Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
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Agreed, and I use LifeLabs for my bloods precisely because they don't charge for access. It's part of the same portal you use to book appointments.
Room For All
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paradox3
Peanuts Fan
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There's a lot in Ontario that doesn't make sense. The seniors drug plan pays for insulin but not the needles which are required to get it into your body.
It will pay for a ridiculously expensive continuous glucose monitor. But not for the lancets which are required to poke your finger for a glucometer test. (Even a CGM requires some testing with a glucometer.)
Two shingles vaccines? Both covered.
Two pneumonia vaccines? Only the second one.
Go figure.
It will pay for a ridiculously expensive continuous glucose monitor. But not for the lancets which are required to poke your finger for a glucometer test. (Even a CGM requires some testing with a glucometer.)
Two shingles vaccines? Both covered.
Two pneumonia vaccines? Only the second one.
Go figure.
paradox3
Peanuts Fan
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Same. I didn't know other labs charged for access
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
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Around here, Dynacare and LifeLabs are basically the only non-hospital options and Dynacare was charging at the time I stopped using them. Perhaps they have changed now. That was a few years ago. And for imaging centers (x-ray, ultrasound), it seems to be endemic.
Northwind
Stationary nomad.
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Our health authority has a great system for booking appointments. When you can't book an appointment you can join the line up by text. They have provisions for those who don't have a cell phone. Whether your appointment was booked or you joined the line up, you get a text to say it's your time. The time inside the waiting area is minimal this way. I use the hospital satellite lab because my doctor gets the results sooner than they do from Life Labs. That means I can push going for the bloodwork closer to the deadline and then my neutrophils will be at their best.
Northwind
Stationary nomad.
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I used Dynacare when I was in Ontario in 21. I used the one up by St Joe's. They were pretty good and my doctor and pharmacist got the results promptly. It was easier to get bloodwork done there and the results passed along than it was for me to do that at the Interior Health facilities in the Okanagan.
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
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That's the one I used to use. They used to be down on Pall Mall and moved up to the current location not long before I switched.
KayTheCurler
Well-Known Member
Saskatchewan has an electronic system. I struggled through the registration process. Finally got it done, went to check my electronic records and the system denied me access. Such is the life of computer illiterates!
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
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Ontario has had projects to develop an EHR (Electronic Health Record) going on for almost as long as I have been doing healthcare IT and I now expect to retire before it is ever fully implemented.
Carolla
wondering & wandering
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Princess Margaret Hospital has an amazing portal for its patients. My friend had a CT scan yesterday around 2pm; we had tea together at her house about 4:30 and the full scan report was already available! I did the medical translation ... understanding the results would still be difficult for most folks when they are text reports, not numbers.
Carolla
wondering & wandering
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Horrible stormy rainy windy day here - but at least no shovelling! I'm transplanting some of my seedlings & set up my second grow light. Scrubbed my aerogarden & sowed all my tomato seeds & a few flowers. A few more little 'gardening' tasks to do after lunch. Had fun playing euchre with my group last night 
Even tho still online, we do love getting together.
Even tho still online, we do love getting together.
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
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I find the Toronto hospitals have been ahead of the curve (and, unfortunately, the ministry) on a number of fronts. I think the province needs to seriously look at just adopting what they have done in other areas.
Carolla
wondering & wandering
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That's true. We had EHRs for many years at the hospital where I worked, with record access shared across several of the local health regions which was incredibly helpful when trying to pull together a history; just as I was leaving 5 yrs ago a new system was being instituted, which would bump it up exponentially & make some of it accessible to patients as well.
jimkenney12
Well-Known Member
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Ontario had MyChart for years but not all hospitals and doctors are using it.
ChemGal
One with keen eye
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MyChart was the pilot program I was in. Most bloodtests were available right away, although doctors could add a delay for the patient.
There's still a few tests that use a different system and cannot be accessed on ConnectCare either a PITA as the same is true for doctors who don't have access to those systems. So it means contacting the specialist who ordered it or maybe a doctor who is willing to take the time to make the call for results.
Imaging is funny as if non-ordering doctor isn't selected to have access I need to pull it up on my end so they can see it.
AFAIK none of the online access is through the private companies that take the samples, Dynalife is the main one here.
I mostly use the provincial public labs - APL. That will be changing though. I was really confused as the communication was all over the place for the province's plan. Most are closing other than for in-patient. The one I use info was - it's closing - it's staying open for immunodeficiency patients (stated in the media which surprised me) - nope closing. It's a fairly new facility too although there is imaging too which I suppose could expand into the lab space.
My internist had no clue when he ordered tests. Immunologist told me to go there though. So I went and got the official answer, I need a requisition from a doctor ag that hospital. They will do all requisitions I bring at that time. If I only have requisition for doctors outside of the hospital than I'm stuck with Dynalife.
It's a bit concerning as I have had non-hospital based doctors order tedts Dynalife doesn't do, and often a run around with various locations telling me to go elsewhere. Even the inpatient hospital lab turned me away after I wss sent there because they didn't do it.
The outpatient hospital lab is the only one where they can do every single blood test I've had ordered that the province covers. I hope the province has a plan for those less typical tests but I doubt they thought it through.
There's still a few tests that use a different system and cannot be accessed on ConnectCare either a PITA as the same is true for doctors who don't have access to those systems. So it means contacting the specialist who ordered it or maybe a doctor who is willing to take the time to make the call for results.
Imaging is funny as if non-ordering doctor isn't selected to have access I need to pull it up on my end so they can see it.
AFAIK none of the online access is through the private companies that take the samples, Dynalife is the main one here.
I mostly use the provincial public labs - APL. That will be changing though. I was really confused as the communication was all over the place for the province's plan. Most are closing other than for in-patient. The one I use info was - it's closing - it's staying open for immunodeficiency patients (stated in the media which surprised me) - nope closing. It's a fairly new facility too although there is imaging too which I suppose could expand into the lab space.
My internist had no clue when he ordered tests. Immunologist told me to go there though. So I went and got the official answer, I need a requisition from a doctor ag that hospital. They will do all requisitions I bring at that time. If I only have requisition for doctors outside of the hospital than I'm stuck with Dynalife.
It's a bit concerning as I have had non-hospital based doctors order tedts Dynalife doesn't do, and often a run around with various locations telling me to go elsewhere. Even the inpatient hospital lab turned me away after I wss sent there because they didn't do it.
The outpatient hospital lab is the only one where they can do every single blood test I've had ordered that the province covers. I hope the province has a plan for those less typical tests but I doubt they thought it through.
jimkenney12
Well-Known Member
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We use Dynacare and there do not seem to be any charges for information uploaded to MyChart. The information is uploaded as soon as the lab work is done. MyChart seems to be used by Eadtetn Ontario Health and at least some of the hospitals and doctors in Ottawa.
ChemGal
One with keen eye
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Yeah, it was similar here, it was the healthcare system that was piloting it, not Dynalife. It was limited though as a pilot. In 2019 they started implementing ConnectCare. That is eventually supposed to be the system for it all of healthcare in Alberta, but it's slow going with a lot of phases and the pandemic slowed it down further. I have 9 doctors, 3 are on it.