Patients’ patience being tested
After 18 years and more than $500 million spent, Saskatchewan finally has an electronic health record (EHR) system. Sort of. At least part of one. Tuesday’s announcement that a “comprehensive” electronic health record for Saskatchewan residents “is complete” was a little misleading. It suggests to the casual observer that all family physicians and other health-care providers now have computer access to a patient’s complete medical history. That’s not the case.
Yes, the “core” system might be in place, but the range of data is limited and doesn’t include all patient information from every health facility.
Further, though 3,300 health-care providers have access to the system, they represent less than a quarter of the province’s 13,700 physicians, nurses and pharmacists.
The reality is that this is just another step in a process that seems to have no discernible end. As Health Minister Dustin Duncan commented, Tuesday was more a celebration of the progress to date and “the work doesn’t end after today.” That’s an understatement. After all that time and money, we’re still a good ways away from taking medical record keeping and sharing beyond inefficient bulky paper files and the faxing of information between doctors, hospitals and other facilities.
When the Saskatchewan NDP government started down the electronic health record road in 1997, Google had not yet been created. Now, it’s an indespensible part of our life. Just as paper files continue to be for much of our health system.
Still, the province’s announcement on Tuesday marks some progress.
The EHR Viewer website is putting a wide range of patient information at the fingertips of physicians, pharmacists and other health-care professionals. For example, doctors can call up and view patient prescription and allergy information from pharmacies, immunization records, laboratory test results from health regions and hospital admission, discharge and transfer summaries.
As the system expands, the hope is that it will mean speedier treatment and reduced duplication. For example, it should end situations like Doctor A ordering a scan or blood test because they are unaware Doctor B already did those tests.
All that said, it’s been only seven months since the provincial auditor expressed concern at the slow progress, cost and efficiency of the project. Her call for better co-ordination between health agencies to get the job done is still valid.
SASK. MAKES SLOW PROGRESS
ON ELECTRONIC RECORDS.