A group of physicians wants NLHS to hit pause on its rollout of the new Corcare health information system.

Staff are in the process of being trained on the new digital information platform, which is expected to launch on April 25th, however a petition is being circulated among physicians asking that the health authority hold off.

St. John’s dermatologist Dr. Bolu Ogenyemi is among those who have signed the petition.

He says CorCare is related to Epic, a large electronic medical record system based in the U.S. He says CorCare Link is supposed to allow community-based physicians to access resources and services that are based in the hospital.

He says if they want to send a patient to hospital, the process is easy. However, if community-based doctors need some tests, or involve hospital-based doctors in their patient’s care, they have to sign-on to the system.

“So, we won’t be able to truly practice without joining this other system called CorCare Link,” says Dr. Ogenyemi. “Essentially, they’re forcing our hand in terms of signing the agreement, but there are a lot of issues that are unresolved and in particular, the voice of community-based doctors has been insufficiently reflected in the proposed rollout of this.”

Dr. Ogenyemi says more than 250 doctors signed on in just 48 hours, and while the petition is now on hold, the response is a clear indication that there are serious concerns among physicians across the province.

“We’re hoping that Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services hears this loud and clear.”