IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Health care, at its core, is an innovative enterprise whether it’s new developments in the lab or improving patient care services, notes Jeff Doleweerd, the e-Health lead with the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integrated Network. One area it had fallen behind is technology, but that’s quickly changing.

The system will allow lawyers and notaries across the province to use electronic forms to securely submit change in ownership and mortgage documents directly to the land title office, replacing the costly and time-consuming process of submitting paper documents in person. Once fully implemented, BC OnLine will be the operational interface with the public for accepting electronic filings.

These five latest projects, none of which take place in south-central or south-eastern Manitoba will soon connect 17,262 households in the province to broadband Internet networks.

"I am delighted to announce that more families, businesses and individuals in Manitoba will soon have access to broadband Internet for the first time," said MP Hoeppner during the Nov. 6 announcement. "Our government is committed to creating new economic opportunities for northern and rural Canadians by expanding high-speed digital networks into their communities."

The contract with Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM is valued at about $21.4 million in U.S. funds. Pittsburgh-based dbMotion, a vendor of integration and health information exchange software, is a subcontractor to IBM.

The money will be used to pay up to 70 per cent of implementation costs help doctors’ offices switch over from paper to secure electronic records and operating costs up to a maximum of $20,000 for the first two years.

The incentive is being offered through the federal Canada Health Infoway, a national program to accelerate the development of electronic health record projects in Canada.

Manitoba eHealth hast apped a B.C. medical software company to become one of the first players to participate in the long march into the electronic era of medical record-keeping.

But even Manitoba eHealth officials acknowledge that Manitoba has fallen behind other provinces in the develop­ment and implementation of informa­tion technology.

Soaring costs, scarce resources and recurring system failures are stunting the progress of Manitoba's electronic health systems, say new documents that show the project could cost an extra $450 million and take up to 20 years to complete.

Documents obtained through a freedom of information request reveal Manitoba eHealth is "lagging" behind on its mandate to upgrade and co-ordinate existing health-care computer systems and implement electronic health records. The electronic records are expected to improve patient safety and make health care more efficient by making a patient's hospital, diagnostic and immunization information available through one record.

St. Boniface Hospital will be the first facility with electronic patient records allowing doctors and nurses and other health providers to get access to complete patient records through the computer.

The records will include test results, doctor’s notes and medications.

The site is part of Projet Telesante Manitoba, a MBTelehealth project established in 2007 to link people in urban, rural and north communities to health-care experts in other areas. The project is a collaboration between MBTelehealth, regional health authorities, Canada Health Infoway and Manitoba Health.

The health service is available in the region at Portage la Prairie, Notre Dame de Lourdes, St. Claude, Swan Lake, St. Jean and at the Boundary Trails Health Centre near Winkler.

“It’s a way for clients to be reached by specialists; that’s the biggest benefit of telehealth,” said Dorothy Wicklund, co-ordinator for the telehealth program at the Portage District General Hospital, on Oct. 21. “A specialist sits in Winnipeg and a client will sit in their rural community and be seen that way, as though they were speaking to a physician across the desk.”

Two more towns have been added to the network in the Parkland Regional Health Authority — Grandview in the west and McCreary in the east.

But industry experts are not ready to celebrate yet.

They note that despite undeniable advances, resistance to digitized patient information still remains quite high among the province's healthcare practitioners.

The residents of Markham, Ont. have voted -- not just for their mayor and council, but for a new way of electing them.

The town, located just north of Toronto with a population of about 220,000, piloted Internet voting during a 10-day early voting period before election day on Nov. 10.

Today, the United Kingdom's National Health Service is a leader in converting its electronic health records into a usable database for medical research. In Canada, we currently lack this capacity.

In his keynote speech at the federal government's technology forum, GTEC, Tuesday, Mr. O'Brien announced an aggressive plan to turn the city into an Internet-friendly capital that will be the envy of cities across North America.

Establishing electronic medical records (EMR) in doctors’ offices will be high priority for the Canada Health Infoway over the next decade, superceded only by the goal of establishing an electronic health record for all Canadians and launching a public health surveillance system.

Earlier this month, Accenture ranked Canada first in "e-government maturity" compared to 21 other countries, including the United States.

“These projects are the latest commitment to Canadians living in northern and rural regions through the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians program,” said Tony Clement, Canada’s Minister of Industry, in a release Saturday. “The new economic opportunities these projects will create in these communities will benefit Canada for many years to come.”

The context for more collaborative and integrative service delivery (ISD) stems from two inter-related streams of thought and reform that have now converged: first, a philosophy of citizen-centric governance and service that emphasizes performance over process; and secondly, the emergence of the Internet and new digital technologies that underpin electronic government (e-government) and widen opportunities for electronic service delivery.