eCE Automates FAQs

RPA, also referred to as ‘bot’ or ‘robots’ is a technology software programed to interact with digital systems - automating business processes. Bots access healthcare applications to capture, interpret, and trigger action on manual, repetitive tasks at high speed and with great accuracy. These “bots” can run 24/7, 365 days a year in the background of the health information system (i.e. EMR or HIS). This technology complements the work of clinicians and administrative personnel, allowing them to focus on priority tasks, such as delivering patient care.

The eCE Automates team has developed three automated bots that focus on improving electronic medical record (EMR) data quality, sharing of personal health information (PHI) and improving overall efficiency. Please see our Automated Solutions page for additional information on the bots.

Any healthcare organization looking for ways to streamline their overall workflow and that meets the technical requirements [AA1] to implement this technology can access these tools. Please note that Participants are required to sign an agreement.

In order to participate in this initiative, the organization will be required to sign an agreement with the eCE. Depending on the bot, additional agreements and/or privacy and security requirements may be required. A technical assessment will be performed to ensure the organization has the required components in place to participate in the project, see technical requirements below. For example, remote access is required to connect and run the bot along with a unique bot username and password to the application.

Bot technology is currently supported on:

• Telus Health, Practice Solutions EMR
• VPN Types: FortiClient, OpenVPN, Windows VPN

Development is underway to allow expansion to other EMRs and health information systems (HIS). If you do not currently use one of the supported VPNs, please contact [email protected] to discuss possible alternatives.

The technical requirements to implement these tools in practice varies based on the different services. At a high-level, technical requirements include but not limited to:

• EMR
• Remote access to the EMR (VPN)
• Willingness to setup and grant “bot” access to all applications as any other human user of the application
• Provide information on EMR back-up times for your site to ensure it does not interfere with the scheduled “bot” run

For a list of technical requirements specific to each service, please contact [email protected].

Our automated tools provide value to healthcare clinicians while positively impacting patients. Automating repetitive, ruled-based tasks means these tasks can be performed  much more quickly and with greater accuracy, enabling clincians and admin personnel healthcare professionals to focus on priority tasks such as patient care. The benefits of using automation include but not limited to:

Accuracy & Time Savings:

• Improves the documentation and accuracy of data in the EMR and when applied to certain processes in clinic settings, can significantly reduce the number of tedious and laborious tasks when manually cleaning up EMR data.
• Reduces the manual administrative effort required to reconcile and track down the most recent patient information.
• Creates efficiency and enables productivity gains, allowing the time of primary care clinicians and their teams to be spent on the most value-added tasks, i.e. ensuring health care resources are used in an efficient way.

Improving Health Outcomes:

• Cody increases the capacity to perform searches on patient populations (i.e. identify complex patients for high value proactive care interventions) ​and enables proactive care for targeted populations (seniors, patients with multiple conditions, and palliative).
• Bernie improves the identification of patients who are overdue for a visit and generates missed revenue for physicians.
• Sharon ensures that healthcare clinicians across the continuum of care have access to the most recent care plan.

Enhancing Clinician/Patient Experience:  

• Automation lessens the amount of administrative burden placed on physicians and their team, allowing more time for direct patient care.
• Physicians can capitalize on  bot results  and proactively book patient follow-up.
• Patient experience is improved as care plans are current and patient doesn’t have to  “repeat their story”.

Health System Value:

• Supports data standardization, improving quality across health care systems - opening the door for advanced analytics and data sharing.
• Supports proactive care which in turn reduces the risk of patient’s condition being exacerbated to a degree that requires the use of acute care services, i.e. reduction in emergency department visits.

Yes. Bots are granted access to an application (primary care EMR, HIS, etc.) in a similar manner to a human user. Bot user accounts are provisioned by the Participant organization and the Participant can audit the activity of the bot – as they audit other users. Bots are programmed to access only section(s) of the patient’s chart required to perform the task and will respect consent directives if and when they are applied in the source system. 

The eCE Automates program at the eCE considered Privacy by Design© and core privacy principles from the point of inception including of administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect your PHI.

Administrative Safeguards – our privacy practices are described in our Privacy Policy, which include mandatory and ongoing privacy, confidentiality, and security awareness training for all employees, contract staff, students and volunteers. Service Providers are also required to complete eCE privacy & security awareness training or agree in writing to providing substantially similar content to their personnel. Employees, contract staff, students and volunteers are required to comply with these policies as a condition of their employment or applicable relationship with eCE.

Technical Safeguards - Access control mechanisms, including authorization and authentication measures (such as computer password protection and unique log-on identification) have been implemented to ensure that only authorized personnel can access the eCE environment. eCE monitors the bot technical functionality and the Participant organization is required to audit the bot as any other user of the application. The eCE maintains a record of security privileges of administrators having access to the solution. Any sensitive information [for example system credentials or (PHI) in reports stored for auditing purposes] is encrypted using 128-bit AES encryption with site-specific unique keys.

Physical Safeguards - The eCE takes reasonable measures to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to physical locations and assets critical to the organization, such as corporate offices, computing equipment and data centres.

The eHealth Centre of Excellence (eCE) conducts Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) and Threat Risk Assessments (TRAs) as a core compliance and risk management process. The eCE also has Privacy & Security policies implemented, including Privacy Incident Management. Where third parties are engaged to provide technical services, agreements are in place including privacy and security provisions.

More information on PIAs and TRAs can be found here.

If you have any concerns or complaints about these privacy practices or specific privacy questions, please contact us:

Privacy Office
eHealth Centre of Excellence (eCE)
235 The Boardwalk | Suite 301

Kitchener, ON | N2N 0B1

Email: [email protected]

www.ehealthce.ca

RPA software provides scheduling options to maximize efficiency in the EMR.  Bots can be scheduled to run at your practice after hours to ensure that EMR system performance or clinic workflow during office hours is not affected. 

The time committment required from a healthcare organization or healthcare clinician is minimal.  The eCE Automates team will  set up and test the bot at your practice. Once the bot is live , the Participants or delegated administrive staff/personnel or clinicians will be required to review, validate, and action the results generated from the bot run.