Budget Bulletin: Budget Continues to Support Information Management Initiatives

FINANCE--Budget Bulletin: Budget Continues to Support Information Management Initiatives

The Department of Health is involved in two major information technology initiatives designed to improve patient care, ease the workload of health-care providers and enhance health-service delivery.

The hospital information system project will link 33 hospitals in Nova Scotia, allowing, among other things, the creation of an electronic health record that can be shared among facilities to improve patient care. This will benefit the patient and the provider, especially during emergencies when timely information can save lives.

The second initiative is Health Infostructure Atlantic (HIA) an alliance of the four Atlantic provinces to implement several information technology projects. HIA received $12 million in funding from the federal government, matched by the same amount from the four provinces to implement several initiatives to enhance health-service delivery. One of the initiatives is the Tele-i4 project, which will allow radiology images to be transferred across Atlantic Canada to specialty hospitals.

Nova Scotia has been lagging behind the rest of the country in the implementation of information management initiatives in the health-care sector. The hospital information system project and HIA will ensure that our health-care system, its patients and providers have the information technology infrastructure they need to enhance care and improve working conditions.

NOTE: For further 2002-03 budget information, visit the Department of Finance Web site at www.gov.ns.ca/finance .