eHealth Ontario Innovation Lab at Mohawk College

Innovation Lab Pilot Now Live

We have recently launched an Innovation Lab – in partnership with Mohawk College – where over 100 early adopters from educational institutions, health care organizations, and private sector companies across the country are testing and refining solutions to help transform patient care in a virtual electronic health record (EHR) environment. Available in its initial form at innovation-lab.ca, this free online service gives access to a data set that simulates the provincial client registry – the repository which uniquely identifies patients based on demographic information and links them to medical records such as lab results or hospital discharge summaries. The lab also provides a moderated forum for discussions. Patient names and data used are fabricated to safeguard privacy and confidentiality. “This is the first time we’ve been able to offer IT solution developers and vendors open access to a virtual EHR testing environment,” says Peter Bascom, Chief Architect, eHealth Ontario.  “The lab encourages experimentation with eHealth Ontario products by demonstrating interoperability with provincial EHR assets. It will create the opportunity for more companies to enter the digital health market and it will help vendors who want to respond to procurement proposals to better understand the risks and costs associated with EHR asset integration.” Interested in becoming an early adopter? Go to innovation-lab.ca, provide some basic information through registration, and begin testing. The lab will be rolled out more broadly this fall with more EHR data and services as well as lessons learned from our early adopters.