AHS apologizes for delays in care resulting from improperly processed referrals

Alberta Health Services (AHS) says it is taking immediate action to expedite care for patients who had referrals to community health-care providers delayed.

In a statement on Friday, the provincial health-care provider admitted an internal audit completed last month found that some referrals to external providers in the central zone were not properly processed, leading to a delay in care.

An additional investigation found patients in all five AHS zones – Edmonton, Calgary, central, north and south – may have been impacted.

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"AHS takes any potential impact to patient care very seriously, and we are deeply sorry for any patient care delays," a Friday news release said.

"Our clinical teams are working urgently to assess every delayed referral, to determine what impact the delay may have had on each patient and to schedule those patients as quickly as possible."

Officials will be contacting any impacted patients directly to address their questions and concerns, AHS says.

AHS says the issue applies to referrals from it to healthcare providers who are outside of AHS and not Connect Care users, such as specialty clinics and allied health professionals like physiotherapists.

"These providers operate in partnership with AHS but work in a community setting, and typically have their own electronic medical record system that does not allow for referrals to easily flow from Connect Care to their systems directly," the release stated.

The health organization says it issues about 100,000 referrals annually and is implementing measures to prevent a similar issue in the future, including increased training for processing patient referrals, improved auditing to mitigate future challenges and improving electronic delivery of outgoing referrals.

The Health Quality Council of Alberta is conducting a third-party audit of the issue. AHS says it is conducting its own internal investigation.