The federal government promised to give every Canadian an electronic health record. Eleven years and $2 billion later, we’re still waiting. Lives are hanging in the balance.

Canada should revisit its digital health strategy following recommendations that the UK’s very similar blueprint should be jettisoned as wasteful and flawed, experts say.

While several provinces have built centralized drug information systems that theoretically allow e-prescribing, there are few doctors in Canada who are electronically transmitting prescriptions to pharmacies.

Calling ehealth technologies “the new stethoscope,” Jennifer Zelmer, Infoway’s senior vice-president for clinical adoption and innovation, says a lack of physician training represents a substantial barrier in Canada’s efforts to …

Physicians should be compelled by law to use electronic medical records (EMRs), one of Canada’s leading health administrators says. Moreover, doctors should face stiff consequences if they fail to do …

The province of Ontario is contemplating the creation of electronic health records that could include a patient’s psychosocial, financial and legal history, a provincial official has indicated. Privacy and legal …

Grandiose nationwide digital health information systems aimed at aggregating patient data into general summaries may not be feasible, necessary or medically justified, according to a European Commission report. Large-scale systems …

While largely positive, the evaluation of the federal government’s $2.1-billion investment in the federal ehealth agency cautions that Infoway hasn’t yet adequately addressed the needs of patients and health care …

Several developing nations are joining the revolution in electronic health records to improve efficiency in their health systems, but at a fraction of the usual cost.

Canada Health Infoway has at last signalled that it may be slowly tacking towards promoting meaningful use of digital health information by patients and clinicians.