Online patient portal delayed yet again

Albertans will be waiting at least until next year for the province to complete work on a secure online portal that will give patients access to their lab results, prescription records and other health information.

The already long-delayed digital platform was expected to be released some time this spring, but will now be pushed back at least another year — largely because the government failed to make the system receptive to mobile devices.

Health Minister Sarah Hoffman intervened earlier this year to halt the portal’s rollout until more “compatibility” and “functionality” could be added, the ministry said in a written statement Tuesday.

“The minister has been clear that the platform needs to be ready for mobile use before it is released to all Albertans,” said the statement, which blamed the oversight on the former Progressive Conservative government that was defeated two years ago.

“It does appear that the former government did not anticipate how critical mobile compatibility would be in 2017, and how users expect tools like this to work the same as other applications they have on their phones.”

Work on the complex project began almost a decade ago, back in 2008. By 2011, the province was ready to launch the first phase of the myhealth.alberta.ca website, which offered general information on thousands of health-related topics.

The health minister at the time, Gene Zwozdesky, promised that by 2014-15, the site would be bolstered with a number of new features — including a secure online portal where patients could view their blood-test results, X-ray scans and other health information similar to what their doctors would see in the Netcare system.

However, by early 2015 it was clear the project was behind schedule. Ministry officials said then they were aiming to have the system completed for the public by the end of that year.

Further delays ensued following the defeat of the Tories, with the new NDP government first promising to have the platform rolled out in the spring of 2016, then the spring of 2017.

The health ministry now says it hopes to release it to the public sometime during the 2018-19 fiscal year. The government has issued a request for proposals to find a vendor who can optimize the tool for cellphone users. It’s unclear how much this will cost.

To date, $34.3 million has been spent on the project.