Accreditation program updates

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What physicians need to know

Albertans expect accurate, quality care, and services in a clean and safe environment whenever they go for blood work, an x-ray or other diagnostic or out-of-hospital surgical procedures. CPSA’s Accreditation team helps ensure the facilities that offer these services provide safe care and meet our high standards.

Patient referrals to sleep medicine diagnostic facilities

In January 2018, CPSA rolled out the Accreditation Standards for Sleep Medicine Diagnostic (SMD) Services. CPSA did not immediately enforce all of the accreditation-related requirements in the Health Professions Act (HPA) because of the impact this would have on access to health services. Specifically, the HPA requires physicians to not refer a patient for testing to a facility that is not accredited by CPSA. Now that SMD facilities have had time to prepare for accreditation, CPSA will begin the process of enforcing this requirement.

Starting Jan. 1, 2022, Alberta physicians may only refer patients for sleep tests to SMD facilities accredited by CPSA. Before referring patients to a SMD facility, please confirm that facility is accredited by CPSA—you can check cpsa.ca for a list of accredited SMD facilities.

Questions? Email us at sleep.medicine@cpsa.ab.ca.

Pulmonary function test reports must be uploaded to Alberta Netcare

Facilities performing pulmonary function testing (PFT) in Alberta will soon be required to make their PFT reports available within Alberta Netcare, the province’s electronic health record repository. This change in the Accreditation Standard was approved by CPSA Council.

Consult notes/interpretation comments are not an acceptable alternative to having the full PFT results in Alberta Netcare. There are various software-agnostic solutions available, as well as a solution through Alberta Health Services for facilities using Vyaire and MedGraphics PFT equipment. Contact Eileen Young with the Respiratory Health Section of the Medicine Strategic Clinical Network for details.

Why use Netcare?
PFTs are an integral part of clinical decision-making for respiratory patients, and making PFT reports available through Alberta Netcare will help ensure physicians have access to timely and accurate reporting.

Alberta Health Services began a project to share PFT reports through Alberta Netcare in December 2017. By the end of 2020, 14 public and 4 private labs had uploaded nearly 18,000 PFT reports, and each report has been viewed an average of more than six times. Sharing reports this way has improved workflows, reduced variability in reports, enabled cost and time efficiencies, and improved access to results, ultimately benefiting patient care.

What’s next?
Pulmonary Function Diagnostic facilities must be uploading all PFT reports to Alberta Netcare by Dec. 31, 2022.

We encourage you to start the process of connecting your facility to Alberta Netcare as soon as possible to benefit Albertans with respiratory diseases.

Questions? Email us at pft@cpsa.ab.ca.