Burlington’s Joseph Brant Hospital and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton have launched a new integrated health information system partnership that they say “will enable more seamless care for patients and improved experiences for healthcare providers.”
The partnership sees Joseph Brant Hospital adopting Dovetale, St. Joseph’s award-winning health information system that was developed in partnership with Epic, the world-leading digital health information solution developer.
The new development means that healthcare providers from each organization will be able to easily access patient medical histories.
The technology also uses highly secure encryption that is in line with patient privacy legislation.
Eric Vandewall, President and CEO at Joseph Brant Hospital, says that the adoption of Dovetale will also allow the facility to “digitize and modernize care” across their entire organization.
“Our new system will revolutionize our capacity to create healthier communities,” Vandewall continued.
The implementation of Epic’s Dovetale means that Joseph Brant will be moving from a “largely paper-based system to a modern digital health information system.”
The change also means an ongoing collaboration with St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton that will align the two healthcare organizations.
Dr. Mike Heenan, President of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and interim CEO of St. Joseph’s Health System, says that the implementation of a shared health information system between the two healthcare organizations “will help healthcare providers deliver exceptional, high-quality care when and where patients need it.”
“The implementation of this system will streamline the way providers across the region work and help us on our journey toward a more integrated, patient-centred system.”
St. Joseph’s Healthcare is recognized as a Stage 7 certified hospital – the highest ranking – by the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society and is therefore considered a leader in innovative technology implementation.
Through Dovetale, healthcare providers will be able to easily view key clinical patient information such as visit and medication histories.
Meanwhile, patients will be able to access an online portal to view their health information, which then enables them to take a more active role in managing their care.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare will also be using the partnership as an opportunity to enhance its service offerings by seeing how Dovetale is adopted and maximized in other healthcare settings.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare began using Dovetale across its three campuses in December 2017 after partnering with Epic on its development.
Hamilton Health Sciences uses a different but similar Epic system and launched its usage of the technology in June 2022 across all of their sites.
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