Data cleanup clears thousands of names from P.E.I. patient registry

Hundreds of Prince Edward Islanders were assigned to medical homes last month, and thousands were removed from the patient registry through a data cleanup process.

In all, the number on the registry fell from 38,623 early in July to 34,975 at the end of the month, representing about 20 per cent of the Island's population.

"We are… cleaning the data but also optimizing the registry itself," said Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser.

"The registry becomes a very important tool for us in the health system in terms of understanding the demand for medical services [and] understanding the location of that demand and the demographics associated with it."

Of the more than 3,500 names removed from the patient registry, 745 were Island residents newly assigned to a care provider, in most cases a medical home, said Fraser.

But the bulk of those removed were temporary foreign workers, 2,857 of them. Temporary foreign workers are entitled to health care, Fraser noted, but their non-resident status means they are not in line to be added to a medical home or assigned a doctor. They generally get help through virtual care or ER visits.

Some other people were removed from the list because they had moved out of province or died.

This is not the first time data cleanup has resulted in a dramatic drop in the size of the Prince Edward Island registry. A cleanup in the spring of 2020 saw about 3,500 names deleted.

A growing concern

The registry was launched in 2000 with 500 names on it, made up of people who had no family doctor or wanted to change doctors for some reason.

By 2011, that number had risen to 5,000. By the end of 2018, with close to 9,000 names on the list, concern was increasing about how to keep up with population growth. Health P.E.I. reported that two people were being added to the list for every one person being assigned a doctor or nurse practitioner.

The size of the registry continued to grow slowly until 2021, when the rate of increase mushroomed. The year started with about 15,000 people on the list, but that jumped 45 per cent to nearly 22,000 by the start of 2022. After growth moderated a little in 2022, almost 10,000 more people joined the registry in 2023.

The recent cleanup drops numbers back to about where they were in December of last year.

During the 2023 provincial election campaign, Premier Dennis King promised to reduce the patient registry to zero in two years.

Fraser said she would love to see that happen, but expects it will take longer. Health P.E.I. is currently working toward achieving that goal in the summer of 2026.