Health System Updates — Week ending Jan 17
Notice from Shared Health: Incomplete MRI Requisitions
Shared Health has noticed a trend in incomplete physician MRI requisitions. Missing information often requires follow-up by diagnostic clerks, causing delays in scheduling important tests and other processes.
🗓️ Effective February 15, 2025, Shared Health will no longer accept incomplete MRI requisition
forms. Incomplete forms will be returned to the ordering physician and will not be processed
until all necessary information is provided.
OF NOTE: Doctors Manitoba recognizes that the requisition process for diagnostic imaging is part of the administrative burden, including timely notifications back to referring physicians from receiving physicians. We have raised your process and capacity concerns with Shared Health.
We are concerned about the massive backlog waiting for input at central intake, and resulting in added administrative burden for physicians and delays for patients, and have asked for a rapid resolution to this.
We continue to advocate for the introduction of e‑requisition for diagnostic imaging to end the uncertainty of knowing whether a fax requisition was received, with the ability to track status and results.
GO DEEPER: You can read more on digital health interoperability in our story here, and watch our video describing how patient information is often shared in Manitoba.
Applications Open for New Plastic Health Cards
Manitobans can now apply for a modernized plastic health card online.
Manitobans applying for a plastic health card should expect it to be delivered in the coming months, the minister noted. Paper health cards continue to be valid and accepted at health care facilities. A digital health card option will also be available soon.
Manitoba is also transitioning to individual health cards for all Manitobans, including children who were previously listed on a family card.
The bilingual card now includes a field where residents may indicate their official language preference, English or French, making Manitoba the second jurisdiction in Canada to offer this feature.
To apply for or request a new Manitoba health card, visit https://manitoba.ca/health/mhsip/.
New Plan to End Chronic Homelessness
The Manitoba government has unveiled Your Way Home: Manitoba’s Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, a strategy to ending chronic homelessness in Manitoba.
Working with the City of Winnipeg on a 30-day timeline beginning in February, the new strategy will see the government move one encampment at a time into housing including 300 new social units that have been purchased and will be supported by non-profit organizations. As part of the strategy, encampments will only be moved once move-in ready housing is secured for every person.