionality is due for release. Healthlink Support We provide support on the entire Healthlink application including client certificates, downloading messages into practice software, retrieving messages within your account, sending referrals and lab order requests. Support is Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm on 01 8287115. Alternatively you can email info@healthlink.ie and request a call back. User guides and demo videos are available on our website at the following page: www.healthlink.ie/trainingdocs.htm About Healthlink The National Healthlink Project provides a web-based messaging service which allows the secure transmission of clinical patient information between Hospitals, Health Care Agencies and General Practitioners. In the past 20 years Healthlink has expanded from a single hospital proof-of-concept to a national broker for country-wide messaging with over 10 million exchanges of information annually. Healthlink messaging is at the core of the National Electronic General Referral Project, the National Cancer Control Programme referral initiatives and GP communication from the National Screening Service. Alongside national projects, Healthlink transfers a range of messages in real time including laboratory and radiology reports, discharge information and waiting list updates. Message files are specified in HL7, an internationally recognised standard for healthcare information exchange and formatted in XML. The system interfaces with hospitals, clinical centres, healthcare agencies and GP practice management systems and transfers data via a secure network to its messaging servers. The HealthlinkOnline portal is secured with SSL and Client Certificates. Web Services are also made available as an alternative access to our system and for best interoperability. Healthlink was the first operating group to join ehealth Ireland in 2015. National Healthlink Project Kings Inns House, 200 Parnell St, Dublin 1 Phone: 01 828 7115 Email: info@healthlink.ie www.healthlink.ie @healthlinkirl