A new initiative by the Alberta government aims to tackle a common issue faced by residents seeking healthcare in a city that straddles two provinces. Picture yourself as a rural Albertan making a 200-kilometer journey for a specialist appointment in the nearest city, incurring costs for gas and hospital parking. After completing tests, you must travel back home another 200 kilometers. However, your family doctor cannot access the test results.
K.C. Hull, residing on the Alberta side of Lloydminster, knows this struggle firsthand. Many individuals in and around the city encounter similar challenges due to the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. Hull’s family doctor practices in Saskatchewan, but as an Alberta resident referred to specialists in Edmonton, she faces difficulties with accessing and sharing medical records across provinces.
To address such issues, the Alberta government has launched a pilot project in Lloydminster. This program, starting this January, will grant Saskatchewan-based healthcare professionals read-only access to Alberta’s electronic health record system, Netcare. Garth Rowswell, MLA for Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright, has been advocating for resolving cross-border medical file-sharing issues since his election in 2019.
Legislation introduced in 2020 aimed to expand access to Netcare outside Alberta, but concerns from the privacy commissioner delayed its progress. Recent amendments to Alberta’s Health Information Act and Electronic Health Record Regulation have paved the way for the pilot project’s implementation. Initially, one pharmacy and one physician’s office will participate, with plans to onboard more providers like nurse practitioners and registered nurses.
Looking ahead, Rowswell hopes to extend the project to other border communities like Cold Lake and Medicine Hat. While there are no immediate decisions on further expansion, the initiative has garnered support from stakeholders like Paul Richer, who anticipates addressing more gaps in healthcare services.
Despite these positive steps, challenges remain for residents like Hull, where file sharing between Alberta and Saskatchewan records is only partially resolved. Lloydminster’s sole hospital is on the Saskatchewan side, requiring Alberta residents to request records post-treatment. Hull emphasizes the need for seamless record-sharing to benefit all residents regardless of their province of residence.