The Ministry of Health (MOH) has initiated an analysis of the current state and drivers of fax use in the province’s health sector to conduct early planning to identify options for the elimination of fax use in Ontario’s health system.
 
While the challenges associated with fax are widely recognized by key stakeholders across Ontario’s health sector, the full magnitude, scope, and complexity of the problem are not currently known. In order to formulate potential options for replacing fax use in Ontario’s health sector, MOH requires a detailed understanding of current fax use in Ontario’s health system.
 
To deliver on this assessment, the MOH has engaged Deloitte to execute on three key phases of work in the upcoming months:

1. Phase 1: Current State Assessment: Provide an assessment of the current fax use in Ontario’s health system landscape, including the drivers for use, top fax use cases, and opportunities and challenges for change 
2. Phase 2: Options Analysis: Conduct a thorough qualitative and quantitative analysis of implementation options that would best enable the shift away from fax use in the provincial heath landscape
3. Phase 3: Early Planning Roadmap: Provide a potential plan for provincial roll out of implementation options for the top fax use cases

For additional details on the “Axe the Fax” assessment, please refer to the information sheet attached below.
 
Your role in the “Axe the Fax” assessment
As part of the Current State Assessment Phase, Deloitte will be using a multi-pronged approach to stakeholder engagement, which will consist of 1) provincial information sessions and survey, and 2) targeted fact-gathering focus group interviews.
 
1) Provincial information sessions: Virtual information sessions will be offered for separate audience groups to provide stakeholders with an overview of the “Axe the Fax” Assessment and introduce the upcoming stakeholder engagement activities:

• There are three separate times offered to join a Virtual Provincial Information Session with provincial health stakeholders, including patients and families, provincial health leadership, and key stakeholders involved in the use of fax. Please register for the session that works best for your schedule online.

Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with the option to add the meeting to your calendar. Please refer to the step-by-step instructions in the “How to Register Guide” attached. 

Session 1

• Date: Monday, April 11, 2022
• Time: 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. ET

Session 2

• Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2022
• Time: 10 – 11 a.m. ET

Session 3

• Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
• Time: 5 – 6 p.m. ET

2) Provincial survey: A survey will be sent to the key stakeholders involved in fax use to gather preliminary quantitative and qualitative information to better understand:

• fax volume and usage by region, provider type, referral type and use case types
• top use cases
• current impact of fax use
• key challenges / causal factors that perpetuate the use of fax
• key barriers and opportunities for phasing out fax use
• note you will receive an email link to the survey following the Provincial Information Sessions

3) Targeted Fact-Gathering Focus Group Interviews: A series of targeted focus group interviews with various health system stakeholders and digital health delivery partners will be conducted to build upon the insights captured from the information session and survey responses to further document and fill any gaps to obtain an assessment of the current fax use and further explore opportunities for phasing out fax use.

• Note select individuals will receive an invitation to the focus group interviews in the upcoming days

Thank you in advance for your participation and valuable contribution to this initiative. For any questions, please reach out to the Deloitte project team (ATFprojectteam@deloitte.ca).