Alberta Health Services

By Charles Lefebvre

Connect Care

Alberta Health Services begins transitioning to Connect Care system

Nov 4, 2019 | 12:56 PM

EDMONTON, AB — Alberta Health Services has started its switch over to a new online record system.

On Sunday, AHS launched Connect Care, a new online clinical information system.

The system will be the new home for all AHS medical records, prescription history, notes from doctors and care history at AHS facilities, and puts it in one centralized location. Doctors across the province will be able to have access to the records, as will patients. Prior to Connect Care, AHS says there were more than 1,300 independent record systems for patients across Alberta.

“Connect Care is really about improving the quality and safety of the care that we provide to our patients,” said Sean Chilton, vice-president of health professions and practice with AHS. “It’s about improving the engagement of our patients in their own care, and enhancing the coordination of care and the communication across the health care system.”

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Currently, the program is only operating in Edmonton. A release from Alberta Health Services says there will be nine implementation waves in total between 2019 and 2022.

The South Zone, which includes Medicine Hat, is set to switch over in April 2021. The delayed roll out, Chilton says, gives the organization time to fine tune the system if issues arise.

“It’s such a big undertaking, and such a complex project, that it’s really important that we take our time with the implementation,” he said. “It’s a way to better utilize the resources to help get the system into place. It allows us the opportunity to learn from each of the implementations, and gives us the chance and the opportunity to optimize the system, to make sure we’re using the system in the best way, and to make sure we’re getting the best system to support patient care.”

Chilton adds the program has safeguards in place to help keep the personal information of patients safe.

“Connect Care actually offers improved privacy protection, and it’s better than anything we’ve had before,” he said. “It includes comprehensive auditing and monitoring capabilities, and it truly allows us to understand what’s happening in the system, and protect the information of our patients.”

Chilton says the privacy protecting measures include requiring staff to complete privacy training before getting access to Connect Care. More than 19,000 workers, including approximately 3,000 physicians, have been trained on the program so far, according to a release from AHS.

Chilton adds the program also includes artificial intelligence that learns about what appropriate access to the system look like, and can issue alerts when inappropriate access is detected.

Connect Care will be in place across Alberta by the summer of 2022. Patients will be able to access their complete record with Alberta Health Services when Connect Care goes live in their region (currently, Albertans can access some data through the My Health website).