Frequently Asked Questions

For Patients - General Inquiries

For Health Care Providers - General Inquiries

ConnectMyHealth is a digital health solution that provides you with an online, single access channel to view your health records from many healthcare facilities in Ontario. ConnectMyHealth can be used on desktop and mobile devices, there's no cost to use it, and there's no app to download when accessing your account via the web. Click here for more information about what ConnectMyHealth is, and can do, to help empower your health journey. 

Registration for ConnectMyHealth accounts can be done online. More information about registration is available by clicking here.  

Those who are 16 years of age or older, with a valid, green Ontario health card and unique email address (not shared with anyone else) are able to register for a ConnectMyHealth account. 

ConnectMyHealth will be most beneficial to patients who have health records at data-contributing healthcare facilities as posted here.

You can view many of your health records from data-contributing healthcare facilities that are located in Ontario Health West Region (South West Ontario). Click here to learn more about what health data is available through ConnectMyHealth.  

ConnectMyHealth is a secure, web-based patient portal which allows patients to view their health data from multiple healthcare facilities in Ontario. Hamilton Health Sciences, in its capacity as operator of ConnectMyHealth, has worked to ensure ConnectMyHealth meets all Ontario’s health data privacy requirements, uses the same encryption standards as banks do, and operates in compliance with Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). Here are some key components you should be aware of that help make ConnectMyHealth safe and secure: 

1. ConnectMyHealth does not store copies of your health data. Instead ConnectMyHealth connects to, or queries, in real-time, the source systems of healthcare organizations that contribute data to the portal, so you may view your health records (but copies of what you view in ConnectMyHealth are not then stored in the system).

2. Access to ConnectMyHealth is controlled through personal usernames and passwords, and multi-factor (two-step) authentication at each login. 

3. To help ensure that your private health information is safe from unauthorized access, ConnectMyHealth is hosted in a secure location in Ontario.

4. ConnectMyHealth is managed by a dedicated team with extensive technical expertise in the healthcare sector. 

5. ConnectMyHealth is encrypted to meet Ontario Health’s Cryptography Standards, has strict access controls in place to prevent unauthorized third-party data accesses, and is equipped with auditing capabilities that record who accessed your information and when. 

6. Certain identifying information obtained through the account registration process, is stored in ConnectMyHealth to provide support services and auditing of ConnectMyHealth. No information is shared nor sold to third parties. 

7. After 20 minutes of inactivity, you will be automatically logged out of your ConnectMyHealth account as a security measure.  

However, as is the case with any information sent, received or viewed over the Internet, safety and security cannot be completely guaranteed. As a user of ConnectMyHealth, there are some precautionary steps you can take to help protect yourself and your use of ConnectMyHealth as listed below:

1. Access ConnectMyHealth using your personal device and ensure the device is secured with a good/strong password. Turn on any encryption options that may be available on the device, and make sure your device has all appropriate security and operating system patches applied.

2. Ensure you log out of your account after every session, and delete or securely store any reports you may have downloaded to your device from ConnectMyHealth. 

3. Create a secure password for your ConnectMyHealth account and do not share your password with anyone. 

The ConnectMyHealth User Agreement that you will be asked to review and accept prior to using the patient portal also reminds you of these obligations, and you may also wish to review ConnectMyHealth’s Technical Specifications – both documents are available by clicking here. 

For more information on steps you take to protect yourself online and become cyber safe in general, please visit: https://www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/en.

Health care providers are encouraged to read other sections of this website to familiarize themselves with ConnectMyHealth, Ontario Health West Region's newest patient portal tool.

Registration for ConnectMyHealth is now available to those who are 16 years of age or older, with a valid Ontario Health Card.  

ConnectMyHealth is being deployed in collaboration with many Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) in the Ontario Health West Region. Please contact your local OHT for questions specific to the deployment of ConnectMyHealth in your area. Additional information can be found on this website; this site is updated regularly as new information becomes available.

ConnectMyHealth is a web-based digital health solution, operated by the HITS eHealth Office at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), that provides patients with the ability to view certain parts of their health records stored in the health information systems of participating healthcare facilities in Ontario (Data Contributing Facilities). Such health records are accessed on a real-time basis through another service operated by HHS called ClinicalConnect, whose purpose is to provide similar access to such health records by participating healthcare providers.    

Your access or intended use as a health care provider of ClinicalConnect should not change with the deployment of ConnectMyHealth to patients. Information about ClinicalConnect for health care providers is available at https://info.clinicalconnect.ca. 

The availability of ConnectMyHealth for patients is not intended to create any additional responsibilities for health care providers. As a health care provider, you may choose to promote the use of ConnectMyHealth with your patients as you see fit, but you are not required to do so. It is meant to act as a tool that patients can leverage to access their health records, understand their health care, and improve their patient experience. 

ConnectMyHealth is being made available to patients in collaboration with various Ontario Health Teams (OHTs). You may wish to consult with your OHT if applicable for direction about how ConnectMyHealth should be promoted and/or made available to your patients. 

No, health care providers are not required to learn how to use ConnectMyHealth. However health care providers should be aware of the tool and the types of data your patients will be able to view using ConnectMyHealth. In addition, health care providers are able to register for their own ConnectMyHealth account to view their own health information, if they wish.  

ConnectMyHealth is built on a unified data release model for aggregated records from across the region guided by the following principles: 

• Follow the Patient, Family and Caregiver Declaration of Values for Ontario. 

• The patient owns their Personal Health Information (PHI), which should be designed in a user-friendly and portable format.

• The patient has the right to fully access their PHI anytime via the source facilities' Release of Information Office.

• All efforts should be made to allow PHI to patients with little or no restrictions; failing that, a clear pathway to real-time access should be in place.

• The patient has the right to be informed and control who accesses the relevant PHI being shared.

• The patient has the right to ensure the accuracy and completeness of their PHI.

Certain types of data is restricted and not available to view in ConnectMyHealth. Please see the Data Availability page of this website for complete details. Data in ConnectMyHealth will be expanding to align with the principles above. 

The patient’s record contains aggregated reports and results from many contributing facilities and depending on the type of result/report, and the associated clinical practices at these facilities, patients may access their results before you’ve seen them, particularly if you rely on paper or fax delivery of patient results. Patients are able to use ConnectMyHealth to view many types of reports/results once they are made Final/Completed/Amended by the contributing facilities. 

Evidence indicates that patients having access to their results has improved their understanding of their health conditions, increased engagement in their care, and built stronger relationships with their providers. Transparent communication through a patient portal can be a powerful way to reduce care partner stress, improve health outcomes and enhance care planning conversations between patients and their providers. 

Studies have shown that, in most cases, patients being able to view their health records in patient portals has not increased a health care provider’s workload (Source: https://edhub.ama-assn.org/steps-forward/module/2767762). Additionally, feedback from clinicians suggests patient portals such as ConnectMyHealth do not increase workload. By making health information and services available online to patients, there may be a decrease in the number of phone calls and text messages between patients and providers (Source: Patient Portal Provincial Implementation Guide: https://www.ontariohealth.ca/system-planning/digital-standards/patient-portals-standards).

ConnectMyHealth is not a data repository; it simply presents the report made available from the contributing healthcare facility. What a patient sees in ConnectMyHealth is the same report they could obtain from the facility’s Health Records or Release of Information departments. ConnectMyHealth links knowledge resources within the portal for patients to use at their own discretion. As with any test result, you should review results with patients according to your normal clinical practices. 

ConnectMyHealth features additional functionality that can help empower patients in their health journey, such as:

• New Results Alerts: Subscribe to be notified by email when patients have new results available to view in ConnectMyHealth; the patient's New Results page displays first when they log in, for quick and easy viewing

• Patient Dashboard: Patients can customize their dashboard by organizing the types of health records (modules) that are most important to them

• Patient Visits Timeline: View upcoming scheduled hospital appointments, where available

Functionality for users to 'share their records' with family and care partners who are also ConnectMyHealth users is expected to be available in the near future. 

ConnectMyHealth is different than other patient portals (often called "tethered portals") because it combines various types of health records created at hospitals patients have been to in the Ontario Health West Region into one, consolidated view. By comparison, patient portals provided by hospitals normally contain health records and other functions like appointment scheduling specific to each hospital and is connected directly, or 'tethered', to their Hospital Information System which does not provide the broader data aggregation that ConnectMyHealth offers. 

Work is underway to consolidate additional data from other health care organizations including community-based laboratories, diagnostic imaging clinics, the Digital Health Drug Repository for dispensed medications, hospitals outside of Ontario Health West Region, and from Ontario's Home and Community Care Support Services, so it can be viewable to patients in the near future using ConnectMyHealth. Think of ConnectMyHealth as more of as an evolutionary ‘one-stop-shop’ that consolidates health information from multiple, otherwise disparate systems into one solution.  ConnectMyHealth can be an ideal complement to in-person or virtual visits by providing patients with easy access to their hospital records, and to tethered portals offered by health care organizations like hospitals, community-based laboratories and diagnostic imaging clinics. 

Please visit https://www.ontariohealth.ca/system-planning/digital-standards/patient-portals-standards for more information about how Ontario is supporting patients’ online access to their health information.