Flaherty confirms funding for Infoway

Identified as Canada’s Economic Action Plan Year 2: Leading the Way on Jobs and Growth, the 2010 budget contains few surprises or initiatives in the area of healthcare. It was presented in the House of Commons on Thursday by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

The key healthcare highlights:

• Confirmation that Canada Health Infoway.will receive the $500 million it was promised in last year’s budget to support the goal of having 50% of Canadians with an electronic health record by 2010 and to speed up the implementation of electronic medical record systems for physicians.

• Renewed funding of $285 million for aboriginal health programs in five areas: the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, the Aboriginal Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy, maternal and child health, the Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative and the Aboriginal Health Transition Fund.

• Extension of supplementary funding to the territories in the amount of $60 million over two years support the provision of timely access to quality healthcare in the North.

• Funding for medical isotopes over two years ― $35 million will be provided to Natural Resources Canada to support R&D of new technologies for the production of isotopes; an additional $10 million will go to the CIHR for a clinical trials network to help move research on isotopes and imaging technologies into clinical practice; and Health Canada will get $3 million to work with stakeholders to optimize the use of medical isotopes in the health system.

• A funding increase of $16 million per year for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to support health-related research and development.

• Nine million dollars over two years to support the Rick Hansen Foundation, to contribute to advancing knowledge and research that will improve the lives of people suffering from spinal cord injuries in Canada and abroad.

See the full budget document here.