HSN expands electronic health network

Health Sciences North has expanded its electronic health records network to several Northern Ontario communities, including First Nations reserves along the James Bay coast.

Thanks to a $4-million investment from eHealth Ontario, the North Eastern Ontario Network has expanded to the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority serving hospitals along the James Bay coast, as well as the West Nipissing General Hospital in Sturgeon Falls, and the Hôpital de Mattawa Hospital.

The network allows doctors and clinicians in the participating communities to share with the north’s major referral hospitals electronic ehealth services such as Health Sciences North patient X-rays and MRIs in real time.

The North Eastern Ontario Network now covers 22 communities in Northeastern Ontario with the expansion.

“More than ever, emerging technologies and networks like NEON ( North Eastern Ontario Network) are allowing patients to have access to the very best health care, regardless of where they live,” said Gaston Roy, Health Science North's chief information officer, in a release.

“By sharing patient information through NEON, hospitals in the northeast can ensure care is better co-ordinated and more effective.”