Toronto – Every Canadian should be in control of their own health information through online access and benefit from it being shared securely between health professionals in the country. However, currently only one third of Canadians can access some of their health information online. On top of that, health care providers can’t easily access or share health information because systems don’t always connect. This lack of available patient information can put people’s lives at risk, add unnecessary or duplicative tests, and result in longer wait times and hospital stays.
The Government of Canada is committed to working with provinces, territories, and health partners to build a modern and well-connected, world-class health care system to ensure that patients have access to safe, quality care, and are empowered to take their health into their own hands. Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, unveiled our shared plan of Connecting you to Modern Health Care. This plan outlines the Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap, which represents a key milestone to advance the Government’s commitment to secure access to electronic health information. The Roadmap, developed by Canada Health Infoway and endorsed by the federal, provincial and territorial governments (with the exception of Quebec), outlines a long-term vision towards improving health information exchange in Canada to improve health outcomes for everyone.
The Roadmap provides guidance to provinces, territories, health system managers and industry on common standards to be used to support the secure transfer of health information from different systems and to patients themselves. It will improve the quality and safety of patients’ care by standardizing health information so that it can be accessed wherever patients go for care, while keeping it private and secure. Using standards for health information will also help health system administrators, researchers and decision makers better understand and compare aggregated, de-personalized health data across Canada, providing valuable insights needed to improve the health system and inform public health responses.
This commitment is part of Budget 2023 which outlined the Government of Canada’s plan to invest close to $200 billion over 10 years to improve health care services for Canadians, including a commitment by all levels of government to improve how health information is collected, shared, and used by adopting common standards and policies. The Government of Canada will continue working with provinces and territories, health data partners and other stakeholders to safely modernize Canada’s health data system, which will ultimately improve health care for everyone. Health information can save lives.
“Data saves lives. Better access to health information will empower patients and is essential for health workers to be able to provide high quality health care and make more informed choices. This is an important milestone in modernizing our health care system to improve health outcomes for Canadians.” – Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health