Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital starts scanning medical records with Efalia ECM

Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) worked with our MES partner to transform its medical records management. By integrating the Efalia ECM solution, OSMH was able to digitize thousands of patient documents, improving rapid access to information and optimizing patient services. This case study marks an important step in the modernization of the hospital’s processes, addressing the challenges of physical records accumulation and operational efficiency.

Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital starts scanning medical records to allow faster access to records and improve patient services. Located in the heart of Ontario’s lake country, Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) provides health services to the people of Orillia and the surrounding area as its primary community hospital. For over a century OSMH has been acknowledged and respected for providing exceptional care and service to patients.

The Problem

Over the years, OSMH has accumulated a large number of patient records in both paper and microfilm format. Without any means to transfer these records to an electronic database, all of the patient records were stored within the health records department. As the hospital grew the amount of space available within the hospital to store the growing number of patient records decreased, but the volume of requests for patient information and the need to expand the availability of important records grew. OSMH identified the need for a more centralized document system that would allow for faster retrieval and ease of access to patient records.

The Solution

The relationship between OSMH and MES Hybrid Document System (MES) began in 2008 when MES supplied a microfilm scanner to OSMH to kick-start their digitization efforts. Over the next few years, MES worked with OSMH to develop and implement a system that would allow patient records to be scanned and digitally filed onsite.
The initial phase of implementation was targeted to Emergency Department records and involved the clerks in the Emergency Department (ED), who went through a minor workflow change allowing patient documents to be available the next day on Efalia ECM. MES worked with OSMH’s Information Technology (I.T.) department so that existing internal applications can be connected with FileDirector. This will allow care providers the ability to see the scanned images without having to open another software application. While OSMH was going live with the scanning project, MES also provided document scanning services to assist OSMH with their space issues.

The Results

OSMH has created a multi-disciplinary scanning team that is focused on getting patient documents into the new digital system. Their first implementation was in the ED where giving the Clerks next-day access to patient documentation changed and greatly improved the workflow across the department. The Health Records department has also noticed a decline in the volume of calls for document requests, which has had time saving results allowing staff to allocate more time on scanning.

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