In 2024, Canada faced both opportunities and obstacles in its ongoing pursuit of a more efficient and accessible healthcare system, turning to digital technology to help overcome several challenges, such as workforce shortages and increased patient demand. Simultaneously, the government introduced several initiatives aimed at strengthening the healthcare system and reshaping care delivery. Below, we highlight some of the year’s groundbreaking projects and notable customer achievements, demonstrating our shared commitment to transforming healthcare.
Leading the industry with intelligent interoperability
MEDITECH's Traverse Exchange Canada network experienced rapid growth throughout 2024. It now connects 19 MEDITECH hospitals, with the remaining 24 Ontario Expanse sites scheduled to join the network in January. The network also connects over 300 long-term care sites operating the PointClickCareⓇ EHR, multiple provincial assets, and the Oracle Ontario eHub. The network will soon expand into British Columbia.
The Traverse Exchange Canada network is gaining global attention, including from the US and the UK, for its work in advancing healthcare interoperability and connectivity through sophisticated data entry methods.
The growing momentum of MEDITECH Expanse
Several of our long-term customers continue to implement the Expanse platform throughout their organizations. They include:
- ONE Health Information Technology Services (ONE HITS) in northern Ontario deployed one of the largest instances of Expanse. They will add another wave of implementations in 2025 that will include Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and their 12 partner organizations in NW Ontario.
- Fraser Health Authority in (Surrey, BC) witnessed early successes and strong adoption during the Expanse implementation at its Eagle Ridge Hospital in April 2023, enabling the large-scale health authority to accelerate its Expanse rollout throughout the organization. Most recently, Royal Columbian Hospital successfully went live in September.
- Interior Health Authority (Kelowna, BC) went live this month with the latest version of Expanse. This allows the organization to leverage several innovative and user-centered improvements to care provider workflow and usability for nurses.
Fraser Health Authority pilots AI
In parallel with deploying its Expanse solution, Fraser Health was one of the first health systems globally to deploy generative AI to assist with clinical documentation in MEDITECH’s Expanse EHR. As a pilot site for the clinical documentation use case, focusing on the hospital course narrative at discharge, Fraser will next deploy our AI tools to assist with nursing hand-off.
MEDITECH’s first MaaS customer in Canada
Brant Community Healthcare System (Brantford, ON) was the first MEDITECH customer in Canada to sign for MEDITECH as a Service (MaaS), the cloud-based subscription model of the Expanse HIS. The organization selected Expanse after an in-depth evaluation of multiple IT platforms based on usability, value, and technology.
Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences deploys Expanse Genomics
In September, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Whitby, ON) became the first in Canada to implement Expanse Genomics. This innovative approach enables healthcare professionals to tailor medication doses to each patient, potentially improving treatment outcomes and shortening hospital stays.
Our customers continue to achieve HIMSS milestones
- Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital (Toronto, ON) has achieved the HIMSS Stage 7 Analytics Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity (AMAM). Earlier this year, the hospital was recognized with two HIMSS Level 6 validations. The prestigious awards acknowledge the hospital's use of EHR technology and advanced analytics to improve patient care, outcomes, and operational efficiency.
- The CARE4 partnership hospitals in Central Ontario were recently awarded HIMSS EMRAM Stage 6 validation. The partnership consists of Collingwood General and Marine Hospital, Georgian Bay General Hospital, Headwaters Health Care Centre, and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and uses a single instance of the MEDITECH Expanse EHR.
These outstanding HIMSS accomplishments follow the three HIMSS Stage 7 designations achieved by Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health and Wellness in August 2023. Ontario Shores first achieved the Stage 7 designation in 2014, becoming the first hospital in Canada and the first mental health hospital in the world to do so. It is now the first mental health hospital in the world and the first hospital in Canada to receive three Stage 7 achievements.
Both Holland Bloorview and Ontario Shores have the distinction of being the only Canadian hospitals to have achieved AMAM Stage 7.
Early adopters of provincial assets
Provincial assets (specialized repositories for patient data, such as lab results or medication histories) require separate access and viewing tools. However, customers connected to our Traverse Exchange Canada network can securely access them through one conduit, eliminating the need to launch and sign in to each provincial asset to retrieve information.
- MEDITECH brought the national e-prescribing service, PrescribeIT®, live at Humber River Health (North York, ON) in May. Having piloted the Canada Health Infoway PrescribeIT program, Humber plans to expand the service across its entire organization. Several other MEDITECH customers, including Holland Bloorview, Halton Healthcare, and CARE4, are also excited to launch the e-prescribing functionality in the near future.
- The Mental Health HIS Cluster, consisting of Ontario Shores, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, and The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre will go live with the Ocean eReferral Network in January 2025.
- Southlake Health, part of the SHINE organization, has licensed Expanse Labor & Delivery as a key prerequisite for deploying Computerized Provider Order Management across the organization.
- We are working with Holland Bloorview on the ability to view lab data from The Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS) directly within the MEDITECH chart. Managed by Ontario Health, OLIS was created to allow providers access to all laboratory results throughout Ontario.
The MEDITECH Collaborative in Ontario
We would like to thank the MEDITECH Collaborative, a grassroots organization committed to promoting interoperability and standardized EHR implementations. Its members actively engage with MEDITECH to advance digital healthcare and pursue joint initiatives across Ontario. The Collaborative has played a key role in developing the Traverse Exchange Canada network and continues to advocate for greater access to provincial assets on the network, working with Ontario Health leadership to identify piloting opportunities and provincial initiatives support.
Together, we continue to drive innovation in healthcare
Despite healthcare’s ever-changing complexities, we saw the industry and our customers make significant strides in adopting digital solutions over the past year. These advancements enhance patient care by improving connectivity and accessibility while also contributing to a more sustainable healthcare system.
As MEDITECH enters its 45th year of supporting healthcare in Canada, we are grateful for your continued trust and collaboration. We look forward to building upon our achievements and accomplishing even more together in 2025.