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EMR Maturity Model

Optimize and Advance EMR Use

Over 14,000 community-based family physicians and specialists in Ontario use an EMR. Physicians who have been using their EMRs for several years have developed the expertise to leverage many of the features of their EMR. Those who are new to EMRs are mastering the basics. To help physicians get beyond the basics and realize the benefits an EMR has to offer, OntarioMD developed: the EMR Maturity Model (EMM) and the EMR Progress Assessment (EPA).

The EMR Maturity Model was designed to measure the effective use and value of an EMR. It acts as a detailed roadmap to help physicians optimize their EMR use. The model represents the existing and potential capabilities of an EMR in the evolving digital health landscape. It represents six levels of EMR maturity across three functional areas within a practice. It uses 10 key measures to evaluate a physician's level of EMR use.

CRITERIA
LEVEL 0 PAPERLEVEL 1 ENTER DATALEVEL 2 EARLY DATA USELEVEL 3 LOOK AHEAD/ PREDICTLEVEL 4 POPULATION DATALEVEL 5 INTEGRATE

FUNCTIONAL AREAS
Practice Management
Appointment Scheduling
Practice Billing
Communication & Messaging
Information Management
Encounter Documentation
Data Quality & Nomenclature Consistency
Document Management
Diagnosis & Treatment Support
Results Management
Referral & Consultation Tracking
Prevention & Screening
Complex Care/Chronic Disease Management


The EMM is a standardized way to assess EMR proficiency that is comparable to other provincial and international methods and models. It serves as the strategic foundation of OntarioMD's i4C Advisory Service by breaking down the requirements for advancing EMR use and is the basis against which EMR use is evaluated. Physicians can find where they are now in the EMM and determine where they want to be by using the EPA. They can then take advantage of all the other services available to them through the i4C Advisory Service.

EMR Maturity Model

LevelCriteriaCapabilities
5
IntegrateUse of portals, hubs, attachment to provincial e-health platforms sharing data from the EMR.
4Population Data UseDashboarding of whole populations, acting upon the whole, performing population analysis at the practice level.
3Look Ahead / PredictReminders and alerts are used at the point of care. Searches are done regularly and scheduled for review.
2Early Data UseActing upon the output of episodic searches, quick entry tools, forms, calculators, etc.
1Enter DataDocumentation occurs electronically. Progress notes, forms, and other documents are entered into the EMR.
0PaperProcesses are primarily paper-based.