Pay was justified because it was on par with hospital executives, Peter Vaughan tells MPs
A government-funded non-profit responsible for a failed $300-million digital prescription program paid its chief executive officer nearly $900,000 a year so that his compensation would be on par with that of leaders of downtown Toronto hospitals, the non-profit’s board chair told MPs.
Michael Green, who was dismissed as CEO of Canada Health Infoway last week, was also allowed to hire a former colleague as chief financial officer in an interim role through a non-competitive process, the House of Commons health committee heard Tuesday. Peter Vaughan, chair of the board of Canada Health Infoway, defended PrescribeIT to the committee as a “technological success,” despite plans to shut it down at the end of the month.
He said less than 5 per cent of prescriptions flowed through the service only because provinces did not either force doctors to use it or financially incentivize them to do so. Non-profit behind failed PrescribeIT program spent more than $400,000 on executive travel in three years Canada Health Infoway launched PrescribeIT in 2017 as part of “axe the fax” initiatives to replace fax machines with digital alternatives, in this case transmitting prescriptions from doctors’ offices to pharmacies digitally.
More than $298-million in federal funds have been spent on the program so far. Dr. Vaughan and a senior advisor for Canada Health Infoway told the committee that the non-profit had hoped 75 per cent of prescriptions would eventually go through PrescribeIT. The health committee has been probing PrescribeIT after a Globe and Mail report revealed the program’s problems with low uptake. After that story, Ottawa announced it was closing PrescribeIT.
The platform is set to shut down later this month. On April 21, Mr. Green testified at the committee, but provided few answers to MPs’ questions. He was dismissed from his role at what Dr. Vaughan described as a hastily scheduled board meeting on April 29. Dr. Vaughan, a former deputy health minister of Nova Scotia and medical doctor, denied Mr. Green was removed because of his committee appearance.
He said the organization had wanted to make a leadership change anyway because its mandate was shifting. Ottawa expects Canada Health Infoway to help implement new national standards on electronic medical records after passage of Bill S-5, which is currently before the Senate.
On Mr. Green’s pay for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which was set at $616,700 in base salary, $215,845 in bonuses and $51,569 in taxable benefits, including a car allowance, Dr. Vaughan said that hospitals are also non-profits and have comparable salaries.
“The short answer is that we look at the environment in which we worked, with the comparator groups around health IT, pharmaceuticals and hospital administration in Ontario and particularly downtown Toronto,” Dr. Vaughan said. “That’s the comparator groups that are looked at. ”CEO earned a $883,097.20 salary plus $93,927.19 in taxable benefits in 2024. Unity Health Toronto’s top boss earned $775,117.95 in salary and $27,053.29 in taxable benefits.
Both organizations run multiple hospital sites with thousands of employees. Canada Health Infoway disclosed it had 175 employees in 2024-25. When asked about Mr. Green’s severance, Dr. Vaughan said that was an active discussion between lawyers. Dr. Vaughan was also asked about Infoway’s hiring of David Fast as chief financial officer in 2024.
Mr. Fast worked with Mr. Green at AGFA HealthCare North America, a division of a European company that describes itself as working in diagnostic imaging.
“Was the CFO position competitively posted, and what was the hiring process? ” Conservative MP Dan Mazier asked.
“At that time, as I recall, we were looking for an interim chief financial officer, and so he was brought in in an interim role, which he still has,” Dr. Vaughan said. Mr. Mazier asked again if the process for hiring Mr. Fast was “competitive,” and Mr. Vaughan did not directly respond. Mr. Fast is identified as “executive vice-president, finance & chief financial officer” on Canada Health Infoway’s website, with no mention of the position being temporary.
Mr. Vaughan said he did not know Mr. Fast’s compensation. The organization has disclosed it has five senior executives who earned salaries between $270,000 and $342,000, with bonuses between $60,750 and $76,950 and taxable benefits between $28,573 and $34,305 in 2024-25. Matt Strauss, a Conservative MP and doctor, took issue with Dr. Vaughan saying repeatedly that more physicians would have used PrescribeIT if provincial governments had offered financial incentives to doctors or mandated them to use the service.
“I’m a doctor. You’re a doctor,” Dr. Strauss said.
“We like to use technological applications. If you make something and they don’t want to use it, could it be because the thing is bad? ” “I would refer to the international experience,” Dr. Vaughan replied.
“All the OECD countries and Australia and New Zealand have gone through exactly the same juncture. ” Dr. Vaughan was also asked if federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel had ever raised concerns with him about how Canada Health Infoway spends taxpayer money. The committee debated a motion that would have forced Ms. Michel testify about PrescribeIT at a future hearing, but the Liberal majority voted to adjourn the meeting, killing the motion.
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