The fight against the spread of the virus

Telemedicine

On Saturday, March 14th 2020, two days after the initial emergency measures were put in place, Dr. Mark Roper wrote to Logiciels Info-Data to ask if a secure video conferencing platform had been considered for inclusion in the EMR:

"Now for another challenge. Have you worked on a video connection through OFYS to connect to patients?"

Dr. Roper is the director of the Queen Elizabeth Medical Group in Montreal, where the EMR Ofys is used since September 2019.

The company's president, Dr. Patrice Drolet, was two steps ahead and had already begun analyzing options. Only five days later, on the evening of March 19th, the secure telemedicine platform TelMed Ofys was deployed. As of Friday, March 20th, professionals were able to enjoy a secure videoconferencing service integrated in their EMR. Ofys users were the first in Quebec and New Brunswick to be able to communicate by video with their patients directly through their EMR.

Today, the TelMed Ofys telemedicine platform is the most efficient of all EMRs and allows doctors to stay close to their patients, even for those less comfortable with computers. The testimonies are numerous:

"Now for another challenge. Have you worked on a video connection through OFYS to connect to patients?"

• Dr Mark Roper, director of the Queen Elizabeth Medical Group in Montreal

“La vidéo consultation avec OFYS est très facile d’utilisation.”

“Your video conferencing platform is EXCELLENT!”

“Love the telemedicine! Very impressive. Well done.”

In order to contribute to the fight against the spread of the virus, this service is free for all Ofys users and will remain so. This videoconferencing platform follows the same security criteria as the EMRs and is MSSS-approved.

Ofys users were the first in Quebec and New Brunswick to be able to communicate by video with their patients directly through their EMR.

Electronic signature and web fax

More than two years ago, in January 2019, two new features were introduced in the Ofys EMR: the electronic signature and web fax.

Imagine a physician printing a prescription to hand out to a patient, and it already has his signature at the bottom of the page, without any additional manipulation. For an action done only once, the seconds saved are minimal, but repeat this action 20 times a day, and the time saved per week becomes significant.

Furthermore, imagine that not only prescriptions, but all types of requisitions are automatically signed. A health professional is at home and needs to fill out a request for a patient who is at the clinic? No problem, they can make it from home, and the secretary prints it at the clinic, signed by the professional.

Combined with the web fax, the electronic signature becomes an even more impressive asset. Write a report for the family doctor or a prescription for the pharmacy and fax it in 3 clicks, without having to print it out to sign it. Web fax saves a lot of time and paper, especially when you think of the excellent file summary function in Ofys: prepare a file summary in a few clicks and fax it to the insurer or doctor, without wasted paper and with the fax confirmation automatically attached to the chart.

It goes without saying that these two tools are powerful and an asset for clinics. And yet, in March 2020, only a handful of clinics were using the e-signature and web fax on a regular basis, while the others continued to print their documents and rely on the reception to transmit them by fax.

Working from home and remote consultations have shaken this balance in clinics, as professionals can no longer turn to the reception for faxes and hand-deliver their signed documents to patients. The pandemic and emergency measures have created a mass movement of users towards tools that allow them to continue working despite the distance.

Today, almost all Ofys users benefit every day from the powerful web fax and electronic signature. These two tools are a clear advantage of the EMR Ofys and contribute to making it the best EMR in the country.

The Sofy patient portal

With most consultations being done remotely whenever possible, another major issue was the secure delivery of requisitions and results to patients. The Collège des médecins du Québec strongly discourages the use of regular e-mail to transmit medical data, as it is not secure. In recent months, many professionals across the country have nevertheless had to turn to this non-secure option, for lack of a better solution.

Aware of this challenge, the Logiciels Info-Data team has worked tirelessly for several months and since January 8th 2021, Ofys users are able to send messages and documents to their patients via a secure patient portal entirely developed by the company, Sofy. This service helps reduce traffic in health care centers and facilitates remote work for healthcare professionals. And of course, thanks to the electronic signature, the documents sent to patients are already signed by the healthcare professional.

Secure communication between doctors and their patients is a real asset in a pandemic, not to mention the challenge of cyber-attacks and data theft, which are becoming increasingly frequent.

Sofy messaging is user-friendly and efficient, true to the quality standard of Logiciels Info-Data's products. Just like TelMed Ofys, the Sofy patient portal is unequalled in its simplicity, for both professionals and patients. This service is also offered free of charge to all users, in order to help in the fight against the virus.

The positive impact of the pandemic

The current pandemic has definitely turned more than one sector upside down and changed our way of looking at life. At the very least, it will have had the positive impact of accelerating several technological developments, pushing health centers to maximize their use of their work tools and normalizing remote work whenever possible. Logiciels Info-Data, as always, has demonstrated impressive innovation and responsiveness in order to support its users.