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Like other health-care providers in the province, Dr. Cynthia Slade has been watching the days go by until the province’s new electronic health information system rolls out later this month.
Since Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services backtracked on parts of the agreement associated with the province’s transition to the new centralized system, CorCare, Slade is more optimistic.
“We feel that it has addressed, you know, substantially many of the concerns that we’ve brought forward,” said Slade, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA).
The change was prompted by the hundreds of N.L. physicians who signed a petition raising concern about the system launch and its 35-page agreement.
The association received a new agreement on April 14. Now, it’s no longer mandatory for doctors working in the community to adopt CorCare Link, the platform for health care provided outside the hospital.
The new agreement also removed the clause that would require providers to accept legal and financial liability for any privacy breaches.
“I think all doctors agree that we need to have a new system,” said Slade. “But physicians had a concern about how it was being rolled out.”
And still, some concerns remain.
‘Death by 1,000 clicks’
Slade says some physicians she spoke with have complained about a lack of efficiency in the new system.
“We had several family physicians, particularly those using CorCare Link say, you know, ‘we called it death by 1,000 clicks’ because there was so much, these drop down menus, and so much clicking that you would have to do to enter in simple requisitions,” Slade said.
For providers operating on a fee-for-service basis, each minute of extra work adds up to a larger stack of unpaid administrative tasks to tend to at the end of an already-long day.
Slade also says that the agreement doesn’t provide enough training compensation. She says while health-care providers working within hospital settings get 15 hours of compensation, those working in the community using CorCare Link will be compensated for two hours.
“As someone who will be using or has the opportunity to use CorCare link, I can tell you the two hours is not sufficient to feel comfortable with the program,” Slade said.
WATCH | Dr. Cynthia Slade reacts to province changing CorCare rollout :
Changes to parts of CorCare rollout plan welcomed by NLMA
The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association welcomes some of the changes to aspects of the provincial health authority’s rollout of CorCare, a new electronic health information system. The new software is no longer mandatory for all physicians, and an amendment removes financial and legal risks for individual physicians. The CBC’s Julia Israel reports.
“Ultimately, we definitely see a benefit in modernizing the system,” she said. “We just want to make sure it gets done properly and that in the interim and during the transition, the patient access and patient care is not compromised.”
Slade says the medical association has requested training compensation be added to the agreement for physicians opting into CoreCare Link.
The CorCare system launches on April 25.