HALIFAX — Information on hospital visits and other medical records is now available for Nova Scotians through the province’s mobile phone application called YourHealthNS. The province is expanding access to health information through the app after a successful $2-million pilot project that launched in February involving 15 family doctors and seven nurse practitioners at six clinics, Health Minister Michelle Thompson said Wednesday. The pilot assisted nearly 14,000 patients to access their health records through the app.
“In Nova Scotia we have chosen to embrace innovation and digital health,” Thompson said at a news conference in Halifax. Health officials said an evaluation of the pilot found that 98 per cent of users said they would continue to use the app, while 60 per cent felt they were more involved in health-care decisions. Thirty per cent said that access to their records allowed them to skip a visit to their primary health-care provider.
Later on Wednesday, Nova Scotia Health said 173 participants had completed the feedback survey. When it was launched in November, the YourHealthNS application allowed patients to book blood tests, X-rays, flu shots and COVID-19 vaccine appointments. After the pilot project gave 14,000 people expanded access to their health info through the app, the province decided to extend the service to everyone 16 and older with a valid health card.
Health officials, however, were not able on Wednesday to say how many of the pilot's partic.
