Physicians want N.L. to hit pause on a mandatory, province-wide electronic health information system

Doctors in Newfoundland and Labrador say rapid implementation of a province-wide electronic health information system threatens to harm patients and push some physicians to retire or leave the province.

The province's health authority says its electronic health information system, CorCare, based on the Epic software platform used in many parts of Canada and the U.S., is set to launch on April 25.

N.L. Health Services says CorCare promises to modernize health care by replacing outdated systems like Meditech, providing a single, integrated digital record to improve patient care, efficiency and data sharing across the province.

Hundreds of physicians in this province have concerns about how it's being launched. More than 250 of them have signed a petition calling on the province's health authority to stagger the rollout of the CorCare system so it's put in place gradually, in phases.

Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi, a dermatologist in St. John's, expects a province-wide electronic medical system will ultimately improve health care in Newfoundland and Labrador but he signed the petition and a letter to the province's health authority because he believes the way CorCare is being implemented is flawed.

"When you have too much going on at once in multiple different settings, that introduces potential risk to patients," he said.

"Even if one blood test gets missed, or another test or investigation or imaging, that can have real results for patients, whether it gets missed or whether it gets delayed — that's unacceptable. Many community-based doctors are used to using either electronical medical records or even paper charts and are now going to be forced to use this brand new system on the launch date, that increases the risk of some of these things happening."

Community physicians, those who operate their own businesses and bill MCP on a fee-for-service basis, have concerns about the 35-page agreement they are required to sign to access the new system for their patients.

They want CorCare Link, the part of the system that gives physicians in the community access to CorCare, to be delayed and some of them don't believe it should be mandatory.

"Being mandatory is it just... it really doesn't sell Newfoundland and Labrador as a province where physicians would want to stay and work. Nobody wants to work with a bully, saying you have to sign this in order to do this [have access to CorCare]. I mean, that's not a partnership, that's a dictatorship," Dr. Sarah Tulk, a family physician in St. John's, told CBC News.

"It doesn't make someone want to come here and work here, especially when we already do have quite a bit against us in terms of our medical system."

Both Ogunyemi and Tulk said they have spoken with physicians who've said they'll retire early rather than accept the CorCare implementation as it stands.

Both said it could seriously hinder the province's efforts to recruit and retain doctors at a time when the province already has a physician shortage. Access to a family doctor in N.L. already lags behind the national average, Ogunyemi said.

A report from the Canadian Medical Association found an estimated 29.1 per cent in the province don't have one, compared with about 17 per cent nationally.