Telus Becomes Largest Electronic Medical Records Provider

Electronic medical records | BCBusiness
Telus makes a major step toward taking more doctors online.

The Vancouver-based telecommunications company pushes Canada forward with taking medical records online

One of the country’s largest telecom giants has taken a major step toward bringing more doctors online.
 
The Canadian Press is reporting that Vancouver-based Telus is in the process of acquiring Ontario’s MD Practice Software, which is a subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association.
 
What’s so special about Telus gobbling up yet another smaller firm? The acquisition actually makes the telecommunications firm the largest electronic medical records provider in the country. And that’s big news for a health-care industry that has been reluctant to adopt the practice of going paperless.
 
While the latest technological advancement often rapidly make their way into the emergency room, Canada has lagged behind in terms taking records wireless. In some euro zone nations, the penetration rate for doctors using electronic medical records sits around 90 percent, whereas Canada sits at 56 per cent.
 
Telus’s buyout of the business will bring the number of paperless physicians to 9,000 across the country.
 
According to electronic records advocates, going wireless could have a major impact on our beloved health care system. Going online means doctors could potentially see more patients in a working day, write electronic prescriptions and eventually share patient information with other physicians.