Doctors Face Prescription Chaos as Software Gets Cut

A couple of family doctors from Ontario say they’ll have to revert to sending prescriptions via fax because a federally funded organization is discontinuing an effective electronic system without any clear plan for what comes next.

“I feel like we’re going back to the dark ages,” said Dr. Colin Bolzon, who, along with his wife, Dr. Rebecca Robinson, serves around 3,400 patients at their shared clinic in St. Thomas.

The challenge they’re facing is that Health Canada Infoway, a non-profit backed by the federal government, announced it will be shutting down a service called Prescribe IT on May 29.

This software allows doctors to quickly send prescriptions directly to pharmacies and approve renewal requests with just a click. It shows these requests as electronic prompts linked to each patient’s health record.

This tool is vital since Bolzon mentioned he gets up to 35 prescription renewal requests daily while also managing about 30 in-person visits.

“What Prescribe IT did is it cut the fax machine out,” said Bolzon. “With it, you can renew a patient’s prescription in seconds. It’s incredibly efficient.”

That efficiency matters greatly since Bolzon and Robinson – like many family physicians in Canada – work hard to prevent being overwhelmed by paperwork and other administrative tasks that eat into time meant for patient care.

Bolzon started using Prescribe IT after taking over his practice from a retiring doctor in 2021. The software meets strict guidelines and is the only sanctioned tool for handling prescriptions electronically.

Why shut it down?

If Prescribe IT helps doctors manage their workloads efficiently and there’s no solid replacement ready, why end it?

In a statement issued by Canada Health Infoway, they mentioned working alongside governments and system providers to keep Prescribe IT running. However, they stated there was no sustainable funding model found that would allow for continued operation of one national service over time.

The statement outlined plans for creating an accessible national standard for electronic prescribing which “will be made publicly available” on May 1-just 28 days before the shutdown of Prescribe IT. This aims to let other vendors adopt that new standard.

To Bolzon, this announcement doesn’t clarify what options might exist for doctors post-June when they lose access to Prescribe IT.

Bolzon expressed he’s not against implementing a new system but doesn’t understand why they need to shut down something that’s already beneficial while waiting for improvements.

“I’m saying let’s keep what’s working for doctors who are using it until we have something better,” he said.

Potential bad outcomes for patients

Both doctors pointed out that losing an electronic records management system could set back patient care significantly and increase risks related to prescription fraud.

“There’s a huge safety aspect of this,” said Robinson.

Add-on costs might also be passed onto patients due to these changes.

Bolzon noted some practitioners may start charging administration fees for renewals or choose to reduce their patient lists or stop accepting new ones altogether at a time when there are around 2.5 million Ontarians without family physicians.

He indicated some may even require patients seeking renewal appointments come in person just so they can bill the Ontario Health Insurance Plan for those visits-something that would create obstacles especially for those in assisted living or receiving palliative care-and clog up appointment slots with visits that aren’t strictly necessary just for routine renewals.

“These are real conversations that I have heard,” said Bolzon.

MP Lawton calls for clarity

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Andrew Lawton, MP representing Elgin-St. Thomas-London South has brought this matter up with federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel.

“It’s 2026; the government shouldn’t be keeping the fax machine on life support,” he remarked.

Lawton supports moving forward with an updated electronic prescribing system but insists it’s essential that doctors know clearly what’s coming after May 29.

“Doctors already dealing with overwhelming amounts of admin work welcomed this alternative; now they’re being told they’re going to lose it-with very little notice or communication.”

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