About 5,500 doctors in Ontario are now using electronic records, treating up to 5 million patients, or 39 percent of the province’s population. Although this represents important progress, most doctors can only exchange information with their local hospital or with other medical staff in their offices.
Physicians that make the switch to electronic medical records receive $28,000 over three years from the government to set up the system, with the ability to choose from 12 different compatible vendors. The implementation process has been overseen by the government-funded provincial organization eHealth Ontario. Each province is responsible for implementing health informatics independently, with the nationally run Canadian Health Infoway providing implementation support.
Greg Reed, eHealth Ontario’s CEO, said the next step is to develop a network through which a patient’s health information can be accessed from anywhere within the province.
Sources:
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Five+million+patients+have+digital+charts+minister+says/3767563/story.html#ixzz14KLMNSfO
http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101102/OTT_EHealth_Records_101102/20101103/?hub=OttawaHome