Sask. expanding virtual health care services to relieve pressures on system

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Health will be expanding the province’s virtual health care capacity, with the goal of improving rural access and relieving some pressures on the health care system.

The ministry and eHealth Saskatchewan have announced that they will be working to provide more secure and responsive virtual health care, using almost $6.5 million in funding provided by a bilateral agreement with the federal government.

"It is critical that we have the appropriate systems and technology in place to support virtual health care services, for the safety of both our residents and health care providers," said Health Minister Paul Merriman, in a press release.

Updates will include replacing the current teleconferencing technology with a more secure solution and expanding the online patient portal MySaskHealthRecord, where more than 180,000 residents are currently registered and can view their records and test results.

The province also plans to expand remote patient monitoring, which allows one health care provider to monitor up to 100 patients recovering in their own homes. This is already being used to support over 1,000 residents who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is also getting ready to deploy an automated phone system to notify residents of their negative COVID-19 test results. The auto-dialer system would either phone or text individuals within 24 hours of their lab-confirmed negative result. Positive test results would still be delivered via a phone call from public health.

From March to December 2020, patients all over the province participated in more than 1.7 million virtual appointments with physicians, according to data from the ministry.

The increase in virtual care use was largely prompted by the pandemic, but the continued expansion of services will be beneficial to residents in rural and remote areas in need of better access on a long-term basis. Merriman also said that expanding the current system’s virtual capacity is expected to help relieve some of the pandemic pressure on the health care system as a whole. An action plan is currently in development to enhance current virtual services, with a focus on security, privacy and user experience.