Resources for Implementation
- AI Scribe
An AI scribe is a digital assistant that uses artificial intelligence to listen to conversations during a patient visit and automatically turn them into clinical notes. This helps reduce the amount of time physicians spend typing or dictating notes after a visit. Some AI scribes can also automate tasks such as booking follow-up appointments or sending reminders using robotic process automation (RPA).
The Government of Ontario, in partnership with Supply Ontario and OntarioMD, has selected recognized Canadian vendors to offer AI scribe technology that supports family physicians and nurse practitioners. These vendors meet key clinical, privacy and security standards, and offer fair pricing—helping to reduce the time, cost, and effort of finding the right solution. The vendor of record (VOR) list is available on the Supply Ontario website.
To help physicians and nurse practitioners integrate AI scribes into their practice, OntarioMD will offer complimentary change management support, including training, technical assistance, and workflow guidance. Please email OntarioMD for any questions or requests for information.
Additional Resources:
OntarioMD Report: “AI scribes show promising results in helping family doctors and nurse practitioners spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork”
OntarioMD Report: “Transforming Primary Care with AI: A Collaborative Implementation Strategy” - eConsult
eConsult is a secure digital health tool that provides family physicians, nurse practitioners, and midwives with timely access to specialist advice that they may need to deliver care to their patients, often eliminating the need for an in-person specialist visit. - e-Prescribing
e-Prescribing enables prescribers and pharmacists to transmit prescriptions electronically and enables prescribers to electronically transmit a prescription directly from an electronic medical record (EMR) to the pharmacy management system (PMS) of a patient’s pharmacy of choice. ePrescribing also enables clinical communications, making it easier for prescribers and pharmacists to clarify questions about a patient’s prescription. - eReferral
eReferral (electronic referral) enables quick and secure referrals between primary care clinicians, specialists, and organizations across the province, reducing administrative burden and allowing clinicians to spend more time delivering patient care. - Health Report Manager
Health Report Manager (HRM) facilitates secure electronic transfer of patient records between hospitals, independent health facilities, specialty clinics, and community-based primary care clinicians (such as physicians and nurse practitioners) using an OntarioMD-certified EMR system. It reduces the reliance on paper- and fax-based workflows by adding patient reports, such as narrative, text-based medical records, and diagnostic imaging, directly into a patient’s record within their clinician’s EMR. This provides clinicians with timely access to the clinical reports they need to make informed decisions and empowers care teams to follow up with patients sooner to ensure seamless continuity of care. - Online Appointment Booking
Online appointment booking solutions enable patients to book in-person, video, or telephone appointments electronically, by choosing a date and time and receiving an automated appointment confirmation, all in a self-serve environment available 24/7.
In addition to booking appointments, online appointment booking solutions offer other beneficial features such as automated email, text message, and voice reminders.
- Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS)
Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS) is a secure digital health tool that provides authorized health care providers with access to patients’ laboratory test orders and results, both past and present, from hospitals and public health and community labs through 1 platform. The centralization of information enables a patient’s results to follow them as they move between different care settings (e.g., from a hospital to long-term care), and enables health care providers to make more informed, timely, and safe care decisions.
OLIS also reduces laboratory errors caused by illegibility or misinterpretation of requested lab orders, improves the turnaround time for lab results, and enables patient orders and results to be added directly into an EMR.
How to Get Started
Support is available for primary care practices across all 6 Ontario Health regions. Each region is equipped with a Regional Digital Health Team that can:
- Answer your questions or requests for information about digital health tools
- Provide guidance around digital health tools
- Facilitate connections to enable digital health tool sign-up and onboarding
To get started, contact your Regional Digital Health Team:
If you don’t know your Ontario Health region, email the Pb4P Change Management and Adoption Team for assistance.