Health Information Exchange Summit November 10, 2009

The U.S. is about to embark on a major overhaul of the healthcare system intended to reduce costs and improve patient care through the use of electronic medical records (EMR). Building viable health information exchanges (HIE) is the vital first step.
In 2001 Canada also set out to transform the Canadian health care system investing a total of $2.1 billion to date in EHR systems with a goal of 50 % of Canadians with EHR’s by 2010. As in the U.S. Canada was faced with the need to develop common architecture and standards, protect privacy and security, and promote interoperability.

How has Canada succeeded or failed in meeting these goals and what lessons can be learned by the U.S. as it struggles to implement a national strategy for eHealth?