Featured Post

Hacking Health in Hamilton Ontario - Let's hear that pitch!

What compelled me to register for a weekend Health Hackathon? Anyway, I could soon be up to my ears in it. A pubmed search on Health Hack...

Thursday, October 22, 2015

myCARE patient portal

http://www.canhealth.com/2015/10/new-patient-portals-launched-but-lots-more-needed/

New patient portals launched, but lots more needed

Alex LambertSAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – The Group Health Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has joined the ranks of healthcare organizations offering a patient portal with secure access to test results and much more.

The Group Health Centre has launched myCARE, a secure online patient portal that provides patients with the ability to send messages to their healthcare team, request prescription renewals, manage appointments, and review lab test results online.

A survey of the more than 1,500 patients who were involved in the pilot phase reported that:
• 99 percent of patients surveyed would recommend myCARE to a friend or family member
• 97 percent agree that myCARE is user-friendly
• 93 percent agree it was easy to register
• 90 percent agree it’s easy to use

Alex Lambert (pictured), CEO of Group Health Centre, is confident that the launch of myCARE will help improve access to care and advice for patients.

“We believe healthcare is most effective when patients are engaged,” he said. “myCARE offers patients a number of unprecedented options for access, information, and communication. This kind of patient engagement leads to better outcomes for everyone involved.”

Michael Green, president and CEO of Canada Health Infoway, wants to maintain the momentum.

“While Canadians are ready for e-booking and viewing lab results online, only 6 to 10 percent have access now,” added Green. “The potential to enhance Canadians’ patient experience by improving care and reducing the amount of time required to renew prescriptions, book appointments and manage illness has never been greater than it is today.”

That view is echoed by leading Canadian health care organizations who have established Digital Health Week (November 16 – 22, 2015) to recognize how digital health is transforming care and helping to improve delivery of care across the country.
Think digital health isn’t making a difference? Think again. Visit www.betterhealthtogether.ca.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

CBC - Keeping Canada Alive website design & programming

The navigation web programming & design is excellent for this CBC project.
http://www.cbc.ca/keepingcanadaalive/

I looked at the Page Source for the coding trying to see if I could identify how they designed it. I am still not sure. I missed the ajax boat in programming utility and so I am not sure how that programming forms the navigation circle, if at all. Some of the navigation circle might be all done in CSS, maybe what they call "CBCcarousel":
http://www.cbc.ca/i/css/v11/scripts.css
Then I found out that "carousel" is actually a CSS class for design < here >.

It reminded me of an old style of web page design using photoshop image over layers.  The circle mouse over links to entire video documentaries is very useable. CBC may be selling off their buildings and laying off employees but at least they know how to deliver digital information. It could even be flash scripting? I've really not kept up with that either.

I think web design and programming for healthcare sites is part of a study of Health Informatics. We may recall the fiasco of the Obamacare healthcare.gov website that had usability and server crashing issues.  For that matter, any electronic medical record system is first and foremost a web design application that must prioritize usability.

Speaking of Usability I have been trying to read through Steve Krug's "Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems." Krug is right - he is not a book writer. Interesting layout for a book though.

The episodes for the CBC series don't appear to have one dedicated to an ehealth contextual scenario. I think that is because ehealth is usually kind of implicated throughout many aspects of healthcare, and not an all star focus?

Anyway, having watched a half dozen or so episodes, I am finding the whole thing quite an awesome educational trip! Here is a short clip intro to the project: