The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Ottawa has cancelled PrescribeIT, a federal program built with Telus Health to replace the use of fax machines in sending prescriptions between doctors and pharmacists, after spending more than a quarter of a billion dollars on the initiative. The Globe's Chris Hannay and Kelly Grant write that Canada Health Infoway, a government-funded non-profit, launched PrescribeIT in 2017 as part of "axe the fax" initiatives to replace the older technology with digital tools in health care settings. It provided a secure digital way to transmit prescriptions from doctors' offices to pharmacies. As of 2026, PrescribeIT is live in eight provinces and territories and being trialled in a ninth, Quebec. It has also seen thousands of pharmacies sign up, and many hospitals. Despite the number of providers on board, use of the service has remained low. Less than 5 per cent of prescriptions are sent electronically in Canada each year. Canada Health Infoway began informing stakeholders in recent days that it was cancelling PrescribeIT, which had annual costs of around $35-million. Telus Health has argued that digital prescription tools were more efficient and less prone to errors.