N.L. doctors warn of 'exodus of physicians' over mandatory new information system

A doctor wears a stethoscope around his neck as he tends to patients in his office in Illinois, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Jeff Roberson

About 250 doctors practising in Newfoundland and Labrador are warning of an “exodus of physicians” from the province if it rolls out a mandatory electronic health information system as planned.

The doctors signed a petition last week calling on the provincial health authority to change its plans for the CorCare system launch and revise the agreement physicians must sign to use it. Six community-based doctors, who sent the petition to officials on Sunday, also asked that the system be optional, rather than mandatory.

The signatories represent about 17 per cent of the physicians in the province, according to 2024 figures from the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association. The association has advised doctors not to sign the agreement for now.

Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi, a dermatologist in St. John’s, N.L., said he has no plans to sign the agreement in its current form.

“It’s part of an overall narrative of folks that are in institutions, that have so much control over the way health care systems function in this province, who are not incorporating the experiences of folks on the front line that are actually delivering care,” he said in an interview.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is aiming to launch the new system on April 25. It is mandatory for physicians to adopt the system — a condition Ogunyemi fears will drive some doctors to close up their practices.

In particular, he said there are still community doctors in the province who are near the end of their career and using paper files. He worries forcing those doctors to switch to an electronic system will only encourage them to retire early, in a province where an estimated 30 per cent of people are without a family physician.

“Some family doctors have thousands of patients,” he said. “If even one leaves early, that’s too much.”

The petition outlines a number of concerns, including unease about the agreement they must sign to use CorCare Link, a web portal used to access the CorCare information. The agreement could subject them to open-ended financial risks, the petition said.

It points to two sections of the contract, one which says doctors must cover their costs, including legal costs, to co-operate in any investigations into data breaches, whether they were at fault or not.

The other says they must also cover the health authority’s costs if a breach is found to be the result of the physician’s “negligence, misconduct, or contractual non-compliance.”

Addressing the first clause, Jacob Shelley, an associate law and health studies professor at Western University, said it is not unusual to expect a party to cover legal costs if they are accused of violating the law or regulations.

However, he says it is not clear what responsibility the provincial health authority would assume to help doctors establish secure systems and practices to prevent breaches.

Michael Karanicolas, an associate law professor at Dalhousie University, said the second clause posed problems if the health authority was using it to impose a penalty for misconduct. An investigation into a major breach could be straightforward, and therefore inexpensive, he said. On the other hand, an investigation into a minor breach could be lengthy and complex, imposing a large financial punishment for a small infraction.

It would be more fair to impose fines proportionate to the violation, he said.

In the petition, the doctors also say the health authority can make changes to the agreement without consulting them, and they ask for the contract to be revised.

“We believe that if CorCare Link is launched as planned, we will experience an exodus of physicians from our province, and destabilization of our already strained health-care system,” the petition said.

The health authority did not immediately provide a response to a request for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2026.