eHealth

The Canadian health care system is undergoing a transformation and requires significant investment in information technology infrastructure. Technology and transformation projects are inherently risky, expensive and complex, and require significant resources and expertise. Governments increasingly draw on private sector expertise and resources to achieve their goal. Experienced legal counsel is central to succeeding in this environment.

Osler has the right mix of practical knowledge derived from hands-on project exposure, deep industry knowledge and highly regarded legal expertise to help ehealth participants successfully execute projects. We have leading specific expertise and experience with ehealth projects and the health care system. We also draw on our years of experience with the other sectors providing innovative solutions for information technology, infrastructure, procurement, public-private partnerships, corporate transactions, corporate finance, outsourcing and project finance. Our experts offer key insights for the success of transformative ehealth projects.

Ask our eHealth experts about:

• Government Funding Agreements;
• Health-related Outsourcing;
• Privacy & Security;
• Procurement;
• Public-Private Partnerships;
• Regulatory Compliance;
• Service Level Agreements;
• Shared Service Governance Structures;
• Technology Acquisitions.

Some of our Representative Work includes:

• Hospital Diagnostic Imaging Repository Services (HDIRS) – Osler advised on all aspects for the outsourcing of a shared digital image repository (DIR) for 35 health care facilities, including advising on governance and contracting with outsourced technology and services provider.

• NEODIN – Osler advised a group of hospitals in the Northeast, Northwest and Champlain LHINs on the governance and technology acquisition of a DIR using cutting edge technology to give access to shared medical imaging across a broad expanse of the province of Ontario.
• Outsourcing – Osler has participated in some of the most significant outsourcings in Canada. In the health arena, Osler has assisted groups of hospitals with third party logistics agreements to drive efficiencies not only related to ehealth but also back office. These projects included acquisitions of large SAP platforms.
• Government Funding Agreements – Osler has advised and negotiated funding agreements for health-related information technology projects with various Ministries of Health, Canada Health Infoway, and various other specialized agencies, dealing with such issues as conforming with required specifications, certification and intellectual property ownership.
• Privacy and Security – Osler’s health law, technology and privacy lawyers have advised on compliance with privacy legislation in federal and provincial jurisdictions since the inception of such legislation in Canada. Osler has assisted many health care institutions in Ontario with policies to implement the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) in the institutions and with service providers.
• RFPs and Procurement – Osler has advised both issuers and bidders on countless technology-related requests for proposals (RFPs). For issuers, our approach to terms in RFPs brings legal certainty and efficiency to contracting. We have advised major technology and service vendors on an ongoing basis of best approaches to technology RFPs issued by governments and the health care sector. RFPs we’ve advised on include: the Ontario Laboratory Information System, British Columbia Physician Electronic Medical Record RFP, British Columbia Provincial Information Lab Systems RFP, the Saskatchewan Health Record RFI, and GTA West DIR RFP.
• Public-Private Partnerships – Osler has acted in health, transportation, education, electricity, and information technology, P3/AFP projects for both the public and private sector.
• Shared Services Governance Structures – Osler has advised consortia of health care facilities in establishing shared service entities to respond to outsourcing and technology projects such as HDIRS and Plexxus.
• Technology Acquisitions – Osler has assisted with acquisitions of a broad spectrum of medical information technology systems, including shared PACS installations, MEDITECH systems, Eclypsys systems, WAN and LAN networks for hospitals, data centre procurements, automated laboratory information systems and pharmacy systems.