Conservatives call on auditor general to investigate $250 million PrescribeIT program

Conservative MPs are calling on the auditor general to probe the federal government’s handling of a $250 million program which reportedly is set to be scrapped next month.PrescribeIT was launched in 2017 to modernize the way doctors send prescriptions to pharmacies and to phase out older technology, such as fax machines.But Canada Health Infoway, the not-for-profit organization which runs PrescribeIT and is funded by the federal government, says the program will be ending May 29 as it transitions to an “an open-standards approach” for electronic prescriptions.“Most Canadians have never heard of PrescribeIT. And that’s exactly how the Liberals wanted it,” Conservative MP Dan Mazier, the party’s health critic, said at a press conference Monday on Parliament Hill.Reporting by The Globe and Mail—which Mazier said caught Conservatives’ attention—suggested fewer than 5% of prescriptions are sent using PrescribeIT.Mazier said the government initially started with a $40 million budget when the project was first announced in 2016. Mazier said that sum ballooned to more than $300 million over the last 10 years.“So what did Canadians get for their $300 million? Well, that’s the $300 million question. Because as of today, doctors are still faxing prescriptions,” Mazier said.Mazier said Conservatives have been working at the committee level to produce documents related to PrescribeIT. He accused the government of filibustering those efforts until it can restructure the parliamentary committees to reflect the Liberals’ new majority in the House of Commons, something which is expected to happen this week.Mazier said if that happens, the public may never see documents explaining the government’s handling of PrescribeIT.Bloc Québécois MP Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, vice-chair of the House of Commons committee on health along with Mazier, also supported the Conservatives’ call for an auditor general inquiry.“Every time Ottawa awards IT contracts, we see the same movie: deficient management, no oversight, and enormous costs and expenses,” Blanchette-Joncas said in a statement to The Canadian Press in French.In a statement, the office of federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel said the program was meant to be self-sufficient.“Given the low uptake of the program, it was clear there was no path to self-sufficiency, so the program was ended,” Guillaume Bertrand, Michel’s director of communications, wrote in an email.“Our government believes in getting value for taxpayer dollars, and ending PrescribeIT was the financially responsible thing to do.”

Conservatives call on auditor general to investigate $250 million PrescribeIT program

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