Electronic Health Records: Blah, Blah, Blah

An example of this just crossed my path. Back in September 2000, the Canadian and provincial governments committed to a nationally consistent EHR-system. The province of Ontario, which runs a government-monopoly, single-payer, health system for its 12 million residents, got to work developing a province-wide EHR system, “eHealth”.

Under state monopoly, you wouldn’t think that would be too difficult. Well, last October, the provincial Auditor-General published a report detailing the project’s $1 billion cost-overruns and history of “no-bid” contracts. To recover from the scandal, the province just appointed a veteran IT executive, who insists that Ontarians not give up on the promise of EHRs!

Well, the people of Ontario have to wait months for access to specialist medical care. I suppose they won’t mind waiting a few more years, and wasting a few more billion dollars, on a government IT bureaucracy.

This blog post originally appeared on State House Call.

Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.

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