Bad news coverage continues regarding the funding for Canada Health Infoway that has been withheld pending budget decisions by the federal government.
Big questions remain: Does the money get released? Will it be all or part of the allocated $500 million? What processes will need to be put into place to provide additional oversight? If released, how will the funding be distributed to ensure it actually ends up facilitating adoption of EMRs in physician offices?
The Globe and Mail - January 20, 2010: Health Canada handed out millions of dollars to a national eHealth agency without properly accounting for how the money was spent, a new audit says. The finding raises doubts about Health Canada's own record of accountability even as it conducts due diligence before deciding whether to give Canada Health Infoway Inc. another half-billion dollars. The internal audit examined a $400-million, five-year deal the department signed in 2007 with Infoway, created to ensure all Canadians have an electronic health record by 2016. Infoway received its first cheque, for $38.7-million, in October 2007. But the auditors suggest the deal was so badly crafted that Infoway was not required to provide enough information to Health Canada to ensure the money would be well spent. “The information in support of the initial instalment of the new funding was inadequate to verify the validity and appropriateness of the projected expenditures under the terms of the agreement,” says the newly disclosed audit, completed in May last year.
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We don't have to wait for funding to get physicians to move. We simply have to drive the need by patient demand. Make the patient portals a sought-after resource, then the physicians will be forced to look at the efficiencies of their own practices.
Posted by: LLM | March 18, 2010 at 08:01 AM
While I believe this approach works in a situation in which there is competition for patients, in most cities in Canada, it is not possible for patients to find a family physician. When you have such a mismatch between supply and demand, it is very easy as the provider of care to ignore the demands of the patient. Most practices are closed to new patients and have a waitlist. If one patient is too demanding (e.g. pushing the doctor to use their patient portal), it is easy for the doctor to ignore the request or simply ask the patient to find a new physician if their needs are not being met.
Until there is more of a balance between supply and demand, I do not think this argument will be effective.
Posted by: Alan Brookstone | March 18, 2010 at 08:58 AM