EHealth Ontario was set up last year to create an electronic health record system for all Ontarians. (CBC)

New restrictions may be necessary to regulate how provincial agencies spend money on consultants in the wake of a CBC News investigation that found untendered contracts and questionable expenses at eHealth Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty said.

The Liberal government has been under fire since documents obtained last week revealed nearly $5 million in untendered contracts during the first months of operation at eHealth Ontario, plus bills from consultants for work that included debriefing on the subway and reviewing a holiday message.

"I think what this demonstrates to us is that it's not enough in government just to control public expenditures through government itself," McGuinty said Tuesday.

"I think one of the lessons learned here is that we also have to make very sure that when we hire on the private sector to spend public dollars, the private sector will have to be just as careful as the public sector when it comes to spending public dollars."

McGuinty stressed that it appears no rules were broken by the newly created agency, set up to create an electronic health record system for all Ontarians by 2015.

On Tuesday, the province announced that PricewaterhouseCoopers will probe the agency's books.

Consultants paid to review consultants

Opposition parties have questioned the selection of the firm, saying it's the same company that approved eHealth's spending practices several months before controversy over its contracts erupted.

New Democrat health critic France Gélinas also called it laughable that a consulting firm will be paid to examine how consultants should be paid out of the taxpayer's pocket.

A spokesperson for the health minister said that an internal government auditor, not PricewaterhouseCooper, will be managing the review.

Caplan has also asked Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter to expedite the release of his review of spending at eHealth and its predecessor, Smart Systems for Health Agency, which began late last year. McCarter's findings were originally scheduled to be released as part of his annual report in December.

Documents also showed that eHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer was awarded a six-figure bonus after her first four months, on top of her $380,000 base salary. She also spent $51,500 on refurbishing her office and hired an executive assistant who cost about $1,700 a day.

Two of eHealth's consultants are listed as senior vice-presidents on the agency's website and fly in regularly from their homes in Alberta to their Toronto office, with their salary, commute, accommodation in Toronto and meals funded by taxpayers at a combined cost of $1.5 million a year.

The two charge about $2,700 a day for their services and billed the agency such purchases as $3.26 for a muffin and can of pop.

EHealth Ontario was created last September with the merger of SSHA and the e-health program at the Ministry of Health.