About Canada Health Infoway
Canada Health Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government. Infoway jointly invests in projects with every province and territory to accelerate the development and adoption of electronic health record systems in Canada. Fully respecting patient confidentiality, these secure systems will provide clinicians and patients with the information they need to better support safe care decisions and manage their own health. Accessing this vital information quickly will foster a more modern and sustainable health care system for all Canadians.
Vital numbers
Canada’s health care system contains:
- Almost 400,000 general practitioners
- More than 700 hospitals
- 1,600 long-term care facilities
In Canada, there are 2,000 health care transactions every minute.
Financial statistics
Canada’s public health care sector is worth more than $150 billion per year. As an enterprise, it would rank number 10 on the Fortune 500.
The total revenue of Canada’s public health care sector is more than three times the size of Canada’s largest bank.
The Canadian government has provided Infoway with $1.6 billion in funding for investments in electronic health records across Canada.
Infoway's vision, the implementation and use of EHR records for all Canadians by 2016, is expected to deliver $6 to $7 billion in annual benefits.
To reach our 2016 goal will require a one-time investment of approximately $350 per Canadian; to date, Canada has allocated about $50 per person to develop EHRs.
EHR facts and figures
To date, nine countries have implemented or are planning a country-wide EHR system.
Based on a 2007 Infoway survey, 88 per cent of Canadians support the idea of electronic health records.
To ultimately reach their health care renewal goals, Canada’s provinces and territories will require EHR capabilities for 100 percent of their populations.
EHR-related activities in Canada will create 37,000 jobs by 2010 (according to a Conference Board of Canada study).
As at June 30, 2008, Infoway had approved investments of 263 EHR projects with an estimated value of $1.49 billion.
Today in Canada, in the absence of a comprehensive electronic health record system, for every 1,000:
- Hospital admissions, 75 people will suffer an adverse drug event;
- Patients with an ambulatory encounter, 20 will suffer a serious drug event;
- Laboratory tests performed, up to 150 will be unnecessary;
- Emergency room visits, 320 patients will have an information gap, resulting in an average increased stay of 1.2 hours.