Pilot project aims to solve health record issues for people living near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border

A new pilot project from the Alberta government is hoping to solve a common challenge facing citizens accessing health care in a city that spans two provinces.

Imagine you are a rural Albertan traveling to the nearest town for a health care appointment with a specialist. You clear your schedule to drive more than 200 kilometers – one-way. You pay for gas. You pay for parking at the hospital.

You sit in the waiting room. You have been seen for your appointment. You complete all the tests and can now go home, which requires an additional journey of 200 kilometres.

Now imagine that your family doctor can’t see the results of those tests.

Casey Hull lives on the Alberta side of Lloydminster, a city that straddles the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. She said she’s all too familiar with this experience and she’s not alone.

Many others living in and around the city are familiar with the challenges the Alberta-Saskatchewan border faces in terms of health care.

“It’s an uphill battle all the time,” Hull said.

His family doctor practices in the Saskatchewan area of ​​Lloydminster. But as an Alberta resident with multiple health issues, she said she is often referred to specialists in Edmonton.

Hull said those experts cannot access records of the care they received in Saskatchewan. And unless she specifically requests it, the results of the care she receives in Alberta do not go to her family doctor. And even when he asked, he said there were still problems.

“It doesn’t always happen, and then you get hit with a glitch,” Hull said. “It’s either sent to them, or they don’t know.

“This is costing taxpayers money, because the test has to be done twice; if they don’t get the results, they have to order the test again.”

Stories like Hull’s were the driving force behind an Alberta government pilot project launching in Lloydminster this January. The program will allow Saskatchewan-based doctors and pharmacists access to NetCare, Alberta’s electronic health record system for access only.

Garth Rowswell, MLA for Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright, said tackling medical file-sharing problems in the border city has been on his agenda since he was first elected in 2019.

“I would say this has been an issue for decades,” he told CBC News. “It’s always been that way.”

Then why wait?

In 2020, Then-Health Minister Tyler Shandro introduced Bill 46Which included amendments aimed at broadening access to Netcare outside provincial boundaries.

Concerns were raised by Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, stalling progress on the bill. After five years of work, the pilot project is becoming a reality as a result of recent amendments to Alberta’s Health Information Act and the Alberta Electronic Health Records Regulation.

In an emailed statement, Alberta’s Ministry of Primary and Preventive Health Services said the plan will include a community pharmacy and a physician’s office to start, before expanding to more providers, including nurse practitioners and registered nurses.

The statement said all providers must meet Alberta’s privacy, security and regulatory requirements before joining, and will be given “role-based, read-only access appropriate to their professional scope.”

Roswell said in the future he hopes to expand the project to other communities like Cold Lake and Medicine Hat, where many patients cross the border for health care.

The Ministry of Primary and Preventive Health Services told CBC News that no decision has been made at this time on expanding the pilot project further.

Paul Richer, chairman of the Lloydminster and District Health Advisory Council, has been pushing for such an initiative for years and said he is excited it is now moving forward.

While he’s glad to have a major priority crossed off his to-do list, he said he’s looking forward to the health needs assessment report in the coming months to identify more deficiencies and – hopefully – address them.

Richter said, “The important thing is that – because time is of the essence and we are not getting any younger – it is not sitting idle that we put pressure on the government to take the next steps.”

Hull said she believes the change is positive but said the issue of file sharing in Lloydminster is only half-solved for residents like her.

“It doesn’t help when you’re an Alberta resident and all your records are Saskatchewan (records), and Alberta doctors can’t see Saskatchewan results,” she said. “It’s almost like you’re punished for being at Lloyd’s.

“For example, if you were in Vermilion, all your records would be from Alberta.”

Lloydminster’s only hospital is located on the Saskatchewan side. according to Saskatchewan Health AuthorityAlberta residents must request records after receiving hospital care. Requests come with a $20 fee, but for a number of different reasons, the cost can often be waived for Alberta residents.