Richard Alvarez, president and chief executive officer of Canada Health Infoway has a goal of having half of the population of Canada with electronic health records by 2010 and the remainder by 2016. Currently only about 9% of Canadian have an electronic health record so the goal is fairly lofty. "Isn't it ironic that I can pay my hydro bill online from Australia," said Dan Strasbourg, Canada Health Infoway's director of corporate communications, "yet if I present at a Toronto ER unconscious, the physician can't even access my medical history housed at my physician's office a few blocks away?" According to this Globe and Mail article Canada Health Infoway says that there are 245 projects under way in Canadian hospitals, other health-care facilities, pharmacies and laboratories, with an investment value of $1.332-billion. With that kind of investment perhaps 2016 is attainable after all, I suspect the biggest hurdle will likely be acceptance of this technology by the patient. After all, I think we all know people who don't trust online banking yet!
