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Health

Question period dealt with PrescribeIT, a federal electronic prescribing program that the government cancelled. The Conservatives said nearly $300 million was spent on software that filled only a small share of prescriptions, that most of the technology is now in private hands, and that no one was held accountable, asking the health minister to explain. The Liberals said the program was started under the previous government at the request of provinces and territories, that uptake was low, and that lessons learned would guide continued work with the provinces, pointing to the Connected Care for Canadians Act (Senate bill S-5) on making health information technology systems work together.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

4 statements

Helena Konanz

Conservative
“The government wasted almost 300 million dollars on a prescription software program that barely worked and is now cancelled. I want the health minister to explain how she wasted this money.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government spent almost $300 million on a national prescribing software that filled less than 5% of all prescriptions. Now it has cancelled it entirely, yet 85% of the technology used is in the private hands of Telus Health. That is the definition of wasteful spending of tax dollars. Will the health minister explain to Canadians how she wasted $300 million on PrescribeIT?

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Maggie Chi

Liberal
“We ended the digital prescription program because not enough people used it. Instead, we introduced a bill to help different health technology systems work together and improve patient care.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I both work on the health committee, and I respect her work on health issues and also on this topic. As the member knows, PrescribeIT was developed and introduced under the previous government at a request of the provinces and territories. Unfortunately the uptake was not high enough, so our new government has decided to end the program. At the same time, we have introduced a connected care bill, through the Senate, which would increase interoperability for digital tools and solutions. This would help improve health care and connectivity for patients in Canada.

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Helena Konanz

Conservative
“The government wasted $300 million on a failed digital prescription project and fired no one. The person in charge refused to answer my questions about it. I want the minister to explain why they are hiding the truth.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, if a private sector staff employee wasted $300 million, they would be fired, but the Liberals have fired no one for their PrescribeIT disaster. I questioned the CEO responsible. He would not say where things went wrong. He even refused to say how much taxpayers paid him. Why is the minister hiding the truth on this $300-million boondoggle?

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Maggie Chi

Liberal
“An earlier digital prescription system did not catch on, but we learned from it. We are working with the provinces and territories to find a better way forward. We will also help them share digital health records with this bill.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, PrescribeIT was introduced in the last Parliament, under the last government, at the request of provinces and territories. Unfortunately, the uptake was not high. There were a lot of lessons learned. We continue to collaborate with the provinces and territories on a path forward. At the same time, we will support provinces and territories on their digital solutions with Bill S-5.

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