Saskatchewan has announced a six-month pilot project allowing 1,000 patients across the province to access their health records online.
Health Minister Dustin Duncan says the trial of the Citizen Health Information Portal (CHIP) will allow participants to view their personal lab results, immunization history, pharmacy and hospital visit history from anywhere in the world.
Duncan says the new program empowers people to take a more active role in their own health care.
The province says files will be accessed through a highly secure, personalized log-in that will also allow participants to add medical information to their personal profiles, such as reminders to take medication.
Participants can also view their children’s health care information and ask their doctor or other health care provider to look at their profile.
Doreen McElree is a patient using the program and says it helps ease her mind.
“It also alleviates anxiety about waiting for results,” she said. “You wait for that phone to ring ‘was my test positive or negative’ and it may never ring if it was negative and this way you know ‘oh I’m okay’.”
Feedback from users will be sought throughout the six-month period.
eHealth Saskatchewan, a Treasury Board Crown corporation that provides health-related services electronically to patients and health care professionals, is overseeing the program.