Tighter integration between e-referral forms and HealthPathways is the goal of new recommendations from the HealthPathways Technical Integration Advisory Group (TIAG).

The draft recommendations were released to the HealthPathways Community for comment in April, just after Canterbury’s Electronic Request Management System (ERMS) made its 1,000,000^th referral. They advocate alignment between pathways and e-referral forms on many different levels.

Recommendations

1. Align programme governance between HealthPathways and e-referral programmes.
2. Align clinical governance between HealthPathways and e-referral programmes.
3. Make e-referral forms visible to all participants in the health system via HealthPathways.
4. Link from e-referral forms to the most relevant section(s) in HealthPathways.
5. Link to, or reference, each e-referral form from the appropriate page in HealthPathways
6. Aim for a one-to-one relationship between e-referral forms and HealthPathways request/referral types.
7. Mirror HealthPathways content in e-referral forms where appropriate.
8. Minimise the amount of structured and compulsory information expected of referrers in e-referral forms.

Kieran Holland, Clinical Lead - HealthPathways Design, was integral in the design and delivery of ERMS. He says TIAG’s recommendations are about reinforcing locally agreed clinical pathways, saving clinician’s time, and improving patient safety.

“Once you have clearly defined local clinical pathways, e-referral is a great tool to reinforce these and ensure that patients are referred to the right place with the right information. The recommendations from TIAG are intended to help health systems that are starting out on the e-referrral journey to get off on the right track.”

ERMS made its 1,000,000^th successful referral in late March, seven years after it was launched in 2009.

Canterbury District Health Board CEO David Meates said at the time that ERMS has been a very significant success.

“In principle it was a simple idea – to create an electronic system that ensured people didn’t get lost in the system.  ERMS makes sure a request gets a response, helps protect patient privacy, and cuts waste out of the system by saving everyone’s time.

“ERMS was designed by clinicians, for clinicians, which is why it is so extensively used. The referral rate has climbed dramatically over the past few years since it went South Island-wide.”

The Technical Integration Advisory Group (log-in required) is a body that advises on opportunities to integrate HealthPathways with other systems. Members are elected from the HealthPathways Community.

To read the full recommendation, see TIAG discussion document Integration of e-referral systems with HealthPathways.