Province Advances Healthcare Digital Transformation with Google Cloud

It will soon be easier for Nova Scotians to search for health information and faster for healthcare professionals to find important health information about their patient.

The Province announced today, September 4, that Nova Scotia Health has entered into a new partnership with Google Cloud to implement three digital solutions that will harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform the patient and clinician experience.

“We must try new solutions to the challenges we face – that’s what our healthcare plan calls for,” said Premier Tim Houston. “This partnership will empower Nova Scotians, reduce administrative work for doctors and make diagnosing illness easier.”

Nova Scotia Health’s teams will work with experts from Google Cloud Consulting and product teams to integrate three AI-driven healthcare solutions by the fall of 2025. These include:

• providing Nova Scotians advanced search capabilities using natural language across health system resources, such as the YourHealthNS app and Nova Scotia Health websites; it will give people faster, easier access to healthcare information, resources and services
• allowing healthcare professionals to use a natural-language search to locate relevant information in a patient’s health record; it will improve efficiency by reducing time spent searching through patient records and quickly provide clinicians with the information they need to help inform decision-making and ultimately improve patient outcomes
• supporting radiologists with their review of chest X-rays by providing preliminary imaging findings, which will improve efficiency.

The partnership also includes in-person and on-demand training for healthcare professionals through Google Cloud Learning Services.

This partnership furthers Nova Scotia Health’s commitment to ensure personal health information and data is protected at all costs. Google Cloud's approach to data governance and privacy policies are designed for its customers to retain control over their data.

Quotes:

“Nova Scotia Health is setting an example for the healthcare sector by using technology to improve health systems. Google Cloud is committed to building AI that can ease the burden of healthcare workers and improve patient outcomes, all while maintaining the privacy and security of patient care. We look forward to helping them deliver on their mission.”
— Sam Sebastian, Vice-President and Country Manager, Google Cloud Canada

“Our partnership with Google Cloud empowers citizens and clinicians with the information they need, when they need it. This enables decision-making and enhances the overall healthcare experience in our province and leads to better care for Nova Scotians. These advanced, transformative technologies support more efficient, effective and secure healthcare services for everyone in Nova Scotia.”
— Scott McKenna, Chief Information Officer, Nova Scotia Health

Quick Facts:

• the government will invest $42 million over the next five years
• natural language processing is a technology that helps computers understand and work with human language; it allows people who are doing a search to ask a question rather than using just keywords
• more than 190,000 chest X-rays were performed in Nova Scotia in 2023
• in Canada, physicians spend 18.5 million hours each year on unnecessary administrative work, the equivalent of 55.6 million patient visits