Email notifications feature update, OntarioMD funding ends, and BC MSP fees increase

Just a few quick updates regarding the email notifications feature, the OntarioMD funding program, and a recent change to BC's MSP fee schedule. Find out more about the changes below.

Email notifications without online booking

The feature that sends email notifications for appointments is now available for Oscar without needing the online booking module as well! If you'd like to find out more about how this works with Oscar, please get in touch!

OntarioMD funding ends

Going the way of the dodo (like PITO in BC and POSP in Alberta), the OntarioMD funding program has now officially come to an end. Physicians in Ontario can no longer be funded for using an EMR.

MSP fee increase in BC

As of April 1st, 2015, a fee increase occurred in BC, funded from the 2015/2016 fee allocation. The fee increase was implemented on June 4th, with the most current rates available for download as of June 5th.

Any claims that were being processed when the change was made and have been submitted at the previous rates will be adjusted to match the new rates. The explanatory code BG-Amount will be displayed and a retroactive payment will be applied to a future remittance for any services provided between April 1st and June 4th that have been paid using the previous rates.

The MSC Payment Schedule on the MSP website will be updated with the new rates shortly.

OSCAR-CON 2015 details and our WestCoast Midwives client profile | OscarHost blog

OSCAR-CON 2015 is here! And so is our newest client profile on WestCoast Midwives. Find out more about who, what, when, and where below!

OSCAR-CON 2015

That time of year is here again! Are you ready for OSCAR-CON 2015?

The annual BC OSCAR User Group and OCUS Meeting will be held in Vancouver onMay 8th and 9th this year. This event will be a full two-day user conference that will cover OSCAR-related updates, discussions about new features in OSCAR, workshops, and more. The Paetzold Auditorium on the first floor of the Jim Pattison Pavilion South at Vancouver General Hospital will be hosting the event.

Registration for the event is now open. For updates on the agenda and information on how to register, please check oscarcanada.org.

We hope to see you there!

Introducing WestCoast Midwives

WestCoast Midwives is a teaching practice that began in 2001 in Victoria, BC. The team focuses on providing quality, compassionate pregnancy care in a comfortable and homey environment.

Kim Millar Lewis started the practice after many years of experience around the world as a nurse in maternity units and a midwife. Since establishing WestCoast Midwives, the clinic has grown into a teaching site for the Island Medical Program and the Family Practice Residency Program. The practice often takes in midwifery students to work alongside the midwives and doulas.

WestCoast Midwives adopted the OSCAR EMR system in 2009. One of the staff's favourite things about using OSCAR is the fact that the clinic is 100% paper-free. Being able to access patient files any time, any where, and from any device is another benefit that Kim and the other midwives in the office greatly appreciate.

Eventually, the WestCoast Midwives hope their healthcare region will use more systems that can connect with EMRs like OSCAR so that reports and files can be sent directly to and from the office quickly. Kim also hopes that new features will be built to cater directly to midwives and their practices as some aspects differ greatly from those in a general practice setting.

While their practice is quite small, the ladies at WestCoast Midwives keep things fun. They have annual events and retreats that help them connect to one another and to their practice and they also host a yearly Garden Party for their clients and their children.

Thank you for your continued support, Kim and WestCoast Midwives!

Send automated appointment reminders right from OSCAR! | OscarHost blog

Would you like to send your patients automated email reminders for appointments through OSCAR? We can help your clinic save time, free up resources, and shift focus to more important tasks with a brand new MyHealthAccess feature that does just that!

Because of its integration capabilities, MyHealthAccess can connect to any patient in OSCAR that has a valid email address saved to their patient demographic, regardless of whether or not that patient has a MyHealthAccess account set up. This feature provides you with two main benefits:

1 - it allows you to send more automated reminders with greater ease, saving time and effort for your office staff and,
2 - the reminder email encourages patients to book their appointments online, saving your staff phone time.

MyHealthAccess connects your clinic to your patients online, making booking management much easier for clinic staff. For a quick demonstration of all of the software's features and how it integrates seamlessly with OSCAR, please check out our demonstration video.



If you are interested in finding out more about how to turn this feature for your OscarHost account, please get in touch and we can get you started!

New OSCAR integrations released | The OscarHost blog

We're happy to announce a number of new integrations for our OscarHost users across the country! You will find information regarding our ClinicAid billing integration and lab integrations in Alberta below.

ClinicAid billing integration

As you may already know, we've built a billing system called ClinicAid that streamlines the billing process for medical professionals in Canada. The ClinicAid software can easily be fully integrated into the BC, Alberta, and Ontario versions of OSCAR that we host at your request.

If you're having trouble mastering OSCAR's billing system and are interested in trying out a different solution, please ask us for a demo of ClinicAid or view our demo video online. We're happy to walk you through the features in order to help make your billing process easier!

Alberta lab integration with OSCAR

Another integration that we've been working on is a lab integration for OSCAR in Alberta. If you or your colleagues are interested in getting your lab results directly into you OSCAR account, please contact us for more information.

We are excited to soon be launching an open-source and fully functional Oscar EMR alternative for physicians in Alberta which will include lab integrations and billing through ClinicAid!

New support link

You can now also easily access our support knowledge-base without needing to log into your OscarHost account. You will find a link directly under your login that will take you to the OscarHost support portal.


If you have any questions or feedback with regard to these new integrations, please don't hesitate to get in touch!

MyHealthAccess patient appointment e-booking has been launched!

Here at CloudPractice Inc, we are proud to announce the launch of our online patient appointment e-booking application, MyHealthAccess.

MyHealthAccess has been designed to integrate seamlessly with the OSCAR EMR, and is currently supported by OscarHost.ca to allow patients with participating clinics to easily and conveniently book appointments with their physician online.

The full press release can be read here

MyHealthAccess now also offers automated appointment reminders!

OSCAR - Making its Way into Canada's Maritime Provinces by Jordan Visco, President & COO of Cloud Practice, Inc.

 If a couple of maritime provinces are any indication, OSCAR may be picking up speed in its spread  among community medical practices throughout Canada. While most current users of OSCAR are located in Ontario and BC, an increasing –albeit slowly – number of medical professionals in other regions appear to be adopting the free EMR Open Source Technology, a full featured practice management web application that includes scheduling, billing, prescriptions and more. Two of the more recent medical communities to start using OSCAR are those in the provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

For relatively small physician communities like those in New Brunswick and Newfoundland, OSCAR definitely makes sense. For years, New Brunswick in particular only had one electronic medical record system (EMR) and apparently many physicians were not all that happy with it. They needed an alternative and with OSCAR, they have one.  Initially developed for Canadian physicians by staff at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, OSCAR is ideal because it’s free to download, install and use in whatever capacity a medical practice wants to as it works best for them; as opposed to paying user and service fees and very likely being locked in to an EMR service that may not work for a particular practice.  Plus, for a small local practice that may have limited resources it always helps to be able to secure reliable technology and services for limited cost whenever possible. That is a huge benefit that OSCAR offers a medical practice.

At Cloud Practice, providers of OscarHost.ca, www.oscarhost.ca we see this move into New Brunswick and Newfoundland as exciting progress for influencing more Canadian healthcare professionals to get on the OSCAR bandwagon. OscarHost.ca is a service provider for physicians who want to run on the OSCAR EMR platform without managing their servers, back up and security.

Physicians in the maritime provinces and elsewhere who are interested in learning more about OSCAR and downloading it for their medical practice, can view the official website at http://oscarmcmaster.org.