Media Release New electronic referral system aims to improve health services August 19, 2015: For immediate release
Edmonton, AB – An Edmonton family doctor has developed a new, collaborative web-based service to refer patients to specialists. ezReferral.ca addresses issues raised in the Report of the Auditor General of Alberta—July 2012 and the Health Quality Council of Alberta’s Continuity of Patient Care Study in December 2013. Both documents make recommendations of developing a centralized and electronic referral system for family doctors and specialists. Dr. Denis Vincent took the initiative to create an e-referral system and attended Hacking Health Edmonton in November 2013 to get his project off the ground. He first partnered with six of Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network’s clinics and seven specialist clinics to pilot ezReferral and now has expanded to 23 medical and specialists’ clinics across the city. “We have been piloting ezReferral for the last month. In the long run, this program would definitely improve communication between family doctors’ offices and the specialist office. You can see that your referral has been received, it is being triaged and you know when your patient is booked,” said Felicia Bailey, IT supervisor at Edmonton Cardiology Consultants. ezReferral immediately confirms for family doctors and their patients that the referral was received by the specialist office in a secure environment. “With ezReferral, you have the ability to communicate with other offices as quick as you would with email but in a safe and secure environment. It has been the case that we would fax a referral off and from our end, everything went through. When we call a month later to follow up, we are informed that the referral was never received, or that it was received, declined and a fax was sent back to us that we never received. This can be extremely frustrating and demoralizing, not to mention a waste of time,” says Lori Lockhart, clinic manager at Gateway Medical Clinic. Dr. Vincent’s goal is to have ezReferral in place across Alberta and eventually, across Canada. “I want to improve continuity of care and fix the communication gaps in our medical system,” he said.
Contact: Tamara Vineberg Communications Specialist Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network www.edmontonsouthsidepcn.ca P: 780.395.2643 Email: tamara.vineberg@edmontonsouthsidepcn.ca
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