Southlake has embarked on an award winning innovation project to improve how we collect medication history from our patients. We are the first hospital in Ontario to receive patient medication history information directly from participating community pharmacies and the Digital Health Drug Repository (DHDR). This allows hospital clinicians improve patient care.
How is information returned from a community pharmacy?
When a patient goes to a community pharmacy, the patient gets their prescriptions filled. This information is made available to be securely matched against by your hospital registration information. If there is a match and there are no consent blocks placed, the relevant medication history is returned the hospital clinicians for review as part of your Best Possible Medication History.
There are currently 8 participating community pharmacies:
- Wellness Clinical Pharmacy, Aurora
- Sperkles Pharmacy, Aurora
- Drug Smart Pharmacy, Keswick
- Pharmasave College Manor, Newmarket
- Optimum Pharmacy, Newmarket
- Pharmasave Dixon Medical Pharmacy, Newmarket
- Total Health Pharmacy – Yonge St., Newmarket
- Sutton Apothecary, Sutton
We continue to add new pharmacies. This page will get updated when new pharmacies are added.
Patients have a choice to place a consent block at their local community pharmacy or at the time of registration.
How is information returned from the Ontario Digital Health Drug Repository?
The Digital Health Drug Repository (DHDR) contains a summary of certain prescribed medications from across Ontario. This information is typically available to hospitals to manually review your medication history. The automated medication history initiative will securely match medications against by your hospital registration information. When there is a match, the information is returned to the hospital clinicians as part of your Best Possible Medication History.
Patients have a choice to place a consent block with Ontario Health or at the time of registration.
Why is my medication history needed?
Patients visiting the hospital for emergency visits, procedures and admissions will complete a medication reconciliation. This ensures that the clinician is aware of any medications being taken to ensure that conflicted medications are not prescribed while in hospital.
There a hospital Accreditation Standard that outlines the requirement to obtain the Best Possible Medication History. This is a summary of the medication from at least 2 sources. The automated retrieval of a patient’s medication history automates a process that is currently completed manually. The inclusion of local pharmacies reduces the risk of patients forgetting their medications or needing to bring their bag of medications into the hospital with them.
How do I stop my medication history from being returned to Southlake?
There are 3 ways to stop medication history from being returned to Southlake.
- Consent Block at the Digital Health Drug Repository
A patient or their substitute decision maker can block medication history from being returned from the Digital Health Drug Repository (DHDR) can directly by contacting Service Ontario. This can be reached by calling: ServiceOntario INFOline toll-free at 1-800-291-1405 (TTY 1-800-387-5559).
If a patient medication history is blocked, health care providers querying the DHDR from any hospital or provider location will not be able to access any patient information unless the health care provider performs a temporary unblocking of access based, with the express consent from the patient or the patient’s substitute at the time of the search. This process will take several weeks to be completed.
- Consent Block at the Community Pharmacy
A patient or their substitute decision maker can block medication history from being released at the local community pharmacy.
If a patient medication history is blocked at the local pharmacy, health care providers querying the DHDR from Southlake will not be able to access any patient medication information.
- Consent Block at Southlake Registration
At the time of registration, a patient will be asked if they permit searches of external information to receive information related to their medical care. Information will be provided to the patient if they want additional information to make an informed decision.
If a patient says no, there will be no automated retrieval of medication history. A patient may be asked by the healthcare provider for express consent because obtained the Best Possible Medication History is an Accreditation Standard for Hospital
How do I learn more about my privacy?
If you have questions about your privacy, you can contact the Southlake privacy office.