Alberta Health Services to roll out Connect Care in Edmonton Sunday morning

Just hours after the clocks are rolled back in Alberta early Sunday morning, a whole new way of handling patient health records will roll out.

Connect Care has been years in the planning and carries a whopping $1.39 billion total price tag. The province has committed $400 million toward the project.

The new clinical information system will move hospitals, doctor's offices, clinics and labs away from paper records and notes to an online portal that will allow health care professionals and patients to see all patient information in one place.

It is designed to replace more than 1,300 independent health information systems now being used across the province.

The plan developed by Alberta Health Services will see Connect Care implemented in stages between now and 2022, beginning in Edmonton.

The implementation wave begins Sunday at4 a.m. at these facilities:

• Stollery Children's Hospital
• University of Alberta Hospital
• Mazankowski Heart Institute
• Kaye Edmonton Clinic
• Hundreds of Edmonton ambulatory clinics that currently use the eCLINICIAN system
• East Edmonton Health Centre
• Pharmacy and diagnostic imaging sites in Edmonton
• Alberta Precision Laboratories in Edmonton and the North Zone
• DynaLIFE sites across the province
• Labs at the Cross Cancer Institute

According to an AHS media information sheet, "The launch will be deliberate and cautious."

The sheet goes on to note,"We know there will be challenges along the way and we are anticipating some issues as this is rolled out."

AHS said almost 2,000 frontline staff have been training on the new system for several months. A 24/7 command centre has been set up to respond in real time to any problems that emerge.

Eventually, patients will be able to access their own health records by secure online access through MyAHS Connect. If patients receive care at any of the above Edmonton sites, they may be able to have early access to the system.