Notice: Changes to the Amplify eReferral Network

Amplify Care (“Amplify”), formerly doing business as eHealth Centre of Excellence, is writing to update you on some changes to the Amplify eReferral Program.

You or your organization are currently part of the eReferral Program, which gives you access to an information technology platform that, amongst other things, allows you to initiate, manage and receive referrals (“eReferrals”) to and from other healthcare providers (the “Solution”). Pursuant to the Participant Licensing Agreement (“PLA”) currently in place amongst you, Think Research Corporation (“TRC”), and Amplify, you have a license from TRC to access and use the Solution (the “License”). The System Coordinated Access Program Information Sharing and Health Information Network Provider Agreement in place amongst you, Amplify and other participants using the Solution (the “Information Sharing Agreement”) addresses the handling of eReferral data in the Solution. Any healthcare provider that has entered into a PLA and the Information Sharing Agreement is considered part of the “Amplify Network”.

Ontario Health Provincial Care Coordination Gateway

Ontario Health (“OH”) operates and maintains a solution known as the Provincial Care Coordination Gateway (“PCCG”), which allows distinct commercial eReferral technologies to interoperate. By providing these services, OH acts as a health information network provider (“HINP”) under O. Reg. 329/04 to the Personal Health Information Protection Act (“PHIPA”) to users who exchange personal health information with other health information custodians utilizing the PCCG. Effective August 18, 2025, you will be able to use the Solution to send referrals to, and receive referrals from, health information custodians who are licensed by OH to access and use the PCCG (“OH Users”). Importantly, although the OH Users have entered into an agreement with OH governing their use of the PCCG, those OH Users have not entered into a PLA, nor are they part of the Information Sharing Agreement. The OH Users are not part of the Amplify Network. Healthcare providers who are part of the Amplify Network are identified on the Ocean Health Map, to which you have access.

OH and Amplify have entered into an agreement that addresses how they will manage their respective networks and cooperate with each other on common issues related to referrals that are communicated between the Amplify Network and OH Users.

By continuing to use the Solution following this notice, you agree that Amplify may facilitate the disclosure of eReferrals to health information custodians operating on the OH PCCG (i.e., including parties utilizing commercial eReferral solutions that are different than those used on the Amplify Network), and that OH may facilitate the disclosure of eReferrals from OH Users to you.  The OH Users are bound to legal requirements that require such users to access, use and disclose personal health information in accordance with PHIPA.

Going forward, if you choose to send a referral to a user that is not identified by the Ocean Health Map as being a part of the Amplify Network, then you do so on the understanding that the other user is not part of the Amplify Network and that you will be sending referral information outside of the Amplify Network.

For any services that Amplify performs in respect of the sharing of personal health information through the Solution, Amplify will act in accordance with obligations in PHIPA, as follows:

• Amplify will adhere to the obligations related to acting as a HINP when it is providing services related to referrals between two parties that are both part of the Amplify Network.
• Amplify will adhere to the obligations related to an electronic service provider when it is providing services related to referrals for which only one of the sender or receiver is part of the Amplify Network, and the party they are communicating with is not part of the Amplify Network. In these situations, Amplify services are limited to supporting you in (i) the delivery of your communications to OH’s PCCG, or (ii) the receipt from the PCCG of communications sent to you by OH Users.

To the extent that the PLA, SCA Agreement, and/or this notice form a written agreement with you, in satisfaction of OH’s obligations as a HINP under section 6(3)(7) of O. Reg. 329/04:

• without in any way derogating from Amplify’s rights under the PLA, the SCA Agreement, and/or this notice, the relevant provisions of such agreements that are intended to provide a benefit to both Amplify and OH (including its directors, officers, employees, board appointees, agents and representatives) shall be enforceable by OH and its heirs, executors, administrators and other legal representatives as third-party beneficiaries;
• the rights and benefits of such relevant provisions shall be exercisable by Amplify for its own benefit and also in trust for, and on behalf of, OH;
• these rights conferred on OH are in addition to, and not in substitution for, any other rights that OH or Amplify may have by any other contract, or otherwise at law; and
• OH shall not be liable to you for any losses, damages, costs and expenses, whether in strict liability, negligence, contract, or otherwise on the basis of any legal theory whatsoever, under the PLA, SCA Agreement, and/or this notice.

Descriptions of the services that OH is required to provide to you as the HINP for the PCCG, as well as the applicable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards are available on the OH website: https://www.ontariohealth.ca/about/privacy/compliance/hinp/ereferral-description. OH shall comply with O. Reg. 329/04 and PHIPA while acting as the HINP for the PCCG.

Change in Provision of Solution License

In addition to the above changes, please note that, as a result of a licensing agreement entered into between OH and TRC, your license to the Solution is now provided to you at the direction of OH, and OH now pays to TRC all fees related to your license.

Amended Agreements

Amplify will be sending you an amended PLA and an amended Information Sharing Agreement to reflect the above changes in the Solution and your license within 30 days of the date of this Notice and will require such amended agreements to be executed within 14 days of your receipt of the amended agreements.

In the meantime, your continued use of the Solution constitutes acknowledgment and acceptance of the above matters until such time as you receive and execute the amended agreements. 

Questions can be directed to eReferral@amplifycare.com.