Saskatchewan is investing $4 million in new kidney health software to support more than 2,500 patients through the Provincial Kidney Health Program, according to a provincial government release.
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The funding will go toward an updated electronic medical record, or EMR, that will be used across every kidney clinic, hemodialysis unit, home dialysis program and transplant team in the province, the government said.
What the new system does
The work is being carried out by eHealth Saskatchewan, a Treasury Board Crown corporation that provides IT services to patients and health-care providers on behalf of the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
Officials say the updated EMR will give care teams a single clinical record that follows a kidney patient regardless of where in the province they receive treatment, replacing a patchwork of separate systems with one purpose-built platform.
“This investment in kidney care reflects our ongoing commitment to putting patients first by ensuring care teams have timely access to the information they need to make clinical decision,” Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said, according to the release. “A modern electronic medical record protects patient information and improves care coordination by providing a complete view of a patient’s medical history.”
Automated data and provincewide tracking
Saskatchewan has used a kidney-specific EMR since 1999 to standardize clinical documentation, the government said. The latest update adds automated dialysis data capture and centralized reporting, along with better information flow between the kidney EMR and other records systems used by patients and providers.
Dr. James Barton, provincial medical lead for kidney health with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said connecting every clinic and dialysis program to the same system strengthens the province’s ability to measure outcomes.
“Having every kidney clinic, dialysis unit, home dialysis program and transplant team in Saskatchewan on the same purpose-built system means a patient’s information follows them wherever they receive care, and it connects us more closely as one provincial program,” Barton said.
“It lets us track how we are doing against our targets, some of which are set by patients and families themselves. It also gives us the information we need to start answering our own pressing questions about kidney disease through research done right here at home.”
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