Thousands of Alberta patients may have had delayed care due to referral issue, province says

Alberta Health Services is investigating after finding thousands of patient referrals to community physician specialists or allied health providers outside of AHS were not being processed through Connect Care.

Connect Care is the electronic health record used by AHS.

AHS said in a news release Friday that it notified the provincial government in late September that there was an issue affecting patient referrals to community specialists such as physiotherapists and dieticians. 

The province has also asked the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) to investigate why some patient referrals weren't properly processed.

Following an audit of referrals, AHS has identified about 14,000 patients who may have been affected by the processing issue.

The issue affects patients across the province in the following zones: 

• Central: 741
• North: 549
• Edmonton: 10,025
• Calgary: 3,329
• South: 268

"This issue is greatly concerning, and we are committed to taking swift action to ensure AHS addresses and prioritizes the issue," said Adriana LaGrange, minister of health in a news release on Friday. 

The province said it asked the HQCA to provide an independent third-party review of systems and operational processes to determine the cause and prevent it from happening again. 

"I've asked the HQCA to investigate, and I look forward to recommendations brought forward as a result of the third-party review," LaGrange said.

AHS has begun to notify patients potentially affected by the disruption.

"AHS is dedicated to providing Albertans with the high-quality care they need, when they need it, and we are deeply sorry that some patients did not receive that in a timely way," said Athana Mentzelopoulos, AHS president and CEO, at a news conference Friday. 

AHS says it is working with community providers to facilitate patient access in the event of delay that results directly from the issue. Patients can access information on the status of their referrals through MyHealth Records. 

On average, AHS issues approximately 100,000 referrals annually.

AHS has also implemented several measures to prevent this in the future, including increasing training for processing patient referrals, improved auditing to mitigate future challenges, and improving electronic delivery of outgoing referrals. 

AHS said it has no indication that the issue has led to patient deaths.