Health Committee on April 21st, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have 40 seconds.

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

No. It was all-inclusive.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Can you explain to me, technically, what was achieved with the $100 million and what the IP was? To my understanding, prescriptions can be digitally faxed to a pharmacy. What problem was solved?

From any EMR, I can send a prescription to any pharmacy. The pharmacist can receive it. What was the value added here for the $100 million you received?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

It was a scalable technology that connected not only Telus platforms but all platforms, as I mentioned previously—EMRs and pharmacies—across different jurisdictions, which have different ways of delivering and differences in how they deliver health care. There were extensive negotiations done by Infoway when we were onboarding a net new province, which required adjustments.

Yes, today, you can fax a prescription from an EMR to a pharmacy, but that is a very antiquated way of processing digital health information. There is a high level of inefficiency when you have to read the information. Fax is an unreliable technology. Information can get lost.

This digital health infrastructure enabled the secure transmission of that information. It avoided duplicative entry and saved time for patients.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

The time is well over, but I allowed the answer because it was one I think everybody wanted to hear.

Now I'll go to Ms. Sidhu for the Liberals for five minutes, please.

This part of the meeting, including pauses for suspensions, will end at 4:44. We have time for Ms. Sidhu, and then we will have to go to the next hour—just to let you know.

Thank you.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is for Mr. Batchvarov.

Before getting into PrescribeIT.... Would you agree that without common national standards, such as those proposed in Bill S-5, digital tools like e-prescribing will face limits in any adoption?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

Telus is a great supporter of Bill S-5 in terms of providing the overarching strategy and direction of enabling interoperability and prohibiting data blocking, which I believe are the essential next steps to connect Canada's fragmented health silos. From a Telus Health-specific perspective, we see this as being definitely in line with our strategy. As I explained previously to this committee, we were already thinking about this and were already down the path of developing that technology even prior to the PrescribeIT agreement.

We believe Bill S-5 will serve as the overarching blueprint of how connected care can function in Canada. Obviously, there are provincial realities that all of us are going to have to face.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Could you walk the committee through Telus Health's role in designing and delivering PrescribeIT and how decisions were made on the platform's structure and functionality?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

The technical components and the platform we provided already existed. We worked in close partnership with Canada Health Infoway on any improvements, change requests and change orders they provided to us. It is a very tight and strict process in terms of what gets approved and what money gets paid according to milestones.

We met with Canada Health Infoway on a regular basis, with weekly, biweekly and quarterly updates as well, to ensure that there was a tight process and governance around anything to do with how money was spent and provided to Telus.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Can you speak to how the new open standard model addresses governance challenges and creates a more inclusive system-wide approach to decision-making? You talked about the barriers you faced. You're going to submit the white paper to the committee. It's appropriate to rely on one group or a single model.

How can we work better?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

The challenge as a technology provider in Canada—we operate in all jurisdictions—is that we're often faced with conflicts and very different ways to integrate, operate and abide by standards across the different jurisdictions. It is very welcoming to see, from our perspective, that there is an ability to talk about creating a national or open standard that is consistent across jurisdictions. For large providers like us, this becomes a much easier path to integration and enabling connected care systems to exchange information at scale.

We believe this is a welcome change as part of legislation that is being tabled, in Bill S-5 in particular, to create the national strategy and find how we can connect these disparate systems without having to redo things on a custom level within every province or jurisdiction.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

From a vendor perspective, were these limitations in the product itself, rather than in the usability, integration or workflow, which may have slowed adoption among providers?

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

Is this question specific to PrescribeIT?

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Yes.

[Ratcho Batchvarov]

As I mentioned before, we worked in close collaboration with Canada Health Infoway and stood up physician working groups. Recommendations were provided on the basis of the end-user perspective. Even though we were not responsible for clinician recruitment or jurisdictional onboarding activities, we participated in those workshops and provided feedback. Canada Health Infoway took some of it to implement enhancements in the system, as well as on the Telus Health exchange and the switch overall.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

That's it. Thank you, Ms. Sidhu.

I want to thank Mr. Batchvarov for his time and information.

I'll ask you to remember to send the white paper to this committee. We will distribute it here.

I will suspend the meeting to prepare for the next hour and the next witness.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I now resume this meeting. I would like to welcome the witness joining us for the second hour.

You have a point of order, Mr. Mazier.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Yes.

Since we're starting at five o'clock, I would ask for the clerk to check how many resources we have so that we can continue for another two hours.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I think we have resources for three hours. We are looking at all of that, and I could ask the clerk to check if we have more than that. If we go per hour as we're doing, then we are going to have to take.... This is why I don't like these broken-up meetings; they take too much extra time. However, we will check for resources to see when we can end. Whenever we start the third hour, we will end at the end of the third hour.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Yes, as long as we have resources.... If you could check for me, Madam Chair, that would be great.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I think we're going to have some resources for that. I don't think it's going to be that long. Thank you.

I now want to welcome the witness joining us for the second hour. From Canada Health Infoway, we have Michael Green, president and chief executive officer, by video conference.

Welcome, Mr. Green, and thank you for coming.

I will quickly explain to you what the protocols are. You have five minutes to present. I will give you a one-minute shout-out, literally, so that you can wrap up what you have to say—and a 30-second one if I think you need one. Then we will go to a question and answer segment. If you don't get to say everything you want to say in your opening remarks, you will get a chance to elaborate during the question and answer segment.

You have five minutes, please, Mr. Green.

[Michael Green, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Health Infoway]

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee.

My name is Michael Green. I'm the president and CEO of Canada Health Infoway.

I would like to acknowledge that the land now known as Canada is the traditional territory of the first nations, Inuit and Métis people, who have lived here since time immemorial, and I recognize their enduring presence from coast to coast to coast in the spirit of reconciliation.

Thank you for inviting me to appear today on behalf of Canada Health Infoway. As an independent, federally funded, not-for-profit organization, Canada Health Infoway has worked in partnership with successive federal, provincial and territorial governments to advance digital health and connected care across Canada since 2001.

Our approach is collaborative by design. Major national initiatives and mandates are not directed by a single organization acting alone. They are shaped through collaboration with jurisdictions and partners and with oversight by our board of directors, which is governed by representatives from the federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers of health and Health Canada.

Our work is guided by a clear objective to help ensure that patients and their care teams can access the right health information securely, efficiently and when it is needed. Our role is to help build a shared digital foundation to support safer and more connected care for patients across the country.

PrescribeIT was launched as part of the broader effort to modernize how health information moves through the health care system. It was supported over time by successive federal governments and developed in collaboration with provinces, territories, clinicians, pharmacies and technology partners. Its purpose was clear: to establish a safer, more secure and more modern approach to e-prescribing in Canada.

Through PrescribeIT, Canada Health Infoway helped build a national technical foundation for e-prescribing that did not previously exist. We achieved technical readiness across 95% of pharmacies and vendors. We established common workflows, strengthened digital trust and advanced the standards and infrastructure needed to support secure prescription exchange at scale.

This work created a significant pan-Canadian asset, one that improved the system's readiness for interoperable e-prescribing and reduced future implementation effort for governments, vendors and care providers.

Through the process, provinces and territories expressed differing needs and approaches for how e-prescribing should continue to develop. As Canada Health Infoway and our partners looked to the future, it became clear that the next phase needed to build on the foundation in a way that is more flexible, scalable and aligned with the realities of Canada's diverse health systems. This is why the work is now transitioning to a national e-prescribing standard.

In this context, Canada Health Infoway's board supported the transition to a standards-based approach. The decision was informed by extensive engagement with partners and focused on responsible stewardship of the work completed to date. The transition is an evolution for a centrally operated service model towards a standards-based, jurisdiction-led approach. It allows provinces, territories and vendors to advance e-prescribing in ways that align with local priorities, local needs and readiness.

The technical, clinical and standards-based progress achieved through PrescribeIT continues to support the system. The objective is to preserve the value of the work as we undertake an orderly transition to an open standards model. A publicly available national standard supports patient safety and care by enabling consistent, secure and reliable exchange of prescription information across systems, vendors and care settings.

At Canada Health Infoway, our role is to work with governments and system partners to build shared digital health foundations that improve safety, reduce fragmentation and support better care. This is what PrescribeIT was designed to do, and this is the foundation that the work has helped establish.

In summary, connected care requires common standards, trusted infrastructure, system alignment and collaboration across jurisdictions. Canada Health Infoway's work on PrescribeIT has helped move Canada further on that path and has informed the next stage of national e-prescribing in a practical and responsible way.

Thank you. I look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

I now go to the question and answer segment. To begin, it's a six-minute segment.

I begin with Mr. Mazier for the Conservatives for six minutes, please.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Thank you, Chair.

Mr. Green, how much money has been spent in total on PrescribeIT to date? Just give a dollar amount, please.