To adapt to our increasingly just-in-time lives, the Canadian health care system is moving increasingly toward digitization. This necessary modernization of health care means better patient outcomes as well as improved insight into future health-care decisions.
Thieves collect personal data such as home addresses and contact information, but also details of physical or mental conditions and prescribed medications. Individuals can be threatened with public exposure of their data, especially those in high-profile positions, and future health benefit claims or even border crossings could be affected.
Instead, we must look at ways to protect Canadians while increasing the digital health options available to them. One such tool is Infoway’s PrescribeIT, a paperless e-prescription service that enables prescribers to securely transmit a prescription to a patient’s pharmacy of choice. As a not-for-profit service funded by the federal government, it ensures all personal health information is secure, confidential and only used for its intended purpose.