Audit Urged for $250M Prescription Program

Conservative MPs are asking the auditor general to look into how the federal government managed a $250-million program that’s reportedly about to be discontinued next month.

Prescribe IT was introduced in 2017 to update the way doctors send prescriptions to pharmacies, aiming to phase out outdated methods like fax machines.

However, Canada Health Infoway, the non-profit organization overseeing Prescribe IT and funded by the federal government, has announced that the program will conclude on May 29 as it shifts towards an “open-standards approach” for electronic prescriptions.

“Most Canadians have never heard of Prescribe IT. And that’s exactly how the Liberals wanted it,” Conservative MP Dan Mazier, who serves as the party’s health critic, stated at a news conference Monday on Parliament Hill.

A report from – which caught Conservatives’ attention – indicated that less than five percent of prescriptions are sent using Prescribe IT.

Mazier mentioned that when the project was first revealed in 2016, it had a budget of $40 million. He pointed out that this amount has now soared to over $300 million over the past decade.

“So what did Canadians get for their $300 million? Well, that’s the $300-million question. Because as of today, doctors are still faxing prescriptions,” Mazier said.

Mazier noted that Conservatives have been trying at the committee level to obtain documents related to Prescribe IT. He accused the government of delaying those efforts until they can reorganize parliamentary committees to reflect their new majority in the House of Commons, something expected to happen this week.

A pharmacist counts pills. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Mazier expressed concern that if this occurs, the public may never see documents clarifying how the government handled Prescribe IT.

Mazier also raised questions about what will happen with intellectual property linked to this project.

When reviewing Prescribe IT on April 21, MPs learned that Canada Health Infoway hired Telus Health for its development. Telus received $98 million for its contributions.

Mazier emphasized that while taxpayer money funded this work, it doesn’t actually belong to the government.

In response to an order paper question, Health Canada stated that the government “holds no intellectual property pertaining to Prescribe IT.”

“It seems like the Liberals spent tax dollars creating software for a private company and didn’t make sure it would belong to Canadians,” Mazier said Monday.

Ratcho Batchvarov, vice-president of provider solutions with Telus Health, told lawmakers Telus already owned 85 percent of the intellectual property used in developing Prescribe IT.

He also explained that without Telus’s involvement due to extensive integration of their technology into it, transferring or maintaining could be impossible.


Bloc Québécois MP Maxime Blanchette-Joncas supported Conservatives’ call for an investigation. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Bloc Québécois MP Maxime Blanchette-Joncas , who is vice-chair of the House Committee on health along with Mazier , voiced support for Conservatives ‘ request for an auditor general inquiry.

” Every time Ottawa awards IT contracts , we see the same movie : deficient management , no oversight , and enormous costs and expenses ,” Blanchette – Joncas said in a statement to The Canadian Press in French.

In a statement , the office of federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel stated that there were plans for self-sufficiency regarding the program.

” Given low uptake rates , it became clear there was no viable path forward ; thus , we ended it ,” Guillaume Bertrand , director of communications for Michel wrote via email.

” Our government believes in maximizing value for taxpayer dollars ; concluding Prescribe IT was financially responsible.”

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