British Columbia's auditor general says the government has made some progress on its electronic health records system but a lack of early planning means the project still has a long way to go.
John Doyle said his audit shows that the Health Ministry was slow to get going on the project it began in 2004.
"Early on, the (electronic health records) initiative suffered from lack of co-ordination," he said in a report released Wednesday.
"The work still to be done to complete (the project) is extensive."
Doyle said the ministry changed its strategy two years ago by establishing a new, streamlined governance structure that brought together a group of 20 people including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and First Nations.
"In our view, however, the group lacks some important perspectives, such as those of a citizen-advocate and an academic," he said.
Related: Read the full report
The B.C. government hopes to get most of the major components of the $222-million plus project completed by March 2013.
The e-health system will eventually provide electronic health records so patients' information can be shared among health-care providers and various facilities around the province and then eventually the country.
The federal government has supported similar projects across Canada since 2001.
But the B.C. project has been linked to an ongoing RCMP investigation involving breach of trust and fraud.
In Ontario, the auditor general recently reported that $1 billion of taxpayer money had been mismanaged on the province's e-health system.
