Feds revive bill to build digitally connected health data systems for patients, providers

Bill S-5 was tabled in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon and will have to go through the Parliamentary process to become law. 

Canada’s health data system is “fragmented and siloed” and incomplete health records can compromise patient care and safety, Health Canada said in a background briefing for media earlier in the day. 

“We need to break down those silos. So we are changing the rules and we are building the health data infrastructure Canadians deserve,” Health Minister Marjorie Michel said while announcing the bill at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday afternoon.  

Health Canada said health data is locked in different systems in hospitals and doctors’ offices that are often incompatible with one another.  

If passed, the legislation would establish standards that companies developing electronic medical records must follow, allowing data to be shareable between health-care providers and across provinces and territories.   

The legislation would also prohibit health information companies from imposing unnecessary restrictions on information access or sharing, while still ensuring patient privacy regulations are followed.

“By adopting common standards, including security standards, we will ensure health care serves patients, not the profit of shareholders,” Michel said. 

Health Canada said 95 per cent of physicians use electronic systems, but still commonly use fax and paper referrals because the digital systems between providers don’t connect.

“Better connected care will contribute to safer, more integrated and higher-quality care, less burden and burnout for providers, and patient empowerment in managing their own health,” a department official said in the background briefing.  

Health Canada said some provinces and territories are already working on a voluntary work plan to develop systems that are compatible with one another and that enable patients to access their own records.  

Comprehensive digital health information will also “improve equitable access to co-ordinated care, particularly in rural/remote regions and Indigenous and underserved communities that rely on virtual care and medical travel,” the department said.  

In addition to providing better care and health information access for patients, Health Canada said harmonized systems will allow de-identified data to be used for research, improving the health-care system, informing public health responses and powering AI advancements. 

Anderson Chuck, president and CEO of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), joined Michel at the news conference and underscored the importance of the proposed legislation for both patient care and research.  

“Canada’s diversity and single-payer model has created one of the most valuable health data sets on Earth,” Chuck said. 

“Too often the benefits are missed. Canadians feel its effects every day through delayed care, missed insights, having to repeat information over and over again, leading to the system that cannot respond to their needs quickly enough.”

Chris Hobson, director of policy at the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa, said the bill addresses concerns about unshared health data that his organization has repeatedly raised.  

“We’ve got a universal health-care system but it’s not connected,” said Hobson, who was not involved in Health Canada’s announcements on Wednesday.  

“We have practices that are in today’s age pretty much archaic, you know, relying on fax machines and other kind of written records when, you know, that’s not how the rest of the world does it,” he said, pointing to his own experience in the U.K. where he said he can access all of his health records through an app on his phone.  

The Canadian Nurses Association issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon welcoming the introduction of the bill. 

“Nurse practitioners and nurses witness firsthand when patients fall between the cracks due to poor information exchange along the continuum of care, and CNA has been calling for the adoption of clinical data standards for decades,” the statement said. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2026.

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