Re: DND tackles global e-health record mission (April 11)
EHR for DND is a great idea.
Is the DND thinking beyond the period of time that the personnel are in the military? What
happens when the person goes to a civilian doctor? Will the civilian doctor have access to their military medical information? What happens when the medical record to the military personnel are discharged and enter civilian life?
Military medical information is very important when they are discharged because what happened while they were in the forces could affect their health in later years.
Rod Pohl
Director
Information Technology
Brandon Regional Health Authority
Brandon, Man.
Re: Memories of Melissa (March 29)
There is only one definition of spyware that anyone needs to concern themselves with and that is: Did the software that installed itself on my computer have my permission to install itself on my computer?
Anything after that is a BS list big time. If we were in person, I would express myself more clearly.
Bob Strasser
Re: Feds ready to add services to GOL plate (March 28)
Great article on an important topic.
From a taxpayers perspective this saves money and improves service delivery. From a public employees view the application of new technologies and changes in the way governments do business are powerful tools to deliver services to our citizens.
I have been promoting the cooperation of federal government departments for about the past 10 years as an active member of our Kingston Locally Services Committee.
I believe that this way of doing business is the new culture in public service that has evolved to the point where citizens are now reaping the benefits.
I can also envision the use of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and the use of single sign on technology to enable governments and its citizens to use technology to deliver services in a more secure, personal, and accessible manner where the citizen controls who can access and share their information. It can also enable public servants to share resources and service delivery systems and resources.
Thanks for helping us promote shared services with this insightful and informative article.
Pierre Laframboise
Sr. Informatics Specialist
PWGSC/ITS
Kingston, Ont.
Re: Canadian research questions impact of health-care IT investments (March 21)
Thank you for an interesting article.
Health IT investments in Canada are not bringing the returns that they should because they are being made on a ‘silo-by-silo’ basis and not because such investments are inappropriate. They are not being centrally managed properly or at all.
Imagine if Canadian Tire or Wal-Mart permitted each of their outlets to implement different inventory control systems or payroll systems.
Would there be efficiencies? To a local extent there would be some. However the overall effect would be far less than is being achieved by having standardized IT systems, which is of course what they (Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart) implemented years ago.
However, our Canadian hospitals do not at all have standardized IT environments, so what can we expect?
I have studied this subject area extensively. By standardizing IT Canada could save over $500 million per year, and have a fully integrated IT environment. Few understand this!
Ron Hebert
Chairman
Heron Technology Corp
Markham, Ont.
Re: RIM settlement lifts cloud over BlackBerry’s future (March 16)
I am glad to hear of the settlement by RIM with NTP.
I noticed right away the lawyers were there to worry over the precedent possibilities.
Good for the companies involved. For a change they sat down, made an agreement and left the lawyers out of it. All lawyers do is add extra expense to a situation like this and really do not guarantee that all will be well from the settlement.
If we could let the lawyers deal with criminal offenses and let people and businesses carry on with “hand-shake” deals, we would all be the better for it. Every time a lawyer gets their hands on a problem, they only do what is necessary for them to make money.
Dale Lung
FPS
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