Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews defending London hospitals negotiations with health records giant Cerner Corp. to outsource information technology jobs to the American corporation, said provincial hospitals were working hard to get best value for money when it came to health care, and if that was what was necessary for being able to provide more front-line care, then that is what they should do.

According to Glen Kearns, Vice-President of Information Systems for both London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care, the move to outsource will see 30 full-time jobs cut in London, helping hospitals save hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath attacking the negotiations in the legislature Wednesday, claimed it would place patient confidentiality at risk.

However, Matthews pointing to the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act, rejected the suggestion saying the province had some of the toughest privacy legislations.

She said there was no reason to believe any healthcare organisation would weaken their commitment to patient information security, including no concerns having been raised by Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner.

Kansas City based Cerner has over 8,000 clients worldwide for its health information software, including electronic patient records.

Part of Cerner's business involves marketing information to researchers, bio-technology and pharmaceutical companies, which has been gathered from `de-identified' electronic patient records.

Horwath says the very idea of using people's health information for commercial benefits is `distasteful'.