Health P.E.I. launches revamped patient registry
Automated patient registry aims to reduce delays in health care access, says Health P.E.I. CEO
Health P.E.I. has launched a revamped patient registry system, saying its goal is to make it easier and faster to connect Islanders with care providers.
CEO Melanie Fraser provided an update on the new system, which Health P.E.I. has spent the past four months overhauling, to the province's standing committee on health and social development on Wednesday.
Fraser said the previous system, developed in 2008, was outdated and relied too heavily on manual input, which often created delays in matching patients with available providers.
"We didn't have confidence in it," she told MLAs.
The updated system is built on a client relationship management platform that is able to validate and cross-reference data, and therefore reduce duplication and errors.
Islanders can now fill out an online form on the provincial website, and the system will automatically determine if they are eligible to be added to the registry. If someone is already on the list, the system will prevent duplicate entries.
"The major enhancement here is that we have automation and data quality that will help us to maintain our system," she said.
As of Jan. 31, 2025, the registry listed 37,379 Island residents waiting for a primary care provider.
When Health P.E.I. stopped updating the website for the registry last July, before the overhaul began, the number was 34,975.
Throughout 2024, Fraser told the committee that:
- 8,473 new applicants were added to the registry;
- 5,455 names from the list were matched with a care provider and removed;
- 5,925 people were taken off the list for reasons such as being duplicate entries, moving out of the province or no longer needing a provider.
"The exciting part of this registry… is that we now have confidence in a suite of numbers, and we can communicate to you, month over month, what's happening with the population here," Fraser said.
Faster provider-patient matching
One of the biggest improvements is the ability to match patients with available providers much more quickly, Fraser said.
Previously, the process was slow and manual, often taking weeks or even months. A nurse practitioner with space for new patients, for example, would have to sort through outdated registry lists, attempt to contact patients, and go back and forth before finally making an affiliation — only to sometimes find out the patient had already moved or no longer needed care.
The major enhancement here is that we have automation and data quality that will help us to maintain our system.- Melanie Fraser
The updated system, the CEO said, can seamlessly identify the next patients in line, who are still active and need care, and facilitate the connection between the patient and the providers.
"What this allows us to do is basically take that process that would have been months, and narrow it down to basically five days," she said.
The new registry also enables Health P.E.I. to engage more proactively with patients, with plans to semi-annually reach out to people on the registry to verify information and provide updates on primary care resources in their regions.
"This is one tool in our tool kit, but our other priorities around recruitment and retention and creating a provincial system of primary care are as important to bringing it all together," Fraser said.
Concerns about wait times
During the meeting, MLAs raised concerns about their constituents' long wait times to be assigned a healthcare provider.
In response Fraser said how the registry works is not a "pure" first-come, first-served system, but the "chronological by geography" approach.
For example, she said if two patients sign up on the same day, if they selected different geographic regions, the one in the region with the next available provider will be affiliated first.
She also noted that patients with acute or complex health needs can reach out to Health P.E.I. or directly to her office for a case review, which could potentially expedite the affiliation process outside the standard chronological queue.
She cautioned against overwhelming newly arrived physicians, however.
"We don't want new physicians who are setting up their practice inundated."
Multiple target dates to clear registry
Green MLA Matt MacFarlane brought up the commitment made by the PCs in the 2023 election to have everyone on the patient registry assigned to a medical home within two years, by April 2025, and compared that with a later target date announced by Health P.E.I. of summer 2026.
"We have several different dates here that Islanders sort of hang their hats on... but those dates aren't consistent," said MacFarlane.
"Governments will make commitments," responded Fraser. "They set the policy direction and we try to achieve the targets that they establish for us."
Fraser said Health P.E.I. tries to set "reasonable, but I think also stretch targets for ourself, recognizing that the number one thing that the Islanders want from their health authority is access to a primary care physician."
Health P.E.I.'s goal this year is to remove at least 10,000 people from the registry in 2025 by matching them with providers, hopefully even more, she said.