Nova Scotia Health Authority is no longer outsourcing the storage and scanning of health records.
The authority had plans to contract a U.S.-owned company, called Iron Mountain, to do the job. The company was expected to replace between 80 and 91 NSHA employees who scan and store documents in 24 hospitals across Nova Scotia.
The transition, which would have started in the spring of 2021, was meant to improve the quality of health-record management in the province.
In a statement released on Jan. 22, the authority said it will be, over the coming weeks and months, looking into “internal alternatives to address the quality and backlog issues” in the patient information system.
According to the statement, the change in approach comes after “additional business planning, as well as feedback from employees and health care providers.”
Jason MacLean, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU), said the decision is "great news."
"They heard all the concerns that we raised, and they really made the proper decision," he said. “We’re very thankful for that and very happy.”
The move to outsource the work was met with disapproval from the unions representing the health-record management employees. The unions had been notified of the plan to contract Iron Mountain in late 2020.
The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) released a report in late December criticizing the untendered contract with Iron Mountain and the rationale behind the transition. MacLean told the Chronicle Herald in December that moving forward with the transition, instead of finding internal solutions, reflects the “mismanagement” of the health authority.
The unions and employees had multiple meetings with the NSHA to outline their concerns. MacLean said hearing about the transition left the employees feeling unvalued, but with the plan now scrapped, "they feel vindicated that their jobs are actually very important to the system."
According to MacLean, the NSHA is now working with the employees to find alternative solutions.
"The employees are experts in the system ... For the employer to work with the employees to get this done, we know that this will be a win for all."
While MacLean doesn't have a timeline for how things will proceed, he said the employees have identified a few people to do an assessment of the record-management system and how it can be improved.
“With the employer and government listening to the workers that were affected here, I think that shows a new way that things can be done in this province and hopefully we can continue on that road.”
Iron Mountain stores and manages eight million paper-based health records on behalf of the NSHA at its site in Bedford. The authority said the decision won’t affect the pre-existing partnership it has with the company.
