E-patient record system missed goal, says health minister

The New Brunswick Medical Society has missed its original target for its new electronic patient record system, says the province's health minister.

The society had hoped to sign up 500 of the province's 1,600 doctors by the end of 2013 to the system, but it hasn't been saying how close it came to that goal.

On Thursday, the society told CBC News that it has changed its deadline to March 31 and will be updating enrollment numbers next week.

Health Minister Ted Flemming says, according to his last briefing, the society didn't reach its target.

"My understanding is they did not," he said.

This isn't the first setback for electronic health records in New Brunswick.

Two reviews of an earlier phase — the component for hospitals and the health department — found unauthorized extra spending and conflicts of interests among consultants working on it.

The minister underscored several times his department has no role in this new phase for doctors' offices.

"It's not our initiative. We were not involved in it. It is theirs," said Flemming.

The society and a private information technology company set up a company called Velante to run the new system.

Doctors have to pay $8,000 to install the Velante system in their offices.