The NWT’s health authority says it is introducing QR codes in a bid to improve the way some medical records are shared with Alberta.
For years, patients and staff have complained that the inability of NWT and Alberta medical records systems to communicate makes lives more difficult.
On Thursday, the territory’s health authority said new technology – introduced with immediate effect – will allow CT scans, ultrasounds, X-rays and the like to be “shared instantly” with Alberta physicians “through a secure QR code system” in urgent situations.
“This new process will be used when a physician in the Northwest Territories requires specialty support from a physician in Alberta to determine the best care plan for a patient,” the health authority stated.
It gave the example of cases involving stroke, major trauma or potential transfer for advanced care. In those instances, doctors in the NWT and Alberta can now study the same images at the same time.
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NWT residents have previously expressed incredulity that, this far into the 21st century, this kind of thing was not possible. Under the previous system, sending images to Alberta could take days.
More broadly, patients have said the sharing of records with Alberta – on which the NWT relies heavily for many forms of care – remains full of “absurd bureaucratic barriers.”
“This is an important enhancement to our service model. Faster image sharing will support quicker consultation requests between the two jurisdictions, enabling more timely treatment decisions in cases where imaging is critical,” the territory’s health authority stated.
“It will allow healthcare providers to make better informed decisions about the need and timing of patient transfers from one facility to another.”
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At the moment, the QR codes are only approved for the “urgent management of patients.” The health authority said discussions with Alberta are ongoing about how to improve the sharing of records for “non-urgent and ongoing care.”
The QR codes approved for urgent use “are temporary and password-protected, and expire after 24 hours, ensuring secure, time-limited access to sensitive information,” the health authority stated.
Images remain stored only in the NWT health authority’s databases and are not transferred to any Alberta Health Services database, the authority added.
