On September 18, the PITO Steering Committee completed selection of the five PITO Pilot groups.
The PITO Pilots will provide PITO with an opportunity to ensure it's full offering of technology and implementation support proceed smoothly prior to the broad rollout to BC physicians starts in the new year.
The level of interest in the pilot projects was quite astounding. Almost 60 applications were received, representing over 400 physicians. This figure equates to roughly half or one-third of the existing implementations of full EMRs in BC today.
The pilot groups were chosen by the PITO Steering Committee on a blinded basis using the criteria published in the request for expressions of interest:
Amongst these five pilots groups, there are 11 specialists and 28 GPs, 3 rural sites and 2 urban, 2 sites already using an EMR and 3 without.
Any groups that applied to the PITO pilots and already have an EMR but were not selected have been encouraged to join the PITO Early Adopter Program.
Groups that applied to implement an EMR for the first time but were not selected have been encouraged to contact the PITO office if they are in urgent need to implement an EMR before the broad rollout begins in 2008.
In addition to the five pilot groups, five additional groups were identified to begin pre-planning prior to the broad rollout. These groups were selected to allow PITO to begin early planning with these large and/or more complex sites so that they will be ready for the PITO rollout. These groups include, for example, a large community of 120 physicians wishing to select a common EMR, a rural/remote community with more complex network challenges, and groups very involved in primary health care initiatives that will be undertaking both initiatives concurrently.