The Honourable Tom Osborne, Minister of Health and Community Services, hosted a Health Care Action Update today that focused on expanding the use of the Automated Notification System to ensure all residents of Newfoundland and Labrador have improved access to quality health care.
Minister Osborne was joined by Dr. Pat Parfrey, Deputy Minister of Health Transformation, and Ron Johnson, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Eastern Urban Zone of Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services.
A recent review has shown a high number of missed appointments for certain health care services throughout the province. Reducing the number of missed appointments will also reduce wait lists and lead to better efficiencies in the health care system. The monetary cost for missed appointments is in the tens of millions of dollars.
The top clinical areas experiencing missed appointments are:
- Cardiology appointments and testing;
- Pulmonary Function Testing;
- Medical Imaging (like CT Scans and ultrasounds);
- Laboratory appointments; and
- Family Care Teams.
In order to better support residents of the province, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is expanding its use of the Automated Notification System to help address missed appointments. The Automated Notification System is a modern, electronic system that provides phone, e-mail, and text reminders for non-urgent or non-emergent in-person appointments. It is currently in use in several clinical areas. In order to ensure consistency, it is expected to be fully implemented across all appropriate health services in the coming months.
By expanding the service, patients throughout the province will also be able to help reduce the number of missed appointments by ensuring Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services has their up-to-date contact information. If, in exceptional circumstances, patients are not able to attend scheduled appointments, they will be asked to contact Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services as early as possible, particularly upon receiving the reminder about the appointment. By doing so, it will allow other patients to be booked in the cancelled appointment slot and will support timely rescheduling.
Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services will also develop a standard provincial policy for missed appointments and a plan to integrate appointment scheduling into the forthcoming digital Health Information System, which was recommended by Health Accord NL.
Additionally, the Department of Health and Community Services and Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services will be launching a public awareness campaign on the impact of missed appointments in the coming weeks. Together, these actions will help reduce the number of missed appointments across the province and improve access to health care.
Through regular Health Care Action Updates and the Health Care Action website, residents can stay up-to-date on progress made, and see many of the initiatives that are underway. The website also serves as an informative and supportive platform for health care professionals to learn about the opportunities and incentives to work in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Quotes
“With the consolidation of the provincial health authorities into a single health authority, we have the opportunity to improve appointment notification across the province, which will result in more people getting the care they need when they need it. We look forward to working together with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services and residents to reduce the rate of missed appointments to two per cent or lower.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Health and Community Services
“Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is committed to improving access to clinical care, and reducing the lost opportunity cost of a missed appointment both in terms of organizational efficiency and possible medical outcomes. We recognize that life is busy and there may be many reasons why an appointment gets missed, which are at times unavoidable. Appointment reminders applied on a consistent basis provincially will result in fewer missed appointments throughout the system allowing us to better utilize health-care resources so that patients can access care in a timelier manner.”
Ron Johnson
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Eastern Urban Zone, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services
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Learn more
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