Quebec puts smart-card technology on health care back burner

Quebec has backtracked on a proposal that would have made it the first province to use medicare cards that provide instant access to a patient's medical history. A draft bill proposing adoption of the smart cards, slated for a June vote, would have introduced them in 2003 at a projected cost of $150 million, but in February the government decided it had other priorities. The cards, which were expected to save about $45 million a year by combating fraud, would have allowed access to myriad data, including a patient's clinical and medication histories. Licensed professionals, with consent from the patient, would have been able to connect to the databases containing the information.

Consent would have been inferred when the patient entered a personal identification number, either for one-time use or for extended access by members of a group practice. “The patient [would always be] master of the information,” said Nathalie Pitre, a spokesperson for the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec. Patients would have been able to block access to a diagnosis or laboratory result.

According to the draft legislation, access cards would have been given to licensed health professionals, their students and certain government employees.