Province Accepts All Recommendations From eResults Review

The province has accepted all recommendations in the report reviewing the eResults system, Health Minister Chris d'Entremont said today, March 4.

"The review presented a valuable opportunity to do a thorough review and test of the new eResults system. Areas for improvement have been identified and work has already started in implementing improvements," said Mr. d'Entremont.

Deloitte Inc. did a full review of the system that delivers patients' lab and diagnostic imaging results after a software error that delayed the delivery of a limited number of patient test results that was identified in September. All affected health professionals were immediately notified, the test results were sent and the software error was corrected within 10 days.

The report verified the software error and identified areas for improvement in the monitoring systems that provide alerts when problems occur.

The report's recommendations include:

• The system host, Health Information Technology Services (HITS-NS), will manage the eResults system and act as the communications hub;
• HITS-NS will develop procedures and tools to implement a monitoring and alerts strategy for the eResults system;
• The electronic medical chart will include greater controls for accuracy when loading patient information to ensure, for example, there are no duplicate records;
• The eResults system will move to a separate computer server, improving response time.

The monitoring procedures and tools will start to be implemented in the next two months and be completed by the end of 2009. The system will move to a separate server by summer. The improvements are expected to cost $175,000.

In the interim, manual monitoring procedures are in place, including at Capital Health's diagnostic imaging department, IWK's lab and the results server from application service provider Nightingale.

Mr. d'Entremont stressed that doctor's offices using electronic medical records have back-up procedures to ensure test results are received and reviewed.

"Errors sometimes happen in complex systems such as this one," said Mr. d'Entremont. "As a result of this review, tools and procedures are being put in place to ensure any future errors are quickly identified and solved. We have confidence in the electronic medical record system and are very happy with its advancement in Nova Scotia."

The report found that HITS-NS and Nightingale are in a good position to manage the eResults system and both responded responsibly to the error that caused the delay.

Health Information Technology Services is a service delivery and support organization mandated by the Department of Health to support numerous provincial information technology health care systems.

The full report is posted on the Department of Health website at www.gov.ns.ca/health/eResults .