eReferral Ontario

Description of Services

eReferral Ontario modernizes the patient referral process by reducing reliance on paper and fax systems, eliminating inefficiencies caused by incomplete or inaccurate information and providing a secure, efficient method for managing patient data and referrals.

eReferral Ontario is managed by Ontario Health and delivered by Referral Management System (RMS) vendors, selected through the provincial vendor of record process established in March 2024. These RMS solutions, provided by the RMS vendors, connect to various Ontario Health provincial digital assets (see below), allowing health information custodians (HICs) to send and receive eReferrals more efficiently. This supports better coordination and planning of patient care.

eReferral Ontario includes the following Ontario Health provincial digital assets:

• Provincial Care Coordination Gateway (PCCG): The PCCG is a digital asset owned and operated by Ontario Health that supports the routing of referrals within the eReferral Network. It enables the delivery of comprehensive health services by supporting the full referral workflow across the province. Ontario Health operates the PCCG as a Health Information Network Provider (HINP) and/or Electronic Service Provider (ESP). This hub-and-spoke model provides a unified framework for data sharing across the referral network.
  As part of eReferral Ontario, Ontario Health integrated the PCCG with the provincial eReferral Repository. The repository continuously collects referral data from health care providers for analysis. RMS vendors are not directly integrated with the repository.
• ONEAccessGateway (OAG): Acts as a single point of entry to various Ontario Health digital services. It offers a set of RESTful FHIR® APIs protected by OAuth2 and OpenID Connect for secure authentication and authorization. The PCCG will leverage the OAG’s provincial services, such as routing and HL7® mapping, to support eReferral and eConsult transactions.
• Provincial Health Service Directory (PHSD): The PHSD is an evolving directory of health care services, providers and organizations in Ontario. Managed and delivered by Ontario Health, it aims to support system navigation for patients and providers by offering accurate and up-to-date information as it continues to grow.
• Provincial eReferral Repository: The provincial eReferral repository is a system that receives a continuous stream of referral data for analytical purposes. It relies on other systems, typically referral management systems, to contribute data based on business events that occur throughout the referral lifecycle. Contribution to the repository is unidirectional, with no data sent back to the source systems.

Additionally, eReferral Ontario will add a hub services layer to Amplify Care’s eReferral network, leveraging existing Ontario Health tools to further unify referral information sharing across the system, paving the way for a more integrated and streamlined future. To learn more, please read Amplify Care’s ‘Plain Language Description and Safeguards of the eReferral Service’ document.

For more information on eReferral Ontario’s privacy practices and safeguards, please visit our privacy resources website.

Safeguards

For additional information on Ontario Health safeguards, visit ‘Safeguards for the Protection of Personal Information and Personal Health Information’.

See our Contact page to find information on how to contact the Ontario Health Privacy Office