The Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS) is an early step in moving the health system away from paper-based to electronic records. OLIS is a new system that is still in the very early stages of implementation. It has been built to electronically store test results from Ontario's medical laboratories, making them quickly available to authorized health care practitioners.

OLIS is in the very early stages of implementation, but it will eventually improve the quality and efficiency of the health care patients receive and eliminate unnecessary duplication and reduce errors. Health care practitioners will have faster access to test results, meaning they can diagnose and begin treatment more quickly.

OLIS is being implemented in a carefully planned series of steps involving a small group of hospitals and community laboratories, referred to as Foundation Adopters. The first step is for the foundation adopters to begin sending their results into the OLIS system. To start this process, some foundation adopter hospitals and community labs began sending their lab results into OLIS in 2007. Over the course of the next few months, more foundation adopter laboratories will be coming on board. Please check for an updated list of laboratories that are sending results into OLIS.

• OLIS is housed in a very secure data centre
• Only eligible and authorized practitioners will have access to OLIS
• Practitioners will only be permitted to access OLIS records for the purpose of providing health care to patients

Patients have the right under the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) to restrict access to their lab rest results in OLIS.

Restricting access means that only the ordering practitioner, or a practitioner named on the lab test order, can see the results. However, before making this decision, patients should understand that restricting access means they will not receive maximum benefit from being part of the system including in an emergency situation.

If patients want to restrict access to their lab results, it is done in two different ways depending on where patients provide their samples for testing. If a sample is given at a foundation adopter hospital that is linked with OLIS, then the patient simply needs to speak with the hospital privacy officer. If a sample is provided for testing by a foundation adopter community laboratory, then the patient can complete a restricting access form.

Is this the Electronic Health Record people are talking about?

No, but it is the beginning of a step forward. Ontario's health care system is gradually moving away from paper-based records. OLIS does this on a smaller scale, with lab results, and is an early step in that process.