{"id":6915,"date":"2024-03-13T19:07:15","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T22:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6915"},"modified":"2024-03-13T19:07:15","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T22:07:15","slug":"frustration-confusion-for-some-in-yourhealthns-app-pilot-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/03\/13\/frustration-confusion-for-some-in-yourhealthns-app-pilot-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Frustration, confusion for some in YourHealthNS app pilot project"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Rosalee Smith is one of the Queens County residents participating in the YourHealthNS app pilot project. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s been about six weeks since the Nova Scotia government launched a pilot project<\/a> to allow some Nova Scotians to check their medical records through the YourHealthNS app.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some 12,000 patients at four clinics around the province were given early access to their lab and X-ray results, list of medications, and visits to the ER and their primary care provider.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nova Scotia Health says it\u2019s part of giving people more involvement and control over their care, and to help them make more informed decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 3,700 patients at Queens Family Health in Liverpool are eligible to participate. The other project sites are in New Waterford, Westville and Greenwood.<\/span><\/p>\n

For some, it\u2019s been a frustrating experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosalee Smith of Eagle Head said she was eager to sign on to the app when she heard about the pilot project.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI found it frustrating, because I guess my original understanding (was) perhaps there was going to be a little more information available than maybe what there is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith says she seems to get different information every time she checks the app.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not sure how valuable that piece will be until I understand what the information\u2019s supposed to provide. I\u2019ve gone on to the app several times. And sometimes there\u2019s records there and sometimes there isn\u2019t. I\u2019ve never seen any records of my primary care visits, never seen any records of my blood work results.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A week after initially speaking to QCCR, Smith said she could see a partial list of her medications, her lab results, ER visits, but no bloodwork results and no primary care visits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her mother, who has a different primary care provider, was able to see all of her health visits, but her medications and lab results were incomplete.<\/span><\/p>\n

She says friends of hers had the same experience — sometimes their records were there and sometimes they were incomplete. She said other people told her their records were complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith filled out three feedback surveys through the app. When she didn\u2019t get a response, she contacted Nova Scotia Health directly and sent a two-page form to correct her medical record.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She even left a comment on a sponsored Facebook post on the weekend from Nova Scotia Health about the app.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one had responded to any of her concerns, until Wednesday afternoon, when she got a reply in response to her Facebook comment. She was told her complaint was forwarded to the department\u2019s technology department and that someone would contact her directly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good app,” Smith says. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I think the features and the types of things that we’re trying to put out here for information, it\u2019s good. But let\u2019s do it right. And if we\u2019re in the pilot project, listen to us when we make the comments.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew Danylewich of Liverpool checked the app when the pilot project launched. He said he was able to see only a list of his hospital and health visits. And that hasn\u2019t changed since.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I haven\u2019t been able to see my labs and medications. I did check to see if my prescriptions were up and they weren\u2019t there yet. It\u2019s not terribly useful yet, but I can see potential in the future once they get it rolling properly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials with Nova Scotia Health said this week that patients are giving them some good feedback on the app, and that people seem eager to use it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott McKenna, chief information officer with Nova Scotia Health, said in an interview on Monday that if people send their questions or concerns via the survey, someone is supposed to follow up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to ensure that we\u2019re getting back to every citizen,” he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Our teams are doing a really good job at that. Obviously, there are some individuals who we need to get back to on that. The intention of our staff is to look into every issue. … Because we have to make sure it works as it\u2019s intended to work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Tara Sampalli is Nova Scotia Health\u2019s <\/span>senior director of implementation science and evaluation and global health systems planning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She said department staff review the feedback every week so they can address concerns as they come up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Everybody is reviewing everything. Nothing is going unnoticed. We improve in real time. And that’s part of this. We want to hear. You\u2019re providing us some really good information from the community and what people are seeing or not seeing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

McKenna says that overall, response to the app has been positive. And that it seems to working for the majority of participants. But he urges people to keep sending feedback on the app, even though they may be frustrated.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said staff are trying to consolidate records from disparate parts of the health care system, and that they\u2019d rather give an incomplete record than an incorrect one.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pilot project runs to the end of March. Those who have access to their records now won\u2019t lose it when the pilot is over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sampalli says the department is working on a broader information update for Nova Scotians.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosalee Smith says she looks forward to that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want it to be political. This is about our health. So I think it\u2019s good progress. I’m not here to bash. My point is if it\u2019s not going to work right or if it\u2019s got issues, then let\u2019s figure out how to fix the issues.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/healthappstorymar1324.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been about six weeks since the Nova Scotia government launched a pilot project to allow some Nova Scotians to check their medical records through the YourHealthNS app. Some 12,000 patients at four clinics around the province were given early access to their lab and X-ray results, list of medications, and visits to the ER […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1883,1595,1884,39,294,537,1886,49,1666,1658,1732,1885,934,1700],"class_list":["post-6915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-app","tag-health-care","tag-health-records","tag-liverpool","tag-nova-scotia-government","tag-nova-scotia-health","tag-pilot-project","tag-queens-county","tag-queens-family-health","tag-rosalee-smith","tag-scott-mckenna","tag-tara-sampalli","tag-technology","tag-yourhealthns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6918,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6915\/revisions\/6918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}