Canada’s health records system, based largely on paper and bracelets, is “arcane,” says Darren Entwistle, chief executive officer of Telus Corp., and in bringing it into the 21st century there is the opportunity for both profit and social good. Several years ago the Vancouver-based telecommunications giant set about to help computerize it.

And with the baby boom generation about to crush into Canada’s health care system, upping the annual cost of health care to about $240-billion a year by 2020 from $160-billion now, the technological revolution has come just in time. Medical institutions are desperately seeking ways to maximize their time and cut costs. And Canada is very far behind: Only about 50 per cent of the country’s health records are digital, compared with nearly 100 per cent in the United Kingdom, according to Telus.

“The will to do it is much stronger than it was 15 years ago,” says Professor Michael Carter (MIE) of the Centre for Research in Healthcare Engineering. “Implementation of IT in health care is really 15 years behind other service industries. But they’re coming around, so Telus may be right.”

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