Linda LeBlanc: Successful health records integration will require stringent fiscal oversight

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The province recently announced plans to modernize our existing medical record systems. At an estimated cost of $1.3 billion dollars this model is intended to allow seamless and efficient sharing of patient healthcare data while facilitating the ongoing creation of primary care teams.

All provinces have their own separate and disconnected health information technology systems due in part to proprietary software monopoly agreements. Furthermore, a scathing 2010 federal auditor general report studying attempts at health record integration clearly showed that slow progress and billions wasted were not for lack of efficient technology but rather governments’ poor fiscal monitoring of past projects.

A Medical Post article by Western University professor and Information Technology and Innovation chair Joshua M. Pearce explains replacing expensive proprietary agreements with free and open source software (FOSS) would put an end to such waste. FOSS is secure, can be copied, modified and redistributed among subscribers and is used by 100 per cent of the world’s supercomputers and 90 per cent of cloud servers.

Our present provincial online portal contains most patients’ test results. Adding hospital and community based physicians’ health records will achieve complete integration. The creation of primary care teams is also well underway. Approximately 70 per cent of Vitalité affiliated family physicians have so far agreed to be part of these care models. The health authority is hoping to consolidate all of its orphan patients within these teams in the next year.

Lack of fiscal accountability and use of proprietary software has impeded our province’s digital optimization. Estonia, a European country slightly smaller than New Brunswick with 1.3 million inhabitants, achieved complete health data digitalizing within eight years at a cost of $10 million dollars. Prudent software choice coupled with auditor general oversight will redirect millions away from conglomerates and toward ongoing evidence-based efforts improving health care access for all.

Dr. Linda LeBlanc is a radiation oncologist practicing in Moncton