Read more: Electronic Patient Data System Soon in Canada, Urged for Australia
A senior Bay Street financier has quit the provincially appointed board of Toronto's local health authority in protest over the slow pace of computerization of the health-care system.
Tony Fell, chairman of RBC Capital Markets, sent in a stinging resignation letter to the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) on April 2.
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.
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.
Read more: Canada: Manitoba: St. Boniface Hospital patients’ records
The government agency that oversees the province's electronic health infrastructure, and increasingly the collection and sharing of sensitive patient information, would be unprepared if hit with a major security breach, the province's privacy watchdog has warned.
Smart Systems for Health Agency, or SSHA, says it has never experienced such a breach, but a comprehensive review of its privacy practices by Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner found there were "serious gaps" in the organization's ability to monitor electronic security lapses.