Webinar: New forms and processes identified for improvement

The Nova Scotia government set the first target of its kind in Canada to reduce unnecessary administrative burden on physicians by 50,000 hours a year, the equivalent of 150,000 patient visits. The target was set after consultation with Doctors Nova Scotia and a survey of physicians.

The team at the Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness (ORASE) has identified more than a dozen items to revise in order to meet the target. This work is now underway. Here is a list of the newly identified forms and processes you can expect to see improved over the course of the next year:

• Simplifying the maternal serum screening process
• Improving the Short-Term Illness Benefit Application form for government employees
• Improving Pharmacare exception status drug request forms
• Introducing the Medavie portal
• Updating the Nova Scotia Health by-laws
• Eliminating duplication of test results
• Empowering health-care professions to operate within their full scopes of practice in primary care
• Reviewing use of sick notes in Nova Scotia Health
• Introducing auto-fill capabilities for common forms in the EMR
• Simplifying hiring and intake in Nova Scotia Health
• Improving the Report of the Child Abuse form
• Improving the medical report on adopting applicant and the medical report on foster application forms
• Evaluating the use of the Medical Status Report form

Completed work includes:

• Improved the ESIA form, including fee increased by 60%
• Simplified credentialing for the IWK

This work simply cannot succeed without your input and support. The team leading this work will need your knowledge and expertise to better understand the source of burden, to design improvements, and to measure the “before and after.” We would appreciate you lending your expertise, in a way and time that works for you. If you are unable to attend the webinar, please watch for the opportunity to participate and be prepared to respond.