A Kelowna technology company has locked down a partnership with Canada’s largest health IT company.

QHR Technologies, which is located on Dickson Avenue, has created the largest single electronic medical record platform in Canada called AccuroEMR. According to QHR Technologies, electronic medical records is the future for health-care professionals. The system allows medical records to be stored digitally, giving doctors in different cities access to patient records.

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QHR Technologies announced on Friday that they will be partnering with Telus Health to improve communications between Canadian health-care providers.

"For QHR, empowering providers and connecting patients is the vision that drives our company. It is an exciting time for us to be leading a national innovation in health care to give our physicians access to the unique services offered by each company and is a great way to accelerate the transformation of health care," said Mike Checkley, QHR's president and CEO.

"As industry leaders, it is the right time to step forward and work with industry partners to make this critical investment in our health-care system that will benefit all Canadians now and into the future."

The idea is to create a national messaging system that will allow community-based physicians to efficiently exchange patient information. It will also help physicians make it easier to develop care plans for patients.

"Addressing the evolution of Canada's health-care system – often referred to as the largest social challenge of our generation, requires us to rethink the way we work and collaborate,” explained Michael Guerriere, chief medical officer for Telus Health.

“This industry-led proposed collaboration with QHR to innovate and break down communication barriers through the use of technology will bring us another step closer to the future of healthcare and is an investment in Canada's digital economy."

Not only will this new partnership help physicians, but it will also help patients personally. Included in the proposed plan will be the beginning of electronic referrals and prescriptions. Instead of the doctor handing a patient a paper prescription or a referral letter that needs to be faxed by the referring physician, it will all be online.

A prescription form would be sent electronically to the pharmacy, getting rid of the possibility of errors or loss of the prescription form.

Together, the two companies have the goal of helping the more than 23,000 physicians who currently use the companies’ electronic medical record system to help take better care of patients.

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QHR Technologies and TELUS Health both said they want this partnership and new health-care solution to expand to other practitioners such as physiotherapists, chiropractors and nutritionists.

Just months ago QHR Technologies announced a record-breaking $7.7 million quarter, as well as naming Olympic medallist Hayley Wickenheiser as the company’s spokesperson.