How many of us recall sitting in a doctor’s office or hospital and having trouble recalling our detailed medical history —the last time we were prescribed a course of antibiotics, the dates of our surgeries, recent medical tests and, of course, the medications we’re taking. Or, perhaps we’ve been confused with procedure dates or names of medicines and provided incorrect information.
I don’t think I’d be wrong to say that many of us will have forgotten or been unable to share important personal health information at one time or another. And, that with the increasing number of medical appointments and prescriptions that often come along with aging, cases of “missing or incorrect” data occur more frequently.
Time and again it’s been shown that delays in securely delivering the latest health information to a patient, a family or a caregiver as quickly as possible causes harm in many avoidable ways. When a patient team isn’t in the loop, so to speak, research shows that medical tests are often duplicated or done unnecessarily, wait times are longer than they need to be, hospital readmissions occur more often than they should and the number of medication errors increase.
Today, statistics show that less than forty percent of Canadians access their personal health information electronically. And, only thirty-five percent of physicians share their patient medical information outside of their practices. Yet, according to Health Canada, “enabling timely, secure access to personal health information is critical” which is why Bill C-72 the proposed Connected Care for Canadians Act was introduced in 2024.
A key component of Bill C-72 is the requirement that health information technology is interoperable. According to Canada Health Infoway, “the quintessential characteristic of an interoperable health system is person-centric care, in which standardized data can follow the patient across all care settings and geographies to enable more informed care provision, leading to better health outcomes.” The bill takes into account hardware, software, intellectual property and upgrades used for maintaining, accessing using or exchanging data and prohibits data blocking by vendors.
When passed C-72 should lead to the dramatic improvement of Canada’s fragmented health information ecosystem, and eliminate current challenges related to provider behaviour, timelines for implementation, data governance, and the influence of the commercial determinants of health.
According to experts, improving ‘connectivity’ and providing doctors, patients, families and caregivers with better access to complete individual health histories, timely test results and medical records is going to save lives, reduce stress and save precious healthcare dollars. The next step-to encourage reluctant consumers, especially those who aren’t tech friendly, and health professionals, to get onboard.
Caroline Tapp-McDougall, Editor/Publisher
caroline@bcsgroup.com
Image: iStock
