Health Committee on April 21st, 2026

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

I would have to rectify that. There was absolutely no reason for Telus to not want to continue with this program.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

All right.

In regard to the electronic medical records market in Canada, what proportion of this does Telus hold?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

Telus is the major player with regard to electronic medical records in Canada. We operate in all 10 provinces.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

All right.

We heard some concerns from provinces and from providers that there weren't sufficient improvements to the product, and some said they were slow or non-existent. Did Telus have any financial incentive to do this, given the size of their market share?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

Canada Health Infoway was responsible for vendor onboarding and for providing clear specifications, as well as dollars, to conform to these specifications for the integration and the onboarding of these platforms to the Telus Health Exchange, the prescriber platform.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

Would more competition in this market, had there been another provider, have helped incentivize Telus in improving its product in this regard?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

I would have to take a step back here. Telus had worked in tandem with Canada Health Infoway to improve the product substantially over the last nine years, and we were also investing our own capital. If there were another competitor, they would go through the proper RFP process, and we would compete against them for the service.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

That's my time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

I now go to MP Blanchette-Joncas for six minutes, please.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Batchvarov, does Telus currently retain essential components of PrescribeIT, which were developed, in whole or in part, with public funds, yes or no?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

As I mentioned earlier, when we began this process in 2017, we already owned 85% of the intellectual property developed on the Telus Health Exchange platform. That platform was intended to offer many more services than just e-prescribing, such as e-consultation or e-prescribing services, among other things. For us, this is therefore a significant asset that will be used in the future to provide other services to citizens.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

So not all components belong to the public sector. That's my understanding.

Is that correct?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

A 15% stake was held by the public sector, in accordance with the Canada Health Infoway requirements.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Could the system be maintained or transferred without relying on TELUS?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

Given the contribution in terms of intellectual property, the answer is no.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

So there is a structural dependence on TELUS.

Is that correct?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

TELUS owns 85% of the intellectual property.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Has TELUS received recurring payments since 2017 for PrescribeIT?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

Yes, as I mentioned earlier, we would have received about $10.9 million a year over nine years.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Today, who holds the rights to use the data generated by PrescribeIT?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

The data generated by PrescribeIT belongs to Canada Health Infoway.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

I'm talking about aggregated data. Can TELUS use it?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

No.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Why is that?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

It's clearly stated in our agreement. It's not something we do, whether in the context of this project or regarding, for example, our electronic health record data.