Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the response to questioning during the review of the 2018-2019 Main Estimates, the Minister of Health and Social Services said, and I am quoting from unedited Hansard February 28, 2018:
"We are talking about the resident being able to block their record from being seen by certain individuals within the healthcare system, including certain specific information. The initial system as designed didn't really have that available, but we have been working with the developers to see how we can incorporate that in, and we believe there is a mechanism. We are not a hundred per cent sure, and I may come back and say I was wrong, but at this point we believe there is something we can do."
I would like to ask the Minister if that system he was referring to in that quote was the MediPatient system referenced in the recent Information and Privacy Commissioner report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the system I was making reference to was the electronic medical record system that we have incorporated in the Northwest Territories. I have had some further discussions. We believe that we will be able to put a system in that will allow our residents to block some individuals from seeing their information. We have not formulated that or put that in place yet, but we believe it can happen.
So, I have it here. The electronic medical record system is a system of patient information used in healthcare clinics for scheduling, longitudinal charting, and billing to support the delivery of patient care, and it's available to all health authorities, whereas the MediPatient system referred to in the Information and Privacy Commissioner report indicates that it's local hospital patient information used by several NWT health and social services authorities and includes admission, discharge, radiology, rehabilitation, and scheduling functions. So are some authorities still using the MediPatient system, or is the electronic medical record system replacing the MediPatient system?
No, we are moving to the electronic medical record system in the Northwest Territories, so it's going to be one system where we can have patient information, they can see what their test results are, all of those types of things. There are three communities that do not have that system in place yet. We are still rolling it out in the Northwest Territories, but we intend to have it everywhere in the Northwest Territories.
So when the Health Information Act first came into place, the department identified 15 separate information systems. I will not go into them exhaustively, but they all seem to do different things: MediGent, MediPharm, ORMED, Risk Monitor Pro, Vital Statistics System, Health Suite. So, with these 15 separate information systems, are any of these going to be retained, or is this all rolling into one?
The Member did indicate a few systems, Vital Stats and a few others as an example. Those continue to exist. They are collecting data for a different reason, and the inputs are coming from a different mechanism. Electronic medical record is a system where individuals' records are kept and maintained. It does provide some statistical data so that we, as Members, can make informed decisions. We have 32 indicators that we are monitoring and reporting on, on a regular basis.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I am trying to get at with the Minister here is that, yes, there are diagnostic systems, there are different systems like that, but it seems like there are a number of systems that are used for patient information, and we still have this issue with masking, that the functionality does not seem to be there. So I will ask the Minister: what is the work that is undergoing to modify the electronic medical record system to allow masking of patient information? What are the costs and projected timelines of that? Thank you.
What we are referring to is allowing a patient to block certain practitioners from seeing their information so that not everybody who is in the circle of care can necessarily see the information. That work is under way. We are still trying to figure out the exact magnitude, the cost of it. There are some challenges with it. For instance, if somebody chooses to block something today, and then 10, 15, years from now their situation changes and there is a critical incident and somebody needs to look at that information, if it's blocked, it could adversely affect their care. So we want to make sure that we understand all of that, and, until we have a better understanding of that, we will not have a full idea of the cost implications or the scope. We are doing that work. When I know, the committee will know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
