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A couple of major obstacles are impeding widespread adoption of e-health programs in North America, experts say.

The first barrier is money, according to Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives -- the cost of these programs, and where the funds are to be obtained.

The second, he said, is culture.

Embracing e-health technology, Gingrich noted, requires learning new things, and adopting new habits. "It's fundamentally different for workflow."  

VIDEO: NEWT GINGRICH SPEAKS ON E-HEALTH

Other panelists included Frank McKenna, former New Brunswick Premier and currently deputy chair of TD Bank Financial Group, and Peter Reuschel, founder and CEO of InterComponentWare AG (ICW).

Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, ICW offers healthcare products designed to integrate various participants and systems in the heath care sector, including physicians, hospitals and patients. The firm actively promotes standardization in healthcare and has established the Global Standards Office.

Speakers at the Toronto event, which marked the launch of ICW in Canada, laid out the challenges, progress, and benefits of electronic health records. Those benefits, they emphasized, don't come cheap.

They cited the "resource crunch" as a major and ongoing obstacle, despite investments by both Canadian and U.S. government jurisdictions.  

For instance, Ontario will be investing around $2.4 billion in healthcare over the next few years, noted Wayne Gudbranson, CEO of Branham Group, an IT consultancy based in Ottawa.

While that's "wonderful", he noted that IT spend in the healthcare sector has been far less than in other verticals -- a situation that needs to change radically or "cost and efficiencies won't be improved."   

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