Thank you, Madam Chair.
My thanks to all the guests who are here today and to Dr. Lear who is with us by videoconference.
As a physician by training, I also believe that all these electronic tools will lighten the heavy burden carried by practitioners. When I was at Laval University, I had to find the charts of elderly patients. Some of them often had three or four charts. I had to go through them in a few minutes and present the case to our manager. It was a challenge for me. So I feel that this will really reduce the workload.
However, I am concerned about the security and protection of personal health information. I just noticed that we have electronic health records and electronic medical records. I assume that the electronic health records do not include the medical history. Correct me if I am wrong, but that is not what I have read. The electronic medical records could be transferred between various general practitioners or specialists in various regions, even across the country. I know from experience that sometimes you need the patient's consent to request the transfer of the record from another doctor. How is the confidentiality of information protected if patients' records are transmitted electronically?
I would also like to ask Dr. Price a question. In your discussions leading to the development of OSCAR, what were the main concerns of health care providers?