Health P.E.I. plans rollout of electronic patient records, use of AI, in digital strategy

The P.E.I. government says all Islanders could have access to their medical records online by the end of this year or early in 2025.

The provincewide patient portal is partially outlined in a digital health strategy for 2024-29 that was released in mid-July by Health P.E.I. and the Department of Health and Wellness. It outlines how the province plans to incorporate emerging technology in the sector.

Just over a year ago, Health P.E.I.saidelectronic medical records would be accessible forpatients across the provincewithin just a few months.

It now looks like it will comein late 2024 or early 2025, saidLaurae Kloschinsky, assistant deputy minister with the Department of Health and Wellness.

"One of the things we're really looking at is we want to create access that's meaningful, consistent and appropriate," she said.

"So we are working on the MyPEI portal, which we describe as the one-stop digital front door to government services."

The digital health documentdoesn't provide any timelines or tangible goals for how the strategy will work. But that wasintentional, Kloschinsky said.

"There isn't necessarily a five-year plan because in those goals it could be multiple projects within it. Some may occur earlier on in strategy and some may occur [later]," she said.

Health P.E.I. says it consulted with the public, health-care providers, community partners, provincial information technologystaff, Access P.E.I., other provincial health departments,and consultants over the past year to develop the strategy.

An 'all-encompassing view'

Health P.E.I.said last year that the move to theprovincewide electronic medical records system hadgone remarkably well. The system allows physicians to share information like prescription records and patient history, plus sends out automated appointment reminders and pre-visit questionnaires.

Kloschinsky said the province wantedto ensure all parts of the system could communicate effectively before rolling out the patient portal, and that'stakenlonger than expected to implement.

Islanders could use the portal toaccess everything from their pharmacy prescription informationandhealth recordsto physiotherapy appointments and referrals tospecialists.

Kloschinsky said more than 95 clinics, 200 primary care providers, and over 1,000 Islanders use some parts of the electronic health records system, includingfeatureslike automatic appointment reminders.

She said even more features of the electronic medical records system will be available later in 2025.

"People are going to be able to upload their information from their Fitbits, from their Apple Watches. They're going to be able to input their own blood glucose," Kloschinsky said.

Eventually, people will be able to act as a proxycare providersto access the information of a patient they're caring for, such as an aging parent.

But the most important thing, Kloschinsky said, is that all the systems are talking to one another.

How AI will help physicians

As the technology improves, many doctors around the world are already using artificial intelligencein their day-to-day duties.

But before it's implemented on a wider scale inP.E.I., the public needs to be aware of how it's going to be used,Kloschinskysaid.

"People need to understand what is artificial intelligenceand how is my information going to be used?" she said. "And, more importantly, how is it going to be shared and accessed, and what control do I have?"

Health P.E.I. has consulted with other provincesabout how they use AI and what it's done to improve their systems.

"At the outset, the goal is can we reduce administrative burden in patient documentation," she said.

That means co-ordinating and scheduling appointments, and doing charting and coding on the doctors'behalf essentially, AI will be helping with paperwork.

Medical transcription services couldeventually be introduced into appointments, but patients have to be comfortable with it first,Kloschinskysaid.

Eventually, AI could even do diagnoses.

"In other jurisdictions, they have used it to do care scenarios, including reading of images and then making the most probable diagnosis based on the scans and intelligence," Kloschinsky said.

But all of that is a long waydown the road, she said.