The Canadian Auditor General Reports on Health IT Progress in Canada.

The following appeared a few days ago.

Uneven reporting on progress toward national electronic health records

The push to create a national system of electronic health records is a long way from meeting its 2010 target of covering 50 per cent of Canadians.

According to a review of previously-released federal and provincial audits, as of March 31 2009, only 17 per cent of Canadians were living in provinces where an Electronic Health Record is available.

The jointly-released overview report gives a positive review of federal efforts through the Canada Health Infoway, but warns provinces are not consistent in tracking their costs.

More here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/parliament-buildings-crumbling-e-health-records-stalled/article1540777/

The report is found here:

http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_201004_07_e_33720.html

Electronic Health Records in Canada—An Overview of Federal and Provincial Audit Reports

In brief

Introduction

Context

Shared responsibility

Funding for electronic health records

Reported audit findings

Planning for electronic health records

Implementing electronic health records

Reporting on progress to the public

Meeting important challenges

Going forward

Comments from audited governments and Canada Health Infoway

Appendix—List of audit offices and websites

Exhibits:

1—An example of what an EHR might look like

2—Infoway’s expenditures and commitments to electronic health records—as of 31 March 2009

In brief

Implementing electronic health records in Canada is a pan-Canadian initiative that requires the collaboration of stakeholders, including the federal government, Canada Health Infoway Inc., and the provincial and territorial governments, as well as other organizations involved in the delivery of health care. Every audited jurisdiction has at least one core electronic health record (EHR) system in place, and some provinces have almost finished implementing their EHR systems. Given the significant challenges of this undertaking and the substantial potential benefits of EHRs, stakeholders need to work together to comprehensively report to legislatures and Canadians on progress made and benefits achieved.

A .pdf file is available here:

http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/docs/parl_oag_201004_07_e.pdf

This is a very useful summary of what has gone on in Canada over almost a decade with links to the various province (state) based audit reports.

The fact that many of the provinces had some substantial issues in implementation suggests to me that an audit review of NEHTA would be a very, very good idea and sooner rather than later – so lessons from Canada can be learnt and any emerging issues here can be corrected.

David.