Ontario eyes digital plan for health data
Government-issued ID could be stored on phone with a ‘digital identity’
Your personal health information could soon be a click away on your iPhone or Android device, making health-care delivery easier for doctors, nurses, and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Treasury Board president Peter Bethlenfalvy is pushing an ambitious digital strategy to improve Ontarians’ access to a slew of government services at a time when so many are working from home.
“We need to adapt to Ontario’s new reality. People are 100 per cent ready,” Bethlenfalvy said Monday as he unveiled an 18page “COVID-19 action plan for a people-focused government.”
“COVID-19 is accelerating things.
The most significant of the 30 priorities outlined in the document is a “digital identity” profile that would allow people to safely store government-issued personal information in their phones.
“Verified, digital information about you, such as the information found on your health card, driver’s licence and birth certificate, can be securely stored in a digital wallet on your smartphone and conveniently used to prove your identity to access services when required,” the action plan says.
This would “provide new and improved digital health solutions to front-line care personnel, so they can rapidly and securely access a patient’s health records from anywhere and from any device.”
The minister said such moves would enable parents to have their children’s immunization records handy so they could be shared with schools and childcare providers.
As well, seniors would be able to check-in for health-care appointments virtually and share their records with doctors and nurses without any personal contact.
Mindful of the costly eHealth boondoggles that have bedevilled the previous four Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments over the past 20 years, Bethlenfalvy emphasized that technology has improved at the same time as demand has increased for digital services.
“Starting with privacy, that’s paramount. We have to bat 1.000 on those metrics there,” the minister said.
The government also must “provide choice” for Ontarians who prefer in-person delivery of services or are uneasy about storing information on their phones.
Ontarians could be able to store official information on their phones by next year with the report noting “the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that change can happen quickly when there is the need, the will and the dedication to see it through.”