PointClickCare (PCC) is a leading cloud-based healthcare software platform that connects care, services, and financial operations across providers in long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC). Committed to improving healthcare across various care modalities via improved care collaboration and value-based care delivery across North America, PCC relies heavily on interoperability among healthcare systems for its success. A key initiative in this effort within Canada is Project AMPLIFI, an Ontario-wide clinical data integration project funded by the Ministry of Health and being led by St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH). Project AMPLIFI intends to improve the continuity of care for long-term care residents by streamlining transitions between care institutions, leading to safer care for Ontarians, and more efficient workflows for providers. This is achieved by enabling the seamless, bi-directional exchange of clinical information between hospitals and long-term care homes across the province.
The challenge
Healthcare organizations throughout Ontario operate using Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems with varying data structures, code sets, and interoperability capabilities. This creates a significant challenge, especially when patients transfer between facilities and their clinical information isn’t transmitted to their new clinicians and caregivers. In Canada, the use of Health Information Exchange (HIE) solutions is limited due to low adoption. Accordingly, healthcare institutions often share detailed discharge summaries as paper documents through faxes, which require transcription and lead to delays in information sharing, increased potential for medication errors, and higher readmission rates. Essential medical information is estimated to be missing in more than 90% of the transitions between long-term care and emergency departments, underscoring the need for better coordination and communication tools among Ontario providers.
For PCC, a leader of long-term care EHR solutions in Ontario, the lack of interoperability hampers the ability of their care providers to deliver comprehensive and timely care, negatively impacting operational efficiency and the overall quality of care provided. PCC needed a reliable integration partner to address these challenges effectively, ensuring that their platform could seamlessly exchange critical patient information across different healthcare settings.
Project AMPLIFI stemmed from a September 2020 pilot project connecting SJHH with St. Joseph’s Villa in Dundas, Ontario. This was the first Canadian use of the clinical data integration initiative, which was developed by PointClickCare. During the pilot, PointClickCare provided the technology to enable meaningful collaboration and access to real-time insights, which was utilized to transmit patient data during transitions between the hospital and long-term care home resulting in better care coordination. The bi-directional flow of information reduced the potential for medication errors and enabled faster treatment for the resident.
The solution
Following the success of the initial pilot, the Ontario government infused $22 million to create project AMPLIFI to address the interoperability challenges in Ontario’s healthcare system. The project AMPLIFI team was tasked to set up bi-directional Clinical Document Exchange between hospitals and long-term care homes across Ontario to enable data exchange at critical points of transition, thereby streamlining workflows and enhancing patient safety. PointClickCare and Redox were pivotal partners in accomplishing the goals of this project over the 3-year period that ended in March 2024. By introducing digital data sharing, the project aimed to reduce administrative burdens and improve the efficiency of healthcare providers.
Redox was instrumental in achieving these goals through its robust integration capabilities and proven track record across thousands of previous integrations. In addition, Redox supported direct connections between health systems and PCC for several additional workflows. For hospital discharges, Redox enabled the sending of Admission, Discharge, and Transfer (ADT) and Clinical Care Document (CCD) data to PCC.
The results
To date, project AMPLIFI has integrated 67 hospitals using Epic, Oracle Health, and MEDITECH HIS platforms with 452 long-term care homes using PointClickCare. With Redox’s integration support, the project has achieved remarkable results:
1. Enhanced care transitions
More than 36,000 patient transfers were supported through project AMPLIFI during the first 3 years of the project, significantly improving the continuity of care for residents across the province.
2. Cross-Platform HIS Interoperability
The establishment of health information exchanges made available through project AMPLIFI have also enabled MEDITECH, Oracle Health and Epic hospitals to exchange health information amongst each other.
3. Time savings for clinicians
The AMPLIFI initial time study results show that long-term care clinicians have reported up to 60 minutes saved per patient record for review and reconciliation, time previously spent reviewing paper documentation and follow-ups.
4. Positive clinician feedback
Initial results from AMPLIFI benefits realization clinician-experience surveys have shown that:
79% of respondents agreed the exchange has improved patient information sharing.
75% agreed that it was important for patient safety.
74% of providers noted reduced communication time with external organizations.
60% of providers acknowledged more time for direct patient care due to reduced paperwork.
An ancillary benefit of the project has been the creation of 2 HIEs that have also facilitated hospital-to-hospital bi-directional information exchange in Ontario, something that was not possible before project AMPLIFI. While Epic hospitals had been able to communicate with each other, Oracle Health and MEDITECH hospitals had no means to digitally share patient information.
Ontario Health has provided sustainment and expansion funding for project AMPLIFI through March 2025, allowing for 34 newly eligible hospitals and more than 100 additional long-term care homes to participate.
What’s next for PCC
The integrations created through project AMPLIFI have provided a foundation to expand provincial interoperability in many ways, supporting Ontario Health’s long-term interoperability and data management strategy. Future opportunities include:
Expansion and sustainment: Plans are in place to onboard additional hospitals and long-term care homes this year.
Optimization: Further improving the accuracy of data exchanged and functionality for clinicians.
Country-wide adoption: Expanding the AMPLIFI model to other provinces in Canada, leveraging the established interoperability framework and implementation plans.
Integration with other healthcare sectors: AMPLIFI provides a foundation to integrate and include information from additional healthcare settings Including primary care and home care.
Provincial data repository: In the future, these integrations are expected to align and help support the design of the planned provincial data repository to truly support an integrated healthcare system across the province.