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The Alberta government is investigating the reason behind thousands of delays affecting patient referrals to community specialists through Alberta Health Services’ new electronic health record.
In late September, AHS notified the province of an issue impacting patient referrals to community specialists via the new Connect Care system. Approximately 14,000 patients have been affected by the outgoing referrals that have not been properly processed.
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In a press release, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said she has asked the Health Quality Council of Alberta to provide an independent third-party review to investigate the problem. The provincial agency will provide a review of systems and operational processes to determine how the situation occurred and how to prevent it in the future. The review is currently in the early stages.
“Timely access to care at critical times is a priority. This issue is greatly concerning, and we are committed to taking swift action to ensure AHS addresses and prioritizes the issue,” LaGrange said.
An internal AHS audit completed in late September showed that some patient referrals to community specialists and other health providers outside of AHS were not processed through Connect Care, in some cases causing a delay.
AHS said the issue does not apply to Connect Care users such as specialty clinics and allied health professionals like physiotherapists.
According to AHS, a further investigation determined that the issue was not limited to to the Central Zone and that patients in all five AHS zones — Central, North, Edmonton, Calgary and South — may have been impacted.
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In each zone, there are approximately 10,025 unsent referrals in Edmonton; 3,329 in Calgary; 741 in Central; 549 in North; and 268 in South.
There are currently a total of 31 patients who have been identified as requiring immediate followup and “may have experienced a potential negative outcome” due to the delay.
AHS said it is directly contacting patients who where potentially impacted and said patients will be able to address any questions and concerns they may have. In addition, it said teams are working urgently to assess delayed referrals to determine the impact the delay may have had on each patient and will schedule them as soon as possible.
“AHS is dedicated to providing Albertans with the high-quality care they need, when they need it, and we are deeply sorry that some patients did not receive that in a timely way,” AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos said in a press release.
To prevent this in the future, AHS said it has increased training for processing patient referrals, improved auditing and improved electronic delivery of outgoing referrals.
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