One of the realizations for many of us during of the pandemic has certainly been the need for a reliable, well-functioning electronic medical record. Without one, coordinating patient care is far more challenging than it needs to be. Because of that, some of you may be looking at options within your EMR or finding challenges with it and considering another. And currently there is a lot going on in the eHealth space to sort out.

Activity in eHealth has been ramping up and family physicians should be aware that a Provincial eHealth Strategy is being developed with a report expected from Ernst & Young by June.  It will contain an eHealth strategy implementation plan for Governance, an Architecture Blueprint and an EMR Business Model that aligns with the blueprint and the strategy. However, what isn’t known is how this report may impact the EMR landscape in Alberta. My hope is it will provide policy direction for EMRs in the future.

Complexity in the market is increasing with emerging and changing EMRs. TELUS announced it is retiring Wolf in 2023 and acquired another solution called Collaborative Health Record (InputHealth). Communication regarding timelines and availability has been mixed, however I understand that TELUS is expected to issue communication soon to help resolve some of the confusion around this transition.

That said, there are implications for many providers needing or wanting to select a new vendor in a complicated space. I would urge you to practice due diligence before making any EMR decisions. Refer to this recent article and feel free to ask your questions using the email provided.

I’ve learned of some technical challenges experienced by clinics involved in the Community Information Integration/Central Patient Attachment Registry initiative even with some conformed EMRs. I would encourage you and your team to stick with it, as the resulting benefits to continuity and patient care are critical improvements once these items are ironed out. The CII/CPAR project team continues working with vendors to push forward with solutions. And it’s great to see the positive momentum in the initiative with over 730 physicians now live in the system. See the article in this month’s issue (below) for more details.

It’s important to note, the AHS rollout of Connect Care, while delayed in 2020, continues across the province with Wave 3 in the north zone launching next month. You can learn more about its progress here and in the article this issue.

In closing, it’s safe to say forms of virtual care are here to stay, and there will be a continued evolution as we move past the pandemic. A Virtual Care Task Force report on recommendations for scaling up virtual medical services has made several key suggestions including the development of national standards, incorporating and updating educational competencies and encouraging the development of fee schedules that are revenue neutral between in-person and virtual encounters. The AMA strongly supports the eHealth and virtual care environments and continues to advocate for adequate funding for physicians to enable these critical technological supports in the Patient’s Medical Home model.

Take care and stay safe,
Dr. Brad Bahler
Chair 
Primary Care Alliance

In light of the vote result on the tentative agreement package that was finalized March 30, keep an eye on your email and on the Section of the Family Medicine Bulletin archive page for additional updates.

Refer to the link below and bookmark the page. 

The number of community physicians sharing select information from their community EMR with Alberta Netcare grows weekly.

As of early March, 557 family physicians and 173 community specialists in more than 155 clinics are sending consult reports and encounter information to Alberta Netcare as well as panels to the Central Patient Attachment Registry. Want to see more reasons to add your clinic to the list?

Read more at the link below.