OTN
In December 2014, The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) reviewed and updated their Telemedicine policy, providing clarity on general expectations for telemedicine and specific expectations for practicing telemedicine across borders. I had the privilege of being part of the working group that developed the policy, along with CPSO Council, staff, and other external experts. For more than a year, the working group met regularly and took an in-depth review of the state of telemedicine around the world, including the positions and policies of other Colleges, provinces, territories, as well as international positions in other countries like the US,... | |
What a year it’s been for Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN)!
With all the hard work, dedication and passion our partners and employees have devoted to delivering innovative telemedicine solutions, it comes to no surprise that telemedicine continues to grow both in scope and adoption. Last year alone, OTN supported more than 390,000 patient consultations, working with 1,300 healthcare organizations and more than 8,000 healthcare providers in 1,748 sites across Ontario. As a result, almost 260 million kilometers of patient travel was avoided. That represents nearly 330 trips to the moon and back!
Telemedicine is truly transforming our healthcare system with a new model of care delivery – one that improves access, increases... | |
![]() | The rate of change in the digital world is nothing short of dazzling. The way we work, communicate and collaborate continues to evolve with new services and applications being introduced every day.
So it gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of the OTNhub, the new one-stop telemedicine service that delivers enhanced convenience and functionality to Ontario’s healthcare providers.
When the integration of OTN services is fully completed in the near future, the OTNhub will allow Primary Care Providers, Specialty Care Providers (specialists and allied health providers) and Healthcare Organizations to access all services relevant to them with a single sign-in. From... |
![]() | After more than 11,000 dermatology consults, Otn.teledermSF received a facelift on December 20th, 2013. The user interface is quite similar to the previous version so users shouldn’t find it to be too much of an adjustment.
Here is a summary of the changes and instructions on how to use the new features. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the OTN Customer Care Centre at 1-855-654-0888.
Old version appearance
New version appearance
Highlights
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One consistent piece of advice we always hear from users of OTN services is this… “Make it simple”. Making things simple is, well, hard! For example, it would be ideal if Otn.teledermSF, OTN’s store forward dermatology program, could be integrated with EMRs so that data could automatically pre-populate the required fields. With at least 15 popular EMRs in use in the province, the task of integration is challenging (and expensive). OTN, however, is certainly looking at ways to do this.
One simplification we have been able to apply is the elimination of the need to use VPN for Telederm. Effective immediately, users of Otn.teledermSF no longer need to login via... | |
We interrupt our regularly scheduled Telederm blog for an important announcement: Otn.teledermSF is getting a facelift! Having processed over 10,000 dermatology consults, Otn.teledermSF will be upgraded to a new version (with the decidedly pragmatic name of 7.0.8) which incorporates improvements based on feedback we've received from our users.
The upgraded version will be available in December and OTN will provide lots of advance notice of the change to the new version as well as any necessary training materials.
Here are some of the new features:
Mac compatibility. Until OTN started providing Otn.teldermSF to primary care providers around the province, I did not fully appreciate just how many FPs/GPs are using Mac computers. Once... | |
OTN is an independent, not-for-profit
organization funded by the
Government of Ontario.