The Vascular Health Promotion Network (VHPN) is a web-based patient management system, which was developed by the Vascular Disease Prevention and Research Center, located at the Southeastern Health Sciences Center in Kingston, Ontario, in collaboration with Cissec. The VHPN is unique, because it is the only system in existence which offers the ability to collect patient health information in a comprehensive manner, and because it concurrently provides advanced vascular disease management tools. It was developed to bridge the health care gap by facilitating the efficient and accurate collection of personal health information, and by providing health care professionals with the necessary tools to manage optimally their patients who have vascular disease. The VHPN provides health care professionals with a means by which to track and to manage risk factors, and in so doing, the system allows health care professionals to manage more cooperatively their patients across disciplin es and or geographical regions. The Vascular Health Promotion Network is designed to facilitate: i) the treatment of patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; ii) cardiovascular research and quality assurance; and iii) the education of physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals, and the public at large.

The VHPN keeps track of a patient's vascular history (cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, peripheral vascular and renovascular), their cardiovascular risk factors, and their medications. It allows for the longitudinal follow-up of cholesterol, blood pressures, weights, and glycemic control, using the VHPN's specially designed "Patient Management and Tracking System". The System allows a physician to generate cardiovascular histories, risk factor inventories, medications reports, recommendations reports, discharge reports and follow-up reports. These reports can either be printed, or electronically faxed or e-mailed to referring physicians.

Because it is internet-based, the VHPN allows for the management of patients on a regional level and it allows for greater cooperation between allied health care professionals in the management of their patients. Physicians and other allied health care professionals, for example, can quickly and easily log onto the Network, and instantly enter or view a patient's health information. This serves to decrease the duplication of effort that is required to enter patient health information, and it improves patient safety through error reduction. Moreover, the VHPN provides the opportunity for health care professionals to communicate more effectively with each other, which allows for a more consistent and cooperative approach to the delivery of patient health care, and it ameliorates potential miscommunication. The net effect is the creation of a health care team, whether real or virtual that can work together in an effective and efficient manner.

The VHPN empowers patients to take ownership of their own health by allowing them to take a more active role as a member of their own health care team. Prior to clinic visits, patients may log onto the Network from home, at their convenience, and update their personal health information. Between clinic visits, patients can access the Network and enter their daily weights, blood pressures, or even upload glucose meter readings directly into the system. This serves to make the outpatient clinical encounter more efficient, and results in improved long-term health outcomes.

The VHPN allows for continuous quality assurance monitoring, including timeliness and quality of care, and it provides the opportunity for physicians to benchmark their own practices to that of their colleagues on a regional, provincial or national level. The VHPN includes the Internet Mediated Patient Activity Tracking System (IMPACT System), which is a wait list management tool. The IMPACT System was designed: i) to track key indicators as they reflect the timeliness of health care delivery, including resource utilization, mean wait times and the distribution of wait times for the delivery of health care services, ii) to identify the barriers to delivering health care on a timely basis, including physician and health care resource shortages, iii) to help define maximum acceptable wait time standards and to identify patients who deviate from the care path according to best practice guidelines, and iv) to provide tools to help health care providers to realize efficiencies and to guide resource allocation that can facilitate the timely delivery of health care to patients.