Quebec cancels tender to digitize health records

The megaproject to digitize the medical records of Quebecers is experiencing a first pitfall, Le Journal de Quebec reports (link in French). The Center for Government Acquisitions (CAG) of the Canadian province canceled its call for tender that had been announced earlier this year, and will have to restart the process. The cancellation was announced, when the period for submitting a project was already over. 

“Following the posting of call for tenders 2022-7874-14, which took place from May 18 to September 26, 2022, the Center d’acquisitions governmentales (CAG) and the Ministry of Health (MSSS) agreed to cancel the call for tenders and proceed with a republication which will be done very soon”, explains a representative of the Ministry of Health (MSSS). Quebec authorities did not explain the reasons for this return to the drawing board. 

The project ‘Digital Health Record’ aims to digitize all medical records so that they are accessible online for both health professionals and patients. To achieve this, the future system will have to replace “several hundred information systems”. 

“Ultimately, this project will profoundly transform the technological architecture of the network, the work of clinicians and the patient experience. This is a large-scale project that must be done properly to ensure that Quebec is provided with the best possible solutions, under the best deployment conditions,” writes the MSSS. 

The call for tenders concerned two showcase projects in the CIUSSSs of Mauricie–Centre-du-Québec and Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. If these are a success, the project will then be extended to the entire territory of Quebec. This is a flagship project of the “Health Plan” launched last spring by Christian Dubé, the Health Minister of Quebec.

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UK NHS opens tender for electronic patient records to ambulance trusts

The UK National Health Service (NHS) enacts the national framework agreement to seek bids for the provision and support of electronic patient records (EPR) for ambulance trusts, according to Digital Health. In partnership with the National Ambulance Procurement Board, the East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub has launched an invitation to tender. EPRs will be procured by UK ambulance services through the framework agreement. The tender notice sets out the intended benefits including: working in partnership with Ambulance Services in the UK to aggregate spend; driving cash, releasing savings for reinvestment in front-line services; improving processes for staff in terms of accessing products and services they require; contributing to improvements in patient care; and supporting efficient handover of care to other providers.  It adds: “The contracting authorities (ambulance trusts) wish to procure an integrated electronic patient care record (ePCR) system for the ambulance services across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Isle of Wight. The system will be available to the ambulance services who may wish to replace the current system and other associated paper based processes, exploiting the technological advantages an electronic system can provide with integration with hardware installation or cloud services to other organisations.”  A two-year EPR framework agreement may be extended by two, one-year periods.

French “My health space” expands the catalog of digital services

“My health space”, the French national electronic health record, launched at the start of the year, has expanded its catalog of certified digital services, L’usine Digital reports (in French). In total, 12 sites and applications are now offered to the 65.4 million users, who have activated their online personal spaces, as well as those who have not opted out. The catalog includes, for example, the Ameli Account, the Santé.fr directory, Libheros, and My medicines. To appear on the portal, these services must comply with more than 150 interoperability, security and ethical requirements, in accordance with the framework defined by the Digital Health Agency (ANS), and more than be GDPR compliant. In particular, they must have obtained the Health Data Host (HDS) certification. “There are regulatory tools to ensure that all players follow the same rules to guarantee data transparency to users and data control by users”, explained Hela Ghariani, the ministerial delegate for digital health.

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