Nova Scotia and Oracle Cerner Begin a New Era in Healthcare

The province of Nova Scotia, in collaboration with Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) and IWK Health (IWK), announced a new 10-year agreement has been signed with Oracle Cerner to implement an integrated electronic care record across the province for the more than one million Nova Scotians. This technology can help improve the way health professionals use and share patient information.

The new modernization known in Nova Scotia as “One Person One Record” (OPOR), is intended to provide clinicians easier access to real-time health information anywhere and allow healthcare workers to spend less time at the computer and more time with their patients.

Like much of the world, Nova Scotia has dealt with health care challenges such as emergency department long wait times and provider waitlists. Real-time digital charting in Oracle Cerner’s technology at the point of care can help clinicians more quickly and more easily access important patient information including the most recent and historical laboratory data and diagnostic imaging results as they are making decisions on the next steps for care.

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“The availability of a single information system that supports our care providers in delivering safe, more timely, and connected services should improve the quality of care received by patients and families while making their journeys more seamless,” said Dr. Krista Jangaard, president and CEO, IWK Health.

Health professionals in acute care facilities in Nova Scotia can use a digital closed-loop medication management process to help reduce prescribing errors, ensure allergy information is available, enable electronic prescription verification with pharmacy, and better documentation for auditing. This improvement to patient safety helps providers make sure the right medication is prescribed and given to the right patient, in the right dose, at the right time, and with the right documentation.

“The approval of OPOR is a great day for healthcare in Nova Scotia,” said Dr. Matthew Clarke, emergency physician, Central Zone. “This legacy project will help ensure an integrated and standardized healthcare experience regardless of where patients are in the province. As a provider, it will give me immediate access to the information and support I need, so I can focus on providing safe, high-quality care for my patients.”

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Dr. Christy Bussey, medical executive director and hospitalist, Central Zone, added, “OPOR will provide the foundation of digitally enabled health care in Nova Scotia. OPOR will connect our clinicians and patients across the province as we have not done before, improving patient safety, access, efficiency, and flow. It will foster health care system transformation and help propel us forward as a magnet for health care providers.”

Population health solutions provided by Oracle Cerner will help provide a continued focus on proactive health maintenance. The tools can help the health system know and predict what will happen within a population, engage the person, their family, and the care team to take action, and manage outcomes to improve health and care. Once fully implemented, Cerner’s patient portal will be available, allowing Nova Scotians easier access to their own health information and the ability to connect directly with their caregivers.

“Hospitals and health systems across the globe are facing many challenges that more intuitive and predictive technology can assist with,” said Brian Sandager, vice president, Oracle Health, Canada. “We are excited for this opportunity to help Nova Scotia improve health care across their region. Our work together will help clinicians use a more open, intelligent, interoperable platform to care for the population of Nova Scotia and provide a more holistic approach to health care for patients.”

Oracle Cerner has been a trusted partner of Nova Scotia’s health system for 30 years, providing laboratory and radiology information systems. Oracle Cerner will integrate biomedical devices from across the province into the patient’s record – including vitals monitors, IV pumps, and fetal monitoring devices, as well as use voice recognition software to improve physician workflows and allow for fully integrated voice recognition across multiple devices and platforms.

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