Ontario patients should have access to electronic medical records: report

TORONTO -- Health Minister Eric Hoskins says he agrees with a call to give patients access to their electronic medical records.

The Liberal government's privatization czar, Ed Clark, recommends eHealth Ontario's role be refocused more on service delivery, and says patients should be able to interact with their own personal health information.

Clark, the former TD Bank CEO, says eHealth's value to the health care system is at least $5.7 billion, greater than the cost of building it, and he doesn't think it or any of its assets should be sold to the private sector.

Hoskins says Clark's recommendations are consistent with his focus on a "patients-first" system, and the valuation gives the government "greater clarity how to best leverage and manage" the assets going forward.

Both Hoskins and Clark insisted there will be no sale of eHealth or any of its assets, but the New Democrats say they don't believe them.

NDP finance critic Catherine Fife says the government is using the same language to talk about eHealth that it did to justify the sale of Hydro One, which she notes the Liberals had originally said they would not do.

"They're using the exact same language: broadening, augmenting, modernizing, leveraging," said Fife. "They've got their privatization thesaurus out and they're using it day in and day out."

Clark said the government should set firm goals for eHealth Ontario such as having all health care providers able to access and contribute to patients' electronic health records within five years, and eventually give patients access.

"We must bring patients into the system and give them access to their own information, and in doing so we must continue to focus on security and privacy of patient health records," he said. "eHealth, particularly in the last two years, has made good progress and has built core IT infrastructure.

Former health minister David Caplan was forced to resign in 2009 when a report showed eHealth had spent $1 billion to create electronic medical records, but had practically nothing to show for what was spent.