Alberta Health Services (AHS) finished its eighth launch of its Connect Care program Saturday, adding thousands of physicians across the province into the system.
Over 10,000 physicians and staff from 229 AHS sites and partner sites became part of the provincial health information system at 5 a.m. This involves every AHS zone across 129 towns and cities in Alberta.
This means more health records from AHS and its subsidiaries can now be accessed. It also provides “common decision-making support” for clinicians.
The programs and services those towns and cities have access to are Community Ambulatory Care, Continuing Care, Seniors, and Home Care and Community Care in Calgary and Central zones. This includes 10 Carewest sites in the Calgary Zone and two Covenant Health sites in the Central Zone.
Addictions and mental health group homes are available in the Edmonton Zone, and population public health is accessible in all zones.
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AHS president Athana Mentzelopoulos says the launch connects healthcare workers, physicians, and patients, providing healthcare teams with a “more complete health history” for patients, adding AHS is improving its ability to keep information private and secure.
“Healthcare teams can also communicate with patients and each other more easily,” she said.
At this time, Connect Care has 118,400 staff, physicians and other healthcare providers across all five AHS zones.
One more launch of Connect Care remains and is expected to be implemented in the fall of 2024. Once completed, the total staff and physicians will be around 125,000 from across the province.
Connect Care first launched in November 2019.
More information on Connect Care for professionals and patients can be found online.