In the current state of the health care system there is uneven access to primary care, and too many people struggling to navigate the system are receiving care in the hospital for issues that would be better dealt with in the community, and then are being readmitted to the hospital only days after leaving. To address these issues and improve efficient continuity of care, the Health Links program provides a new model of care at the clinical level in Ontario. In this model all of the patient’s health service providers in the community, including primary care, hospital, and community care, work together to create a coordinated care plan for the patient. The initial focus of Health Links is on highcost users. Health Links, and primary care as a whole, require comprehensive data analysis to effectively support patients and providers. SHIIP is a portal-based technology solution that enhances individual patient care while providing real-time feedback and summarized data to help plan care. The primary objective of SHIIP is to develop an Integrated Portal with core functionalities that will facilitate the sharing of information and enable person-centred care coordination. SHIIP aims to assists the success of Health Links by providing consistent maintenance and sharing of patient records, timely communication and collaboration between a patient’s multiple health care providers, and removing physical barriers through the virtualization of care processes. SHIIP is designed to identify and assist in the delivery of care for complex/high needs patients, and will facilitate reporting, performance monitoring and quality improvement efforts. Some of the anticipated benefits of SHIIP include: enhanced patient experience, reduced workflow duplication, improved access to information at point of care, more efficient clinical documentation, and improved health outcomes. Ultimately, SHIIP helps to improve access and quality of healthcare, and consequently health equity, especially for complex/high-needs patients.
Objective
To describe how the South Eastern Integrated Information Portal (SHIIP) will support the Health Links program with the delivery of care for patients, by facilitating reporting, performance monitoring and quality improvement efforts. The portal-based technology that SHIIP uses to integrate all of a patient’s clinical care information into summarized data and to provide real-time feedback will also be explained.