"For us, SOA is more a re-branding of an approach we've had in play since about 1999," says Ron Huxter, chief technology officer. "We referred to it then as a common components approach."
E-health is a "term that now seems to serve as a general buzzword to characterize not only Internet medicine; but virtually everything related to computers and medicine," according to the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
If the Ontario government wants to get the biggest bang for its medical buck, it should invest in e-Health, says the head of the association representing Ontario's 156 public hospitals. Funding electronic medical health records is an investment that would bring the best yield over time, said Hilary Short.
Read more: Canada: Ontario: Hospital leader promotes e-Health
The paper outlines what sufficient funding and government co-operation could accomplish by 2015 by employing information technology to enable more effective use of health care facilities, especially during a time when an aging population is bound to stress the system's capacity.
Instead of an electronic system, we keep putting pen to paper and putting patients' lives at risk.
Competent and well-trained health-care workers are essential, but so is complete, timely information. Something we don't have.