Complements to Dr. Wes Jackson who contributed a very thoughtful and informative article to the Alberta Medical Association Doctors' Digest.
While Alberta Health Services (AHS) strives to consolidate and integrate the many health information systems under its direct control (the AHS "legal record of care") in a single clinical information system (CIS), many care venues remain outside the reach of the Connect Care record of care. These may operate independent electronic medical records (EMRs).
As Dr. Jackson observes, deployment of an advanced, standards-based, CIS could simplify the work of providers seeking to understand their patients' AHS experience. Provider and patient portals are key.
In addition, a lot of important work prepares for helpful system-to-system and application-to-application connections between the Connect Care record and the other health information systems that will continue to be used in Alberta. Information about many of these initiatives can be found via informative links at the end of the article. A good read!