The Sault Star column - March 23, 2007

2007-03-23

GHC Introduces "Holy Grail" Project by MaryLou Bernardo

In Canada, billions of dollars are spent on the millions of prescriptions written every year!

According to the Ontario Pharmacists' Association (OPA), "Canadians in their 40's and 50's fill an average of nine prescriptions a year. This climbs to 22 for those between 60 to 79, while Canadians over 80 fill an average of 42 prescriptions each year."

What if your pharmacist with your permission and assured privacy, could access your drug profile that lists all of the prescriptions you are taking, current lab test results, the 'clinical intent' of prescribed medications, as well as your care plan?

EMRxtra, is a $3.5 million initiative of the Group Health Centre (GHC), OPA and the Canada Health Infoway (CHI), introduced in August of 2006 working to expand the continuum of care to local pharmacists, in a secure and confidential manner through an electronic medical record (EMR).

In the cases of patients with chronic illness, studies have shown that a pharmacist's input with a physician is very effective. It's the first project of its kind in Canada and described by federal health minister Tony Clement: "This is as close to the Holy Grail in the health information technology (IT) sector as you can get."

Lucy Fronzi, Group Health Association EMRxtra Project Manager reports, "The EMRxtra 'pilot project' kicked off in February of 2007. Letters of invitation were sent to GHC vascular, congestive heart failure and diabetes patients."

Since EMRxtra is a pilot project, not all GHC patients meet the criteria to participate.' According to Fronzi, "Our goal is to evaluate the outcomes of the pilot project and determine how EMRxtra can help patients with chronic illness."

Eligible patients are asked to attend an education session. If they want to participate, they're required to sign a consent form to give access to their medical chart to the pharmacist of their choice.

The co-located IDA Pharmacy is the first to participate in the pilot project. Pharmacist Ron DeLuco took part in the first EMRxtra 'go live' session on March 29th. Fronzi adds, "Once we work out the processes during our pilot project launch, EMRxtra will become available to all of the community pharmacists later this month."

Clinicare, developer of GHC's EMR, has a pharmacists' module for the electronic chart that has built in securities to parts of the chart. OPA has developed training modules and sessions for local pharmacists who are learning the practice protocols for diabetes, congestive heart failure and vascular disease.

To have access to EMRxtra, a pharmacist must first sign a confidentiality agreement with the GHC and attend a privacy session. An individual user name and password is assigned and the EMR is accessed through an encrypted Internet site (a secure GHC site connected through the internet) otherwise known as the 'Pharmacist's Gateway.'

Primary care providers based at GHC are encouraged to use Med Act (also known as RxMed Track), an essential tool for prescription writing and medication tracking.

Pharmacists are using Med Act for medication management to provide them with accurate prescription lists. Prescriptions entered using this module are stored by the EMR that allows the information to be retrieved efficiently and compared with other facts stored in the patient's chart. It's checked against the patient's allergies, intolerances and other medications. Med Act also scans for prescription overdoses and duplicate drug therapies.
Training for the local pharmacists begins on April 16th and on April 30th, EMRxtra will become available to over 20 local pharmacies and as many as 50 pharmacists. Fronzi adds, "Eventually, we hope to make it available to GHC patients, who (consent to and) want to participate."

Dr. Lewis O'Brien, family physician with the Algoma District Medical Group and I.T. physician lead with EMRxtra Project says, "The EMRxtra project is a chance for physicians and pharmacists to share knowledge in an efficient and accurate way to enhance care for patients. The pharmacists are the missing link in the circle of care and their enhanced involvement in the health care team can only be a benefit for excellence in patient care."

EMRxtra is expected to become a template across Canada for electronic integration of EMR into community pharmacies. At the EMRxtra launch, Clement, added, "I just want you to mark this day in your calendar because I really think this will be one of those 'turning points.' The EMRxtra program will mark a 'sea of change' in the delivery of health care."

Participants and providers are asked to fill out a pre-implementation survey to gather additional input and help with the evaluation of the project. The international Courtyard Group has developed an evaluation strategy and work plan, for the EMRxtra Project expected to wrap up by February 2008.

If you are a: GHC enrollee (your physician or nurse practitioner is based at GHC and you receive most of your care here); you meet the criteria (you are a vascular, congestive heart failure and/or diabetes patient) and would like to participate in EMRxtra Project, please call 759-5633 weekdays.

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MaryLou Bernardo is a Communications Coordinator with Group Health Centre's Patient Relations and Communications Department. E-mail: bernardo_m@ghc.on.ca Visit: www.ghc.on.ca

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