Researchers at Hamilton's McMaster University say they have devised an electronic medical records system that can be implemented by physicians across Ontario for two per cent of the money the provincial government has spent on eHealth Ontario.
The web-based program, dubbed OSCAR, organizes health records and can be set up on any computer system with a browser. It was first created in 2001, and has attracted more users each year.
Around 600 doctors across the country — including 450 family physicians in Ontario — currently use the software.
"In Ontario, there are approximately 8,000 family physicians that are not using electronic medical record systems. All these physicians could have OSCAR implemented within the next 24 months, and the cost would be less than $20 million," Dr. David Price, chair of family medicine at McMaster's medical school, said in a release.
The software is open-source, which means users are allowed access to its basic code. Users are free to add to or modify the software without fear of legal repercussions, as long they abide by the conditions of the General Public Licence, which stipulates that the program must remain open and sharable.
Because it's open-source, OSCAR is free. The costs to set it up come in the form of servers, hardware and support staff.
See the full article on the CBC website.
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