Vanguard Magazine

I INFORMATION MANAGEMENT THE HEALTH INFORMATION RECORD Forces project rewrites is a communications officer with the Information Management Group. Jes Ellacott Cpl Sandie Walsh (far leſt), Cpl Marie- Claude Jobin, Capt Valérie Lafortune and Warrant Officer Mario Bergeron (right) have a new electronic backbone to manage heath information. Photos: Sergeant Paz Quillé It has taken 10 years of development, but one of the largest electronic health record projects ever to be undertaken in Canada has reached full operational capability. T he Canadian Forces Health Information System (CFHIS) has now been fully deployed to 44 sites where the De- partment of National Defence (DND) provides health services to Canadian Forces members. The project is now in the process of closing out. CFHIS, a joint project between the Canadian Forces Health Services and the Information Management Group within DND, addresses many of the shortfalls associated with paper-based health and dental records by implementing a computerized solu- tion to better manage the everyday delivery of medical and den- tal services. CFHIS supports patient registration and scheduling, clinical notes, results review, electronic prescribing, allergy/drug interaction checking, immunization tracking, laboratory, diagnos- tic imaging and dental treatment. In very basic terms, the system allows the whole business pro- cess of delivering health services to flow more efficiently; it inte- grates everything and puts the data at the fingertips of the care- givers in order to provide a holistic view of the patient within a secure environment. "It is this integration that makes the system unique, compared to other electronic health records systems in existence," said Satya Puttaswamaiah, the CFHIS project manager. 44 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 www.vanguardcanada.com CFHIS in numbers: • Patients registered (serving and released): 180,000 • Number of users: 3500 total, 1300 concurrent at peak times • Average monthly lab reports processed: 34,000 • Average monthly radiology reports processed: 8,000 • Average monthly appointments booked: 170,000 • Average monthly clinical notes written: 65,000 • Documents scanned each month into patients' records: 100,000 • Numbers of standard and customized reports available: 120 "Canada is a leader in this and the CF is a leader in Canada. We've integrated medical, dental, lab and radiology information management across 44 clinics. It's deployed internationally; it's on ships and it's a secure environment. This type of project with such a broad scope has not been achieved in any Canadian juris- diction, whether federal, provincial or municipal. So it's one of a kind," she said. CFHIS is contributing to helping CF members receive the best healthcare possible wherever they are located. Information is col- lected accurately, stored safely and provided to health and dental

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