Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones speaks at a press conference at Queen’s Park in Toronto, on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Laura Proctor
Ontario is working on establishing a provincewide electronic medical record system for primary care, over twenty years after the government began its original e Health project that faced many issues.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced Thursday that the province is beginning discussions with potential vendors about what can be achieved.
“(It’s asking) do you have the capacity to do this work? Show us what that would look like, and how do they talk together when we have multiple systems, whether, again it’s in hospitals, in labs, in physicians’ offices,” she said.
Barrie’s News Delivered To Your Inbox
Stay up to date with what Barrie’s talking about. Get the latest local news delivered right to your inbox every day. Never miss out on what’s going on..
Consent Info
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Central Ontario Broadcasting, 431 Huronia Rd, Barrie, Ontario, CA, https://www. cobroadcasting. com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the Safe Unsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
This will benefit both patients and primary care providers, said Dr. Jane Philpott, chair of Ontario’s primary care action team and a family doctor by training.
“For example, if a patient ends up in the emergency department and their medical history isn’t readily available, it can create real challenges,” she said.
“Patients want and deserve for everyone in their circle of care to have a comprehensive view of their health information, their allergies, their medications, their vaccinations, test results no matter where they were done. When that information is missing it can not only lead to safety risks but it can also lead to unnecessary repeat tests and delays in care.”
Most primary care providers are already using electronic records but their systems are isolated Jones said.
“What we need to do next is expand it so that those lab results so that those hospital visits so those conversations with Ontario Health at home and home care workers can all be part of that record because frankly that is the entire person,” she said.
Government officials would not disclose any cost estimates ahead of this market sounding exercise.
Ontario started attempts to create integrated electronic medical records for patients back in the early 2000s but in 2009 the then-Liberal health minister had to resign after an auditor general report revealed the e Health agency spent $1 billion with little progress. A follow-up report from the auditor general in 2016 indicated $8 billion had been spent by then on various electronic health record initiatives.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy also announced Thursday that next week’s provincial budget will include an additional $325 million for primary care as Jones stated that the government remains on track toward its goal of connecting everyone in the province to a primary care provider by 2029.
This report by The Canadian Press was first March 19, 2026.
What do you think of this article?
Source link
Source link
