Administrative staff confirm eReferral benefits

Adopting electronic referral solutions processes addresses systemic issues in all areas of the quadruple aim. Patients are more connected to their care, wait times and appropriateness of referrals improves, specialists and testing departments see fewer no shows, and providers are assured that their referrals are received and managed.

Quick Facts​

A Recent Study¹ on eReferral in Ontario found:​

• 40-60% of faxed referrals (eFax and traditional paper fax) are incomplete​
• As many as 20% of faxed referrals are misdirected or “lost” leading to delays in patient care​
• Misdirected faxes account for 63% of unauthorized access to PHI in Ontario​

The Espanola Regional Hospital DI Clinic ​went live with eReferral in December 2020:​

• To date, administrative staff have managed 334 eReferrals, over 11 weeks – only 2 were declined due to missing information​

I really enjoy using the [eReferral solution] and not having to handle as much paper. Everything is right there in front of you and it really makes it easy to communicate with the referring providers, if needed, instead of picking up the phone or waiting for faxes to go through and find out they didn’t get the fax or vice versa. With this program I am more confident that nothing can fall through the cracks and get missed.

Admin User
Espanola Hospital Diagnostic Imaging​

1. Gerritsen, B. Axe the Fax Report. A primer on fax technology use in the 21st century – Ontario’s Healthcare System Perspective. Master of Health Informatics, University of Toronto. Oct 2020.