{"id":454583,"date":"2026-02-05T02:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T02:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/454583\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T02:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T02:44:11","slug":"canada-introduces-legislation-to-create-a-more-connected-health-care-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/454583\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada introduces legislation to create a more connected health care system"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government is introducing legislation to make it easier for physicians and patients to share medical records and other types of health<\/a> data.<\/p>\n

Bill S-5, the Connected Care for Canadians Act, tabled in the Senate Wednesday, is similar to Bill C-72, which was introduced by the previous Liberal government in 2024 and subsequently died when Parliament was prorogued ahead of last year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

The legislation would require all health technology companies to adopt common standards that would make it easier to securely transfer information between systems and to patients. It builds on a road map developed by Canada Health Infoway, a national non-profit, and endorsed by provincial and territorial governments.<\/p>\n

It would also prohibit the companies from blocking the transfer of data. That issue was flagged in a study from the Competition Bureau<\/a> released in January that found medical clinics may face long waits or unreadable dumps of data when trying to switch software providers.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Without integrating our health data, Canada risks being left behind<\/a><\/p>\n

The government cautioned the legislation does not create a central database for health data. It would apply only in provinces and territories that do not put their own legislation in place. <\/p>\n

Similar standards already exist in many other countries, including Australia and members of the European Union.<\/p>\n

Only 29 per cent of health care providers share electronic information securely, Health Canada said. <\/p>\n

The use of paper records and barriers to sharing data are not acceptable in a G7 country in 2026, Health Minister Marjorie Michel said at a news conference Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to break down those silos, so we are changing the rules and building the health data infrastructure Canadians deserve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ottawa included commitments about sharing health data as part of its most recent health funding agreements with the provinces in 2023. <\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail\u2019s Secret Canada series published an investigation<\/a> last year that detailed the country\u2019s fragmented medical-records system, revealing how inefficiencies were wasting precious health care resources and potentially leading to medical errors.<\/p>\n

Patients can struggle to access their own medical records, which may reside in doctor\u2019s offices, hospitals, pharmacies and other locations. Sharing records with each other can be difficult. And physicians are often forced to waste hours inputting information or ordering duplicate tests because they don\u2019t have access to ones that have already been completed.<\/p>\n

Margot Burnell, president of the Canadian Medical Association, the federal lobby group for physicians, said the inability to easily share records between health care providers could lead to poor care for patients.<\/p>\n

Health-data companies selling access to patient records, study says<\/a><\/p>\n

She cited the example of a patient who goes to an emergency room with pain, is referred to a cardiologist, and then is sent back to their family physician for ongoing care. That family doctor may not have access to all the details of how the patient was treated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is so critically important,\u201d Dr. Burnell said.<\/p>\n

In January, the CMA released a survey<\/a> of 1,924 doctors and 90 per cent or more said extra paperwork was a serious burden, leaving them burnt out and disrupting their work-life balance.<\/p>\n

The survey also suggested many physicians were interested in new technology that could cut down on the unnecessary paperwork. For example, 45 per cent said artificial intelligence<\/a> applications, such as transcribers, were a high-priority solution. Those already using AI said it was saving them an hour of work a day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government is introducing legislation to make it easier for physicians and patients to share medical records…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-454583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-news","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}