How will current eHealth initiatives enhance continuity of care?

Continuity of care is about a patient and provider health care experience that is coherent, connected, coordinated and consistent with patient goals.
 
Connect Care, community EMRs, Netcare, and the Community Information Integration(CII) and Central Patient Attachment Registry(CPAR) will build connectivity to defragment the health information space and increase access to it; bringing continuity to Albertans' experience of health care. 

Connect Care will support continuity in health care across Alberta. Its integrated clinical information system (CIS) will replace most of the over 1,300 health information systems currently in place across Alberta Health Services (AHS) and affiliated organizations. When fully implemented in late 2022, the CIS will be used by all providers where AHS is accountable for the record of care.

A variety of Electronic Medical Records(EMRs) facilitate primary and specialty health care where Connect Care is not the record of care. Without ways to bridge these information spaces (CIS and EMR), continuity is broken.

One bridge is Alberta’s provincial Electronic Health Record, Netcare, which will gain a wider range of information from Connect Care. Another bridge is provided through "eDelivery" of health information from Connect Care and Netcare to Alberta EMRs, which will share more information in a more consistent format that is easier for Alberta EMRs to capture and organize.

Two new initiatives promise even better connections. AHS, the Alberta Medical Association and Alberta Health are promoting two-way health information sharing between EMRs and Netcare through CII and CPAR. These support patients to be linked to a medical home, and for that home to share information with Netcare. The CII will extend sharing to include the CIS in 2020 and CPAR will both inform and be informed by what happens where Connect Care is the record of care.
 
For regular updates regarding Connect Care, please visit the AHS website.
 
You may also be interested in reading our related article this issue, Latest updates: CII/CPAR adoption and eNotifications.



    

© 2019 Alberta Medical Association; All rights reserved

The opinions expressed in AMA publications are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of the Alberta Medical Association, its Board of Directors or members.

The Alberta Medical Association does not assume responsibility or liability for damages arising from any error or omission or from the use of any information or advice contained in these materials. Advertisements included in our publications are not necessarily endorsed by the Alberta Medical Association.

The Association reserves the right to edit any submissions that are accepted to appear in any of our publications or platforms. Please consult our editorial guidelines for tips on submissions or advertising.

Our mailing address is:
12230 106 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T5N 3Z1
Canada