Much has been made of Courtyard's success in winning new contracts and repeated contract extensions. This has led some to speculate on how we became "entrenched" or why some clients became "dependent" on Courtyard. The answer is very simple. It is the unique clinical perspective that we bring to our engagements. No other company in Canada has a team of 25 health professionals who understand how to design and deploy technology that health practitioners will use. In most of our engagements with government, Courtyard staff were the only health professionals on the team. Lose that perspective, and we risk returning to building expensive computer systems that nobody will use.

We acknowledge that procurement processes have been very poorly managed in healthcare in Ontario. The Auditor's report makes it very clear that procurement problems are endemic to the whole system. However this is neither Courtyard's responsibility nor expertise. We focused on bringing a health professional's perspective to the eHealth effort - the missing ingredient that resulted in so much wasted effort over the years.

"There was a sense of lost time which resulted in great urgency to act quickly. Senior officials were requesting statements of work, approving new mandates and demanding quick deliverables," said Dr. Guerriere. "We did not stop to inquire whether our clients were following applicable guidelines in awarding us work. Clearly in retrospect, we should have."

Courtyard has changed its standard contract terms and conditions to require clients to confirm in writing that they have complied with all of their internal procurement rules before work is started.

Focus on Improving Healthcare for the People of Ontario

There remains a great deal of work to be done. Procurement processes must be tightened up, and Courtyard welcomes that development. It will protect all parties involved in the eHealth effort and ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested wisely. We look forward to participating in a marketplace where the rules are clear and consistently applied to all participants.

Notwithstanding the problems that have come to light in the past several months, the eHealth agenda remains essential to improving the quality and efficiency of our healthcare system. Courtyard is proud of the contribution we have made to the eHealth Strategy and its adoption, and we hope to continue our efforts to ensure that the needs of health professionals and patients are incorporated into the systems we develop in the future.

Source: COURTYARD GROUP LTD.