eReferral Repository Statement of Information Practices
Ontario Health’s mandate is set out in the Connecting Care Act, 2019. It includes implementation of health system strategies developed by the Ministry of Health, through various information technology and data management services.
Description of Services
Ontario Health has introduced eReferral Ontario, a provincial platform designed to facilitate the coordination of electronic referrals. Ontario Health remains dedicated to maintaining transparency regarding the management and handling of data within the eReferral Ontario platform. Learn more at eReferral Ontario.
In addition to providing the provincial platform to facilitate coordination of electronic referrals, Ontario Health uses the eReferral Repository to keep track of the electronic referrals so Ontario Health can see where patients are being referred, how long they wait, and how services are being used. It supports planning to improve Ontario’s health care system. The summary below outlines what data is collected by Ontario Health through the eReferral Repository for the purposes of health system planning and management, how this information is used and retained, and the safeguards in place to protect clinicians and patients.
Executive Summary
- Referral data helps improve access and quality of care across Ontario.
- Access to eReferral Repository data is restricted and limited. Data is never shared with unauthorized individuals or organizations.
- Data is used to support system-level analytics and improvement, not individual practice reviews or discipline. Strong privacy, security and governance frameworks are in place.
For information about Ontario Health’s information practices, visit Ontario Health Statement of Information Practices and the Statement of Information Practices for the Role of the Prescribed Entity or Prescribed Person.
Authority to Collect, Use and Disclose Personal Information and Personal Health Information
Ontario Health's authority to collect, use and disclose of personal information (PI) and personal health information (PHI) comes from provincial privacy laws, primarily the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, including enabling regulations (PHIPA), and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, including enabling regulations (FIPPA). PHIPA governs the management of PHI to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of that information, while facilitating the effective delivery of health care services.
Data Governance and Oversight
- Governed by Ontario Health: Ontario Health is authorized to collect and use Personal Health Information from Health Information Custodians as a Prescribed Entity under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA).
- Retention and compliance: Ontario Health handles all Personal Health Information in compliance with PHIPA and applicable data-sharing agreements; and retains data in accordance with legal requirements and Ontario Health’s retention policies and procedures.
- Privacy by design: Technical and administrative safeguards are applied to ensure compliance with PHIPA, including data encryption, and access logging.
- Transparency: Clinicians and health organizations are informed of what is collected and how it is used through participation agreements and privacy notices.
Collection of Personal Information and Personal Health Information
Ontario Health receives and stores certain referral-related information contributed by participating clinicians and systems in the eReferral Repository. Examples include:
- Referral details: Information describing the referral itself (such as referral date, reason for referral, level of urgency, service location), details of the senders and receivers (such as practitioner and site information), and timestamps generated by the sending and receiving systems (such as referral creation date, referral acceptance date)
- Timeliness information: Data elements used to help measure referral wait times (such as appointment date, time to process the referral).
- Volume data: Indicators used to understand system trends, referral patterns, and patient volumes across different domains (such as referral date, type of service, referral source)
- System metadata: Elements used for accurate matching, linkage, and analytics (such as Health Card Number (HCN), patient name, date of birth, gender).
Note: Ontario Health does not store original clinical notes or attachments in the eReferral Repository. For a list of all data elements that are collected, please see Appendix A.
Use of Personal Information and Personal Health Information
The eReferral Repository data collected and retained by Ontario Health is used for health system planning and management, including, for example to:
- monitor system performance – such as referral volumes, wait times and timeliness of responses
- support quality improvement – identify bottlenecks to improve access pathways and inform regional planning
- enable evidence-based evaluation – produce de-identified analytics to support program evaluation (such as aggregated eReferral adoption and usage trends)
- meet reporting requirements – support accountability and reporting obligations for the Ministry of Health and regional partners (such as Key Performance Indicator tracking)
- enhance and evolve service delivery – use referral data insights to improve care coordination and support evidence-based decision-making
Data is not retained for the purpose of individual practice reviews or discipline.
Safeguards for the Protection of Personal Information and Personal Health Information
Ontario Health has general safeguards in place for the protection of personal information and personal health information. For information, visit Ontario Health Safeguards for the Protection Of Personal Information and Personal Health Information.
Contact Us
See our Privacy Contact Page to find information on how to contact the Ontario Health Privacy Office.
Appendix A
| Data Element | Data Element Description |
|---|---|
| Referral date | The date and time indicating when the referral was authored by the health service provider (HSP). In absence of the HSP authored date/time, use the date/time when the bundle was created by the transmitter. |
| Appointment date | The date (yyyy-mm-dd) the patient had their first consult with the clinician. |
| Wait 1 days | The total number of days the patient waited for the first consultation with a clinician. It is measured from the date the referral is created to the date of the first appointment with the clinician. (This is a calculated field. Not included as a data collection item.) |
| Health service offering | The type of referral made for the patient from one clinician to another clinician for a first consultation. Equivalent to "service offering". |
| Referral source | Who is generating the eReferral. This includes the referral source clinician name, clinician licence number, clinic name, clinic address, and unique Ocean site number. |
| Referral urgency | Level of urgency indicated on the referral by the referring clinician. |
| Reason for referral | From the perspective of the practitioner creating the referral what was the clinical condition or situation that resulted in the need for the referral. |
| Referral status | Was the referral accepted, rejected or redirected? If the referral was declined this includes the reason for the decline. |
| Outcome of the referral consultation | What was the treatment plan determined as part of the consultation (surgical, medical, return for follow up etc.), where applicable. |
| Date referral was accepted by specialist | Date referral was accepted by specialist. |
| Date the patient was provided with a consult appointment | To be used in identifying the mean turnaround time. |
| Most current date of the schedule consult appointment | Current scheduled versus actual consult date. |
| Completed date | The date the referral is considered completed/closed (from a transition in care perspective). |
| Consultation outcome | Are you treating the patient. [Yes / No] |
| Practitioner HCP/License number of clinician sending the referral | Practitioner identifier ( College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) number). |
| Practitioner HCP/License number of clinician receiving the referral | Practitioner identifier ( CPSO number). |
| Practitioner issuing authority | Indicate the issuing authority that the practitioner HCP/license number was retrieved from. |
| Practitioner full name | Practitioner full name (sender and receiver). |
| Organization name | Organization name, and any associated identifier (such as address, phone, Ministry of Health code, if exists), where the service is to be provided. For community referrals this will identify the referral destination. For other referral types this can be associated with a specific care setting (such as hospital name). |
| Service location | Location where the services are supposed to be delivered. This is typically associated with the appointment location. In cases where the appointment location is not provisioned it is assumed to be the receiving provider location included in the referral. |
| Service area | Classification of the requested service or procedure. What specialty does the receiving clinician fall under. |
| MRN | Site specific identifier of the patient. |
| HCN | Health card number of the patient. |
| Issuing authority | Organization that issued HCN. |
| Patient last name | Patient’s full name. |
| Patient first name | Patient’s full name. |
| Date of birth | Patient's date of birth. |
| Patient gender | Gender of the patient. |
| Address | Patient's complete address (home or service address) with the postal code. |
More Like This
Last Updated: July 15, 2026
