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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...
Showing posts with label Infoway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Infoway. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The future of ehealth
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Infoway - Patient Scholarships at 2019 Partnership Conference - Apply by June 12!
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Infoway - repost -Current and Potential Value of Canadians’ Secure Access to Their Health Information and Digital Health e-Services
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Friday, February 24, 2017
The myUHN Patient Portal - Infoway Award Winner
The myUHN patient portal has won a second place award from a Canada Health Infoway contest. Here is the presentation they gave:
http://imaginenationchallenge.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/myUHN-Patient-Portal.pdf
Their infographic on the uptake of the portal is very impressive by the numbers - numbers which have been suggested as viable in research on patient portals (They didn't mention concern for the security of personal health information):
http://www.uhn.ca/corporate/News/Documents/myUHN_infographic.pdf
The pilot study is over and a full launch began January 30, 2017. It is expected that 250,000 patients will register for it in 2017! Very, very interesting that the portal is integrated into all stages of the clinical experience and by all personnel.
Based on my research on patient portals this looks to be the very promising. Sunnybrook Hospital myChart was also a great pioneer in this area and they have taken a page from their book. It also appears to be an ideal integration solution that I think would work best for a healthcare system.
But what about primary care? Is there an API for that? And why are family docs still so worried about liability or whatever for using a PHR?
Looking closer at myUHN it is very much just a portal or window on the hospital EHR, with a limited but very useful and important set of interaction tools. It is not a personal health record where one can self-report and journal one's health, as is the one developed by McMaster Family Medicine, now called KindredPHR.
If I get sick, I am going to Toronto and the UHN:
http://www.uhn.ca/PatientsFamilies/myUHN
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Better Health Today - very interesting stores from Health Infoway
Canada Health Infoway (or Infoway) does a lot of interesting things, while sometimes managing to stay in the background. Their sponsored website "Better Health Together" is digital storying telling about the benefits of health information technology. Although this appears to be just fluffy anecdotal advertising for the benefits of digital health, I suppose there is a need to educate the public. Try taking their Quizz to see if digital health is working for you. Now, this is where we really need to think about doing research on the effectiveness of ehealth systems, and not just collect anecdotes. Nevertheless, I was skeptical that I would see any benefits accruing to myself from the Quizz but was surprised to realize, having had recent encounters with the Family Health Team, that the Electronic Medical Record has been working for my benefit.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Models for Information System Success for eHealth?
I am doing some research on electronic systems used by Research Ethics Boards in Canada. One of the models we are using to determine if systems are liked by ethics boards and their respective research communities is the DeLone and McLean model. This model has been used a lot in information systems success studies and there is a lot of literature on it.
What there is not a lot of (to my knowledge), is how the model can be applied to eHealth applications. A little bit of searching on the internet and I discovered it has been used by the eHealth people at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and I think it is very interesting what they have done. Roughly expressed by them is a Benefits Evaluation model. The team at UVic has applied this to evaluating Canada Health Infoway projects, called the Infoway BE Framework. Coincidentally I recently read a CBC article that Infoway had saved a billionaire dollars by implementing Electronic Medical Record systems for physicians in Canada. After reading some of the comments by the public on the CBC website for this story, I reminded again of the old adage that the Return on Investment in healthcare is improve in quality of life.
A study done for Canada Health Infoway, the federally funded
organization set up to monitor and improve the use of information
technology across Canada's health care system, has found that increased
use of electronic medical health records has saved $1.3 billion over the
last six years.
The study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) examined the switch to electronic medical records (EMR) by family doctors from across Canada between 2006 and 2012 and found:
"In some cases, it's the sum of a lot of little things, " said Jennifer Zelmer, senior vice-president with Canada Health Infoway.
"When you're using electronic medical records, staff in a medical practice tend to spend less time … pulling charts, and they're able to use that time for clinical services," she added. "
And when you add that up those kinds of efficiencies, both in terms of chart pulls and in terms of tracking down test results, actually the value of that is quite significant."
The study's findings don't surprise Stephen McLaren, a family physician in Markham, Ontario. He says many patients already understand the efficiency of an electronic record, especially if their paper record or test results were ever misplaced.
"Their visit with their provider is a very inefficient, unproductive visit and very often means you have to come back," Dr. McLaren said.
McLaren says there's also better treatment of chronic illness because electronic medical records allow a doctor to easily spot trends in a patient's tests, over time.
"In the paper world, you have to flip through pages and pages and pages, hoping to catch onto a trend if there was one there to see."
Meanwhile, he says the next big step in this area is to link up health care institutions — hospitals, labs, nursing homes, and doctors offices — so that a patient's information can be shared more easily, while still protecting the privacy of the data.
In a press release, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq encouraged provinces, territories and other stakeholders to keep working to increase the adoption of electronic medical records and other e-health technologies "so that Canadians can benefit from a better integrated health care delivery system," added Minister Aglukkaq.
"We expect significant additional gains as adoption grows, use matures, and connections to other care settings expand," said Richard Alvarez, Canada Health Infoway's president and CEO, in the same release.
Canada Health Infoway had set a target for half of Canadians to have electronic health records by the end of 2010. The federal government delayed $500 million in funding for the agency by one year, seeking more information about how the contribution would be spent.
A 2009 report from the federal auditor general found contracting and reporting problems in early efforts to move more Canadian health records online.
What there is not a lot of (to my knowledge), is how the model can be applied to eHealth applications. A little bit of searching on the internet and I discovered it has been used by the eHealth people at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and I think it is very interesting what they have done. Roughly expressed by them is a Benefits Evaluation model. The team at UVic has applied this to evaluating Canada Health Infoway projects, called the Infoway BE Framework. Coincidentally I recently read a CBC article that Infoway had saved a billionaire dollars by implementing Electronic Medical Record systems for physicians in Canada. After reading some of the comments by the public on the CBC website for this story, I reminded again of the old adage that the Return on Investment in healthcare is improve in quality of life.
E-health records saved medical system $1.3B in 6 years
Use of electronic records more than doubled from 2006-2012, from 23% to 56%
CBC News
Posted: Apr 22, 2013 11:04 AM ET
Last Updated: Apr 22, 2013 4:22 PM ET
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq (right), seen with
Richard Alvarez, CEO of Canada Health Infoway in 2009, announced $500
million in funding four years ago to improve the implementation of
electronic medical record systems, but the funding was held back for a
year until the government received more information about how it would
be spent. (Handout/Health Canada/Canadian Press)
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The study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) examined the switch to electronic medical records (EMR) by family doctors from across Canada between 2006 and 2012 and found:
- $800 million in administrative efficiencies (less time by staff pulling and filing charts or processing finding lab test results, less time by doctors reading and maintaining paper files).
- $584 million in health system benefits (reduced duplicate diagnostic testing, reduced adverse drug events).
- Improved chronic disease management and illness prevention (higher mammogram screening rates, higher pneumonia and flu vaccination rates).
- Improved communication amongst care providers and with patients (less time spent repeating patient histories among care providers, electronic alerts prompting follow-up care for things like medication recalls.)
"In some cases, it's the sum of a lot of little things, " said Jennifer Zelmer, senior vice-president with Canada Health Infoway.
"When you're using electronic medical records, staff in a medical practice tend to spend less time … pulling charts, and they're able to use that time for clinical services," she added. "
And when you add that up those kinds of efficiencies, both in terms of chart pulls and in terms of tracking down test results, actually the value of that is quite significant."
The study's findings don't surprise Stephen McLaren, a family physician in Markham, Ontario. He says many patients already understand the efficiency of an electronic record, especially if their paper record or test results were ever misplaced.
"Their visit with their provider is a very inefficient, unproductive visit and very often means you have to come back," Dr. McLaren said.
McLaren says there's also better treatment of chronic illness because electronic medical records allow a doctor to easily spot trends in a patient's tests, over time.
"In the paper world, you have to flip through pages and pages and pages, hoping to catch onto a trend if there was one there to see."
Use of electronic records still growing
Despite the growing use of electronic medical records, only 56 per cent of patients have one. McLaren says their use continues to grow, as more and more patients ask for them.Meanwhile, he says the next big step in this area is to link up health care institutions — hospitals, labs, nursing homes, and doctors offices — so that a patient's information can be shared more easily, while still protecting the privacy of the data.
In a press release, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq encouraged provinces, territories and other stakeholders to keep working to increase the adoption of electronic medical records and other e-health technologies "so that Canadians can benefit from a better integrated health care delivery system," added Minister Aglukkaq.
"We expect significant additional gains as adoption grows, use matures, and connections to other care settings expand," said Richard Alvarez, Canada Health Infoway's president and CEO, in the same release.
Canada Health Infoway had set a target for half of Canadians to have electronic health records by the end of 2010. The federal government delayed $500 million in funding for the agency by one year, seeking more information about how the contribution would be spent.
A 2009 report from the federal auditor general found contracting and reporting problems in early efforts to move more Canadian health records online.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Let's pool our medical data and use consent in the EHR
This is a brilliant TED talk by John Wilbanks advocating for a voluntary big data commons for medical research. The < website > they have is fascinating from a bioethics/research ethics/consent point of view. Unfortunately, I would have to disagree that such a mechanism is necessary if more people were able to consent to have their medical data released for research through the Electronic Health Record or their Personally Controlled Health Record. I have looked for some sort of venue where citizens could donate their medical data to science, instead of just their mortal remains.
Uploaded by eHealthInfoLab on Jan 5, 2012 "EHR systems offer enormous potential to improve Canada's health system; however, privacy-related information governance issues must be resolved so that personal health information continues to be handled securely, confidentially and in compliance with legal and ethical standards. Joan Roch describes the work of the Canada Health Infoway-sponsored pan-Canadian Health Information Privacy (HIP) Group to resolve these issues. She focuses on privacy issues that emerge as EHR information moves across Canadian jurisdictions, and has developed a series of 'common understandings' to support such movement in an appropriate and privacy-protective manner. Ms. Roch is Chief Privacy Strategist at Canada Health Infoway." And here is the problem for the personal health information flow to medical research - privacy and security regulations. It is not an insurmountable problem, as data de-identification becomes more rigorous, and the mechanisms of online consent become more robust.
Uploaded by eHealthInfoLab on Jan 5, 2012 "EHR systems offer enormous potential to improve Canada's health system; however, privacy-related information governance issues must be resolved so that personal health information continues to be handled securely, confidentially and in compliance with legal and ethical standards. Joan Roch describes the work of the Canada Health Infoway-sponsored pan-Canadian Health Information Privacy (HIP) Group to resolve these issues. She focuses on privacy issues that emerge as EHR information moves across Canadian jurisdictions, and has developed a series of 'common understandings' to support such movement in an appropriate and privacy-protective manner. Ms. Roch is Chief Privacy Strategist at Canada Health Infoway." And here is the problem for the personal health information flow to medical research - privacy and security regulations. It is not an insurmountable problem, as data de-identification becomes more rigorous, and the mechanisms of online consent become more robust.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Two ehealth mysteries
One well known ehealth mystery is typified in the Infoway TV commercial called "Knowing is Better" but takes that scenario one step further. The comatose patient arrives in the ER with absolutely no identification. How should medics treat the patient? RFID chip implants was proposed as one solution and there are cases where this may have saved patients. For many reasons the implant idea is not catching on. Nanotechnology might be able to create an identification code, written into our cells, that when scanned leads to a "break the glass in case of emergency" login to an EHR. Research has shown that most patients want the ER to have their health information in an EHR if they were to arrive there from out of the blue. The same high percentage is equally concerned about the privacy and security of their health information.
The next ehealth mystery is one that is actually being developed now, but by small increments. It is the scenario of ubiquitous computing, where any contact with the healthcare system generates digital information which is potentially transportable and interoperable through the Health Information Access Layer (HIAL) to a personal health record (PHR). Everything would be interconnected through Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). I have heard citizen advocates for PHR say that all forms of healthcare and wellness should be integrated. That means anytime you visit the dentist, naturopath, personal gym trainer, use a mobile device like fitbit, nutritionist, physiotherapist, psychologist, data from that interaction is captured, transported, tracked and analyzed in the PHR. This is a Big Data world where public health and research have consent access to de-identifiable information. This is also the world where the "virtual self" continues to exist long after one is gone.
The next ehealth mystery is one that is actually being developed now, but by small increments. It is the scenario of ubiquitous computing, where any contact with the healthcare system generates digital information which is potentially transportable and interoperable through the Health Information Access Layer (HIAL) to a personal health record (PHR). Everything would be interconnected through Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). I have heard citizen advocates for PHR say that all forms of healthcare and wellness should be integrated. That means anytime you visit the dentist, naturopath, personal gym trainer, use a mobile device like fitbit, nutritionist, physiotherapist, psychologist, data from that interaction is captured, transported, tracked and analyzed in the PHR. This is a Big Data world where public health and research have consent access to de-identifiable information. This is also the world where the "virtual self" continues to exist long after one is gone.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Integration Engines - the Cloverleaf on the Information Highway
I was looking at eHealth career postings on the COACH website and found one at Telus for an Integration Health Business Consultant. What caught my attention was one of the Responsibilities:
"Develop HL7 interfaces to integrate disparate health care applications using a variety of commercial integration engines such as: Oracle’s Java CAPS; e*Gate (SRE); Datagate; OpenESB; SOA Suite; Quovadx Cloverleaf; webMethods; IBM WebSphere; and Microsoft BizTalk."
I had heard of Biztalk and knew it was a web service, probably using Service Oriented Architecture, but the rest of them were all new to me. This is a veritable flotilla of integration engines for disparate systems. It was only minutes later when I found myself searching for information about Cloverleaf ("The Swiss Army Knife for Data Conversions"), that I landed on the MDI Solutions website. Here I found a grouping of HL7 Integration Engines like I have never seen before. Their webpage on HL7 Integration Expertise includes many of these same integration engines.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Knowing is Better (with RFID?)
The Canada Health Infoway TV commercial (also appears on my blog as a Google ad!) is really what health consumers are looking for. Implementing it is another story. It is the ehealth mystery of the patient who arrives in the ER in a coma with absolutely no identification. A solution advocated by John Halamka (looke for the study in the New England Journal of Medicine "Straight from the Shoulder") is RFID implants. RFID readers in the ER would scan the patient for the chip. Minimal identification information on the chip would lead to the database with the patient's electronic medical record, i.e., penicillin allergy, diabetic, medications to avoid etc. I am not 100% what the Infoway solution is, but I am not sure it is an RFID one. The thing about RFID is that developments in technology might lead to less invasive ways to create identification tags. For example, take the nanosensor tatto that tracks glucose and sodium via an iphone. In the "Knowing is Better" video the ER doctor asks "Is he on any meds", and a nurse responds "Neighbour says the wife is out of town". On the rerun, when knowing is better, the EMR is already on the screen when he arrives, thus answering the question about medications. One way for the EMR to be on the screen in the ER would be something like an RFID embedded health card, just like Ontario has "enhanced driver's license" for quicker Canada-US border crossing. Otherwise, just scanning a bar code on the health card could do the same thing. What if no wallet?
Monday, March 19, 2012
Knowing is better ads on this site
http://www.knowingisbetter.ca/
Since I added google ads on this site, I have been following what kind of ads pop up. Most of them have been good, maybe even relevant to what this blog is about. I found the Infoway ad to Knowing is Better is popping up quite a lot. By mistake I clicked the link to it off my site, which you are not supposed to do according to the "contract" with Google. I am going to label this a consumer health informatics, and start a new label called "infoway". Not sure "Knowing is Better" would be an appropriate label. Who knows what that might mean, right?
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