Digital health record expected to create $120M in annual savings, says Santé Québec

A stock image of a doctor speaking with a patient. (cottonbro studio/pexels.com)

Santé Québec is defending its Digital Health Record (DSN) project, insisting the new system will ultimately save the agency at least $120 million per year, even as questions mount over its operating costs.

Reports came out Friday that running the new system will cost $100 million annually. Health Minister Sonia Bélanger brushed off the figure at a press conference in Mercier that morning.

“These are normal costs,” she said.

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Santé Québec also responded.

“These operating costs... must be analyzed in context,” said Yann Langlais Plante, the agency’s director general of media relations. “They do not constitute an additional expense on top of the project’s costs. The DSN is gradually replacing a significant portion of the approximately 10,500 systems currently in use, many of which are aging and costly to maintain.”

The agency outlined several sources of anticipated savings: the phasing out of more than half of existing systems and software licences, reduced costs tied to paper records and archiving, and broader gains from improved clinical information flow, including increased staff productivity and fewer complications and shorter hospital stays.

The DSN is set to launch Saturday at 4 a.m. as part of a pilot project spanning the Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec CIUSSS and the Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal CIUSSS.

“This covers 22,000 employees, and that’s huge,” Bélanger said.

This rollout will cost at least $400 million, and more than 1,000 people will be involved in support roles.

The initiative has faced criticism from all sides in recent weeks, from both the opposition and health-care professionals.

Eventually, the DSN will be expanded to the entire health-care network.

The digitization project is expected to cost between $1.5 billion and $3 billion and aims to merge no fewer than 400 different computer systems.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 8, 2026.