Members of Parliament became visibly frustrated with the head of an agency that ran a $250-million digital prescribing program over unresolved questions about why it failed and how its budget was spent.
Canada Health Infoway, a government-funded non-profit, launched PrescribeIT in 2017 as part of “axe the fax” initiatives to replace older technology with digital tools. This particular service was meant to digitize the process of transmitting prescriptions from doctors’ offices to pharmacies.
The Globe and Mail revealed in February that the program was being cancelled because of low uptake, and the House of Commons health committee held a hearing Tuesday into its closing.
The federal government said in its cancellation announcement that fewer than 5 per cent of prescriptions across Canada were sent through PrescribeIT. Part of that is because, starting in 2025, the government began to charge pharmacies $0.20 a prescription to help fund the service, which led some pharmacists to abandon it.
The reasons why physicians did not use it has been less clear, and Canada Health Infoway chief executive officer Michael Green was not able to provide a satisfactory answer to repeated questions from MPs of all parties.
“Why weren’t physicians using this? Had problems been identified?” Liberal MP Doug Eyolfson asked.
“To answer your question, when you look at any digital – or any solution – you know it has to be, first of all, staged, set up, as I mentioned,” Mr. Green began.
“I don’t mean to cut you off, but this is similar to many of the answers we’ve heard before,” Mr. Eyolfson responded.
After more back and forth, committee chair Hedy Fry, a Liberal MP, also stepped in to ask: “Can you tell us what was wrong?”
“The ease of adoption by primary care physicians and prescribers was lower than expected,” Mr. Green replied. He concluded: “So the solution is to move to a different approach to solve that issue.”
He frequently referred to the “standards” that Canada Health Infoway will introduce instead of running PrescribeIT, that the organization hopes other e-prescription services will adopt.
Opinion: Data, data everywhere but nothing to connect it to health care
The committee also had an extended exchange over Mr. Green’s remuneration.
“Can I ask what your salary is?” asked Conservative MP Helena Konanz.
“Basically, my compensation is decided by the board of directors,” Mr. Green began to respond.
“What was your salary in 2025?” Ms. Konanz asked again.
Mr. Green repeated his previous answer, and added: “It is publicly disclosed.”
Ms. Konanz then turned to Ms. Fry and asked for her assistance in getting a response.
“Mr. Green, I would ask that you give – if it’s in the public domain, you should just give your salary. Please. It’s being asked of you,” Ms. Fry said.
He did not provide a figure and the MPs eventually decided to move to another topic.
About half of Canadians are turning to AI for health information, survey says
Regarding PrescribeIT’s budget, witnesses at the hearing said Telus Health earned about $98-million since 2017 as the primary technology vendor for the program.
Mr. Green was not able to provide a clear picture of what the rest of the $250-million was spent on. He said there were reports on the topic made to Canada Health Infoway’s board and he could provide that information to MPs at a later time.
However, officials at Health Canada who testified at the end of Tuesday’s hearing said that by the department’s counting, a total of more than $290-million in government funds have been spent on PrescribeIT. It was not immediately clear how that aligned with other witnesses’ testimony.
An executive from Telus Health also testified at the hearing and said the company may relaunch PrescribeIT after Canada Health Infoway shuts it down in May.
The company retains 85 per cent of the intellectual property underpinning PrescribeIT, Ratcho Batchvarov, vice-president of provider solutions, told members of Parliament. He said about 50 Telus employees work on the program.
Canada introduces legislation to create a more connected health care system
When asked repeatedly by Conservative MP Dan Mazier if Telus Health planned to relaunch the service, since it owned a majority of it, Mr. Batchvarov said: “Telus Health’s IP can be leveraged for an array of services which may or may not include e-prescribing services.”
In one exchange in French, Bloc Québécois MP Maxime Blanchette-Joncas asked Mr. Batchvarov if taxpayers got good value for money for the millions spent on PrescribeIT, given that Telus Health retains ownership of the underlying technology.
Mr. Batchvarov said that, as far as Telus believes, it provided a good, reliable service that fulfilled its obligations to the government.
Members of the health committee agreed unanimously to summon Mr. Green and the chairperson of Canada Health Infoway, along with someone from Telus Health, for another two hours of testimony by May 6.