​Technology for continuity and integration, Community Information Integration (CII) – Central Patient Attachment Registry (CPAR) continues to advance in Alberta. .As of early August 2020, there were 326 family physicians and 130 community specialists live in the growing number of users of CII/CPAR.

In July, evaluators at the Health Quality Council of Alberta published a formative evaluation of the initiative so far. Key successes of the initiative include:

  • Physician experiences are positive and they are finding the community encounter digest (CED) useful and is helping them improve patient care in clinics and hospitals. 
    • “I can literally see how many times they are actually being seen and…I have a diagnosis ready.” [Physician]
  • The introduction of eNotifications allows for two-way data flow between community EMRs and Netcare. The impact on participating family physicians is significant as there now is a way for them to consistently know when one of their CPAR-paneled patients has had a hospital admission, discharge, ED discharge or day surgery anywhere in Alberta.
    • “We’re just really into making sure that patients are well looked after and making sure that there is consistency in their follow-up” [Physician]
  • Physicians are finding that access to consult letters has contributed to better patient care in a number of ways: less duplication, more informed treatment and smoother transitions
    • “We [clinic] are not open 24/7 and [hospital] may not be able to reach us when [they] need this information…. It’s also a time-saving issue; it’s much easier to get info via Netcare, rather than trying to call the clinic – it saves times at both ends.” [Clinic staff}]
  • Increased integration of multiple systems and data sources making Alberta a leader in the country
  • The culture of information sharing amongst Alberta primary care physicians is shifting 

As of early August over 50,000 consult reports reside in Netcare from community specialists as a result of the new technology benefiting patients as well as the specialists and their teams. With over 91 clinics participating, more than 160,000 Albertans now have a CED in their Netcare record.

The evaluation report is available here. The project team has already used findings to improve the participant experience in the initiative.

To learn more about the CII/CPAR initiative you can view the website, family physicians can contact their PCN to tell them they are interested and community specialists may contact cii-specialty@albertadoctors.org