This article was last updated on May 20, 2022
Canada: 
Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
Canada Health Infoway is riddled with cost overruns, lucrative insider deals and now censorship of press
The scandals swirling around the Canadian eHealth system get bigger. Our reports are drawing fire from Infoway themselves.
Our story yesterday about the credibility of their live-saving claims Government says eHealth can’t be trusted has drawn the ire of Dan Strasbourg director of Media Relations at Infoway.
We are not surprised.
Any project that spends $10 to $20 billion of taxpayers’ money with doubtful benefits would make you nervous of news stories that didn’t re-print your press releases.
Cost
Strasbough says the claim of $20 billion – yes billion – in costs is “incorrect (i.e. We are not spending $20 billion).”
Spending estimates on this project are wildly under-reported. The Ontario Auditor General reported that Ontario spent $1 billion most of which was wasted on patronage friends of the McGuinty government.Favoritism and patronage rank in Ontario eHealth system
On PEI, the original no cost budget has spiraled to $65 million with no end in sight on costs or completion. PEI eHealth system out of control
The Canadian Medical Association Journal reported on November 5th – “With governments about to engage in a $20-billion spending spree over the next decade for a national health info-structure, hundreds of Canadian and foreign companies are competing for lucrative deals to sell electronic health information systems promising to connect patients, doctors and hospitals.”
Based on past low-ball estimates from the Infoway and the government, the budget is not less than $10 billion. The CMAJ report is likely more realistic.
Infoway censorship
Strasbourg wants us to remove their commercial from our story.
“Furthermore, you have posted a video online that belongs to Canada Health Infoway. You do not have our authorization to use this video and we ask that you kindly remove it immediately and advise us when it is removed.”
In the story we acknowledge Infoway’s copyright; however, Canadian copyright law allows use of copyrighted material in news stories as “Fair Dealing”. We stand by our use of the video to illustrate fear mongering by Infoway and the Province of PEI.
We already went toe-to-toe with other organizations who don’t like our reporting, like the IOC, on copyright fair dealing. The video will stay up as part of our news reporting.
Ironically, the same week the ad was broadcast, Health PEI issued a press release advising Islanders to keep a writing list of their medications in their purse or wallet.
“And an Island-wide computerized system to track prescription medications isn’t fully up and running yet.” CBC Medication form will help doctors, patients
This is the reality of Infoway and eHealth in Canada. Tens of billions spent on computers so we can write our medical history on scraps of paper.
In case you don’t get the government form and keep it up-to-date, keep your prescription receipts in your purse or wallet.
Benefits
If you think Infoway / eHealth budgets are fanciful, ponder their $ 6 billion annual expected benefits:
- “Having instant access to a patient’s health information will reduce the chance of misdiagnosis and possible unforeseen complications in the ER.
- For Canadians living with chronic illnesses, EHRs can make monitoring day-to-day risk factors much easier for patients and physicians.
- Adopting EHRs will help patients take advantage of cancelled appointments and create shorter wait times.
- With an EHR system in place, redundancy in medical testing will be reduced.
- EHRs can help Canadians receive better diagnoses because they will paint a more comprehensive picture of a patient’s health history.
- Having EHRs in place will help improve and make advanced health care even more accessible to people who live in remote areas.”
This is all wishful thinking.
A Harvard Medical School study (published in the American Journal of Medicine of 4,000 hospitals and health providers in the United States found the systems were very expensive but didn’t have any financial benefit.
By Stephen Pate, NJN Network
You can publish this article on your website as long as you provide a link back to this page.
Be the first to comment