Unlocking our data to save lives

Submitted by Sarah Titcomb on March 16, 2012 - 9:48am

Date:

Mar 14 2012

Analyzing existing electronic health care records could help B.C. residents and save the province billions in costs

In British Columbia we are over-looking a vault of public treasure. If we allowed people we trust to open it, and analyze the treasure within, we could save thousands of lives and, potentially, billions of dollars in B.C. alone.

This treasure is in the form of electronic data collected over many decades, under the stewardship of successive provincial governments, on everything from hospital admissions to doctor visits and prescriptions filled by every pharmacist in this province. It's one of the best collections of health data anywhere in the world.