November 2006

Concertia successfully completes e-Results, a Primary Health Information Management (iPHIM) initiative for the Nova Scotia Department of Health in November 2006. The PHIM program is among the first in Canada to implement an electronic patient record solution for primary health care (PHC) providers. Through the use of Application Service Provider (ASP) technology, this project is providing primary healthcare providers timely and easy access to patient diagnostic tests, such as lab and DI results at their desktops.

Since its launch about a year ago, the province wide iPHIM program has registered more than 500 users in 60 clinics, resulting in an adoption rate of more than 1 in 4 primary care doctors in NS. "It's a lot of work in the first months getting set up, but it's worth it," said Dr. David Martell, a physician at the Lunenburg Medical Centre. "With electronic records, I am able to get accurate details on my patients’ health status; medication lists are accurate and legible. The automated-recall features allow me to proactively take care of my patients' health maintenance needs. I would never go back to paper records."

An important element of Electronic Patient Record (EPR) implementation is enabling the integration of information flows from external acute care facilities hospital information systems (HIS), to the EPR's maintained by PHC providers. This phase of the project includes the implementation of e-Results (previously known as i-PHIM) for the electronic delivery of LAB and DI results to EPR systems. Connecting primary health-care settings with hospital information systems allows care providers to access lab, diagnostic imaging, and other patient information quickly and accurately.

The iPHIM program's funding comes from the $4 million allotted from Health Canada's Primary Health Care Transition Fund. This project is being implemented in clinics across the province by teams from district health authorities, supported by Halifax-based Concertia Technologies Inc. and Dymaxion Research Limited and Nightingale Informatix, of Markham, Ontario.