Report: Connected Care Perspectives on Canadian Health IT Market

[Chris Johnston]

Canada Health Infoway released a compelling if somewhat disheartening report at the end of January on the current state (or lack) of health system interoperability in Canada. Particularly it highlights how far we lag behind other jurisdictions in terms of connectedness, patient access, emergency access, security … well almost everything.

One unsurprising but still frustrating statistic is that 93% of physicians in Ontario still rely on faxing for prescriptions, diagnostic requisitions and specialist referrals. While there are no stats given for the rest of the country, I doubt the percentages would differ greatly.

Cited barriers to patient access etc. include:
“Security concerns further complicate data access. Healthcare data is growing at a 36% annual rate, outpacing other industries, according to RBC Capital Markets. Yet, the sector’s reliance on legacy systems poses significant security risks, with 73% of healthcare respondents report the use of outdated platforms in the 2021 HIMSS Healthcare Cybersecurity Survey. Nearly 30% of Canadian organizations have experienced data breaches, highlighting the urgent need for modernized systems and governance structures to protect sensitive health information.”

If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it:
Connected Care Perspectives on the Canadian Health IT Market

[Alies Maybee]

@Chris-Johnston Thanks for this. We all need to understand more about connected care and what it takes to get there. While this is a sorry state, I live in hope that the actions of governments are moving us in the right direction however slowly.

[Debra Turnbull]

@Alies-Maybee @Chris-Johnston This is a fascinating report. It had me questioning why the Executive Summary stated over 90% faxes were being used in Ontario.

The report reference an OMA report (which I could not access due to website blocking). HOWEVER - I did find this CBC article from Feb. 2023 (the survey most likely done in 2022). One answer: pharmacies... and who is going to pay for their Pharmacy_Systems upgrades for interoperability. And no, I don't mean mega-giant Shoppers (they have money). I mean the little community pharmacies and independents that talk face-to-face with their customers. Who pays for their system upgrades? What about other Allied Health Professionals (AHPs)?

I still remain optimistic; we'll get there.

[Chris Johnston]

@Debra-Turnbull Hi Deb, I found an article on CMA which cites the same 90% statistic
https://www.cma.ca/healthcare-for-real/why-do-doctors-still-use-fax-machines

It links to a different OMA report with slightly more info about faxes on page 49:
https://www.oma.org/siteassets/oma/media/public/prescription-for-ontario-doctors-5-point-plan-for-better-health-care.pdf

Further into the OMA report there’s an Ontario Pharmacy Association quote on page 63 calling for an end to faxes. It seems even while worried about the cost of replacing it, they’re still keen to move past it.

[Debra Turnbull]

@Chris-Johnston Yeah, now I tried accessing the CMA site - that one does not like me either.

You must have some sort of magical access powers...

[Kim Locke]

@Chris-Johnston I get a 404 error when I try to access the link for the report.

[Chris Johnston]

@Kim-Locke Thanks for mentioning this Kim - I’ve just spent an hour trawling the site and all trace of the report, including the article that referenced it and the pages that linked to it are gone. Bizarre!!

I’d almost think I imagined it except that it still appears in their February newsletter here:
https://mailchi.mp/infoway-inforoute/interchange-january-february2025

I think I’ve saved a copy of it on another device. I’ll check and post it later if so.

[Debra Turnbull]

@Chris-Johnston Okay, that link worked. Many thanks Chris!

[Chris Johnston]

@Debra-Turnbull OMG I swear the universe is just testing my patience lol! That whole section of their website was non-existent in the early hours and now it's just blinked back into existence. I've snagged a copy before it disappears again.