Evidence of meeting #22 for Health in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was privacy.

A recording is available from Parliament.

privacyelectronic health recordspost-marketreportput in place

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Sheila Fraser  Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Jennifer Stoddart  Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Richard Alvarez  President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Health Infoway
Mike Sheridan  Chief Operating Officer, Canada Health Infoway
Neil Maxwell  Assistant Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Patricia Kosseim  General Counsel, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

The Vice-Chair Liberal Lui Temelkovski

Thank you very much.

We'll continue with Madam Davidson.

As spoken

12:40 p.m.

Conservative

Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks very much to our presenters.

Mr. Alvarez, you spoke about a pilot project regarding collecting adverse events or keeping track of adverse events at a neonatal unit in British Columbia. You indicated you were having some success, or you thought you were having some success, with this project as it was being piloted. Can you talk a bit more about how it's being done? Whose responsibility is it to report and to whom are they reporting? One of the things we've heard from different areas is that there may need to be remuneration involved because of time and so on. Perhaps you could touch on that.

And how is the information that's being collected dispersed in a wider sense? How wide is the network that's being attached?

As spoken

12:40 p.m.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Health Infoway

Richard Alvarez

Mr. Chair, I will ask Mr. Sheridan to address that since he's intimately involved in the project.

As spoken

12:40 p.m.

Chief Operating Officer, Canada Health Infoway

Mike Sheridan

I'm not sure I'm intimately involved with the project, but certainly it is a pilot project. It was intended to show some innovation and adoption techniques.

The innovation was to change the way reporting was being done, in this case in a neonatal unit, with the assumption that once deployed and in place, this certainly could be used in other care settings, in other institutions, in other types of wards and care facilities.

The notion was that prior to the implementation of this particular system, the majority of the reporting was done on paper, and as Mr. Alvarez has always indicated, our health system on paper doesn't always look that good. So the system that was put in place was very standardized, computer-usable, a web-based application. That all sounds very complicated, but the reality is that it was click and point, enter the information, and then that went to another base.

Who was involved? Part of the process of getting electronic health records to work is adoption of these things by the actual users in the care community. The three hospitals that were involved in this particular project had a great approach. They created a team, and ostensibly, in the neonatal units, everybody became a part of the team--the doctors, the nurses, and the staff. In fact, when we had a presentation at our last board, they had created these little buttons that said “I am part of the team”. And of course everybody was trying to do that.

In terms of the actual adoption, the process was a team effort within the hospitals per se. The result, in terms of the reporting, was a web-based reporting tool that was much easier to use and much more accessible than the paper products that had been in place before.

The final piece was that this was aggregated into a centralized database, where the information could be used by “the team” in terms of giving better care and better follow-up.

As spoken

12:45 p.m.

Conservative

Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Did this information go to Health Canada, or was it used internally by the team?

As spoken

12:45 p.m.

Chief Operating Officer, Canada Health Infoway

Mike Sheridan

This was a clinical application within three hospitals in Vancouver.

As spoken

Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

As far as adverse reporting goes, could it be applied to Health Canada?

As spoken

12:45 p.m.

Chief Operating Officer, Canada Health Infoway

Mike Sheridan

It's early days in this particular piece, but certainly the evaluation of the benefits and the actual implementation, use, etc., haven't been fully completed. We would want to see the results of that analysis.

We also have a very similar project that's being put in place in Newfoundland.

I think it's early days in terms of the application of this to any particular pan-Canadian reporting system.

As spoken

12:45 p.m.

Conservative

Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Were there privacy issues, since it was closed-circuit reporting?

As spoken

12:45 p.m.

Chief Operating Officer, Canada Health Infoway

Mike Sheridan

A privacy impact assessment was done prior to the investments by Infoway. The results of that didn't indicate anything particularly negative or problematic with respect to privacy.

As spoken

12:45 p.m.

Conservative

Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Thank you.

As spoken

The Vice-Chair Liberal Lui Temelkovski

Thank you very much.

That concludes our session this morning. We will go in camera. We'll take a short break.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for--

As spoken

Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS

Is it an in camera motion? I don't think it's in camera.

As spoken

The Vice-Chair Liberal Lui Temelkovski

No problem. Thank you.

Thank you very much to the witnesses.

We will have the motion passed around so everyone has a copy.

On a point of order, yes, sir.

As spoken

12:45 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Fletcher Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB

On a point of order, it says in camera on the agenda.

As spoken

The Vice-Chair Liberal Lui Temelkovski

Let's give it a second until they clear out. We'll deal with that.

Can we have the room cleared, please? Thank you.

Mr. Fletcher, you mentioned you want—

As spoken

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Fletcher Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB

Yes. I had a point of order, that the schedule indicates we are discussing committee business and that it's in camera.

As spoken

The Vice-Chair Liberal Lui Temelkovski

It is an option of the committee, and since the mover wants to have it in public, we'll have it in public.

As spoken

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Fletcher Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB

Well—

As spoken

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON

I want to speak on that, Mr. Chair, on a point of order.

As spoken

The Vice-Chair Liberal Lui Temelkovski

You can speak on it if you want it—

As spoken

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON

I want to speak on a point of order.

As spoken

The Vice-Chair Liberal Lui Temelkovski

What's your point of order, Mr. Tilson?

As spoken

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON

Are we in session, Mr. Chair? There are still people in the room.

As spoken

The Vice-Chair Liberal Lui Temelkovski

Yes, we are in session.

As spoken