UPDATED: Feds' health committee votes to cut cameras during probe of $300M PrescribeIT failure

CALGARY — At a feds' Standing Committee on Health (HESA), MPs voted to turn off the cameras to discuss the failure of the $300 million digital prescription project.On Tuesday, the committee sat down to discuss PrescribeIT, which was established in 2018 to promote fully digital prescriptions among healthcare professionals across Canada, but failed due to what the feds claim were scalability issues.According to the Globe and Mail, less than 5% of prescriptions across Canada were sent through the service. Conservative MP for Riding Mountain, Dan Mazier, began the meeting by requesting a vote to have the auditor general audit the project..The audit Mazier claims should cover the "costs, governance, termination, transition, and intellectual property arrangements."He also adds, the Minister of Health, Marjorie Michel, officials from Health Canada, and the Treasury Board Secretary should appear before the committee to discuss PrescribeIT. Mazier states HESA found out during the committee the $300 million spent on the project could actually be $350 million after hearing from witnesses from Canada Health Infoway (CHI), a not-for-profit federally funded organization, Health Canada, and Telus Health. Liberal MP for Don Valley North, Maggie Chi, requested the meeting be hosted "in-camera," which despite its name, is a Latin term meaning "in private.".Chi did not explain why she wanted the meeting to be unavailable to the public. The committee voted six to five in favour of conducting the meeting in private.In reaction to the decision, Mazier told media on Wednesday when asked questions, "The more important question — why did the cameras get cut off?""So ask Maggie Chi why she shut the cameras off.".Mazier claims it was ironic, since this was "the first time the committee sat down with seven from the Liberals [MPs]." According to an X post on Wednesday by Mazier, CHI, responsible for operating PrescribeIT, CEO Michael Green, got a total salary of over $830,000 last year.This included a maximum service award of over $200,000. This is public information posted on CHI's website.

UPDATED: Feds' health committee votes to cut cameras during probe of $300M PrescribeIT failure

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