A new report out this week underscores the importance of making health IT systems connect with each other. The national report includes recommendations from the Digital Health Interoperability Task Force that we hope will improve that connectivity for physicians in Manitoba. 

WHY IT MATTERS: Health IT systems are siloed, which means doctors often can’t share patient information with other providers electronically leading to unnecessary administrative burden, wasted time and frustration. 

• Only 19% of physicians in Manitoba can share information electronically, which is among the worst levels of connectivity in Canada according to a recent CIHI report.

• Only 14% of patients in Manitoba can access their information electronically, the lowest among all provinces (CIHI). Next door in Saskatchewan, 60% of patients can access their health information.

• See this video describing how patient information is often shared in Manitoba.

The report out this week makes recommendations to change all this, including setting goals for true interoperability, creating standards, supporting innovation, and involving physicians to ensure the solutions are actual improvements at the front line clinical level. 

This reinforces our own advocacy at Doctors Manitoba for health IT integration, and the need to involve physicians to ensure changes lead to less administrative burden, not more. 

There are reasons to be hopeful all of these recommendations will lead to change. 

• Earlier this year, the federal government announced Bill C‑72, legislation requiring digital health vendors in Canada to adopt common standards and allow for secure information sharing. 

• The Manitoba government has committed $50 million in its 2024 budget to modernize electronic patient medical records, ​“to move our health care system away from paper and fax machines and toward electronic patient records.”

GO DEEPER: The Task Force was a partnership between the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), Canada Health Infoway (Infoway), the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Royal College).

“The advancement of Connected Care, or interoperability, means improving the ability of different digital health systems to communicate, exchange, and use personal health data seamlessly and securely,” said Dr. Rashaad Bhyat, Task Force Co-Chair and Senior Clinician Leader, Canada Health Infoway. ​“This in turn will help healthcare providers access the right information at the right time, supporting better coordination of care and more informed decision-making, while reducing administrative burden.”

Read this story from the CMA and access the report and recommendations.