BusinessContext > Conceptual Information Architecture

Conceptual Information Architecture

The eReferral Ontario FHIR implementation guide is intended to support a generic provincial integration solution outlined in the Provincial eReferral Strategy – Conceptual and Information Architecture Report (section 4 &5). The solution not only enables integrations of participating solutions in Ontario’s eReferral ecosystem, but can also evolve into an eSTAR (e*) business network where clinical transactions of different kinds (eReferral, eConsult, eVisit, and others) are reliably and securely communicated and managed.

Specific technical goals (some of them may not be in the scope of current Implementation guide)

• Enable a Provincial Service Directory (PSD) approach that allows healthcare service providers to efficiently identify appropriate services (within the LHIN, across the Province, and even out-of-province) to which transactional messages (e.g., referral requests) can be routed;

• Develop a distributed/de-centralized data-contribution process that enables authoritative provider/health care service information to be contributed by stakeholders (including eHealth Ontario’s Provincial Provider Registry), and shared within the network (in and out of the Province);

• Establish a high performance distributed integration model, through which vendor solutions (including existing and new eReferral systems) and provincial assets are leveraged and connected in real time within a multi-use clinical business network;

• Enable and enhance system interoperability via eHealth Ontario’s ONE Access Strategy (ONE Access Viewlets, ONE Access Direct APIs, ONE Access Toolbar, security tokens, etc.), by which transactional messages (e.g., patient referrals) are exchanged in a consistent secure manner within the network;

• Reuse the existing provincial assets to build a fully extensible and sustainable integration model;

• Focus on ease of use for end users, and integration with their existing workflows;

• Expedite the solution adoption, while minimizing impact to the existing system integrations in the Province;

• Implement solution on modern technologies and standards, and establish the first step toward the use of Blockchain.