eReferral
Electronic Referral (eReferral) simplifies the referral process.
Formerly eHealth Centre of Excellence, learn about the new brand
About eReferral
Electronic Referral (eReferral) enhances communication between primary care clinicians and specialists/organizations and enabling quick and secure referrals to be sent and received through an electronic platform.
Amplify Care is supporting the development and adoption of coordinated access and eReferral in Ontario. Working closely with system and community partners, our team is developing an integrated end-to-end eReferral strategy focused on connecting primary care clinicians to available specialists and programs while improving communication between clinicians and patients.
One of our goals is to leverage innovative technologies to create referral solutions across the province.
Read the Peer-reviewed research behind eReferral
How we amplify
- Integrated with most electronic medical record (EMRs), so you can send referrals quickly and directly
- Standardized referral forms are updated automatically with pre-populated information from your EMR
- Referral status updates within your EMR
- A map-based directory of available services and programs, complete with wait times where available
- 3,284 Cumulative number of eReferral Receiver listings (as of January 31, 2025)
- Customized eReferral forms ensure that you receive complete referrals, eliminating the need to request additional information from the referrer
- eReferral forms include integrated clinical guidelines to support best practices, e.g. when it’s clinically appropriate to request an X-ray versus MRI
- Administrative tasks are lessened, such as the need to make follow-up phone calls
- 15,676 Cumulative number of eReferral senders (as of January 31, 2025)
- Patients can choose to receive email notifications with referral status so they can track their referral from start to completion
- They can receive appointment instructions via email (i.e., do not eat two hours prior to appointment)
- Patients can confirm appointments directly from the email notifications
- 88% of patients that are satisfied with the eReferral experience (FY 24/25; N=35,096)
- 95% of patients that found the eReferral process easy to follow (FY 24/25; N=35,096)
- 88% of patients that felt more informed about their care (FY 24/25; N=35,096)
Very efficient way to get notice of the referral and the subsequent appointment booking
Patient in OH North West Region
Of all the referral systems we already have in place, this is the best by a mile.
Primary Care Clinician
I have always received immediate attention for any problem that pops up!
Patient in OH East Region
Ontario eReferral Deployment Teams
As part of the Ontario eServices Program, eReferral deployment is supported by Amplify Care and Ontario Health:
Supported by Amplify
- OH-West: Waterloo Wellington, South West, and Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant, Erie St. Clair regions
- OH-Central: Central, Central West, Mississauga Halton, and North Simcoe Muskoka regions.
Supported by Ontario Health
- OH-East Region: South East, Central East, and Champlain
- OH-North Region: North East and North West
- OH-Toronto Region: Toronto Central
- Provincial: Ontario
From another region? Not sure if you’re covered?
Ontario Health eReferral Repository (eRepository)
The Ontario eServices Program and Ontario Health (OH) have been working in partnership to establish an eReferral repository. The eReferral data is stored within Ontario Health and used by authorized OH personnel for a number of purposes, including the support to broader health system planning.
Case studies & publications
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Erie St. Clair and South West: Cataract Central Intake One Year Post Go-Live
The St. Joseph’s Health Care London Cataract Central Intake (CCI) went live in April 2024. The CCI serves the Ontario Health West sub-regions of Erie St. Clair and South West for non-urgent cataract surgery consultations. The CCI was developed to improve the equitable distribution of referrals and positively impact patient wait times for cataract surgeries…
Interested in using eReferral?
Please complete this quick form and our team will connect in with you to get started!
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