Posted on December 10, 2019 by Krista Balenko

Telehomecare is enabling more Canadians to receive care at home, transforming the patient experience and helping to improve their quality of life by avoiding hospital stays and trips to the emergency department. It has also saved a significant amount of money for health systems across the country.

Posted on November 8, 2019 by Rashaad Bhyat and Katie Bryski

When it comes to health, little things can catch us by surprise.

During a recent chat, my colleague Katie related, “I was hiking last summer when I cut myself on dirty metal. Just a random accident, my hand hit a railing wrong.”

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Michael Green

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As Canadians, we’re proud of our health care system — it saves lives. For 50 years it’s stood for equality and compassion, but Canada is no longer a world leader in health care. We’re in the innovation age, but our health care has not kept up.

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Julie Drury

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Patients spend 8,760 hours a year managing their health. There is no doubt they are health care experts and have an incredible depth and breadth of lived experience invaluable to a learning health care system.

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Michelle Wright

At Island Health, we believe in assessing the value of the projects we undertake, and I was brought on to Island Health’s Home Health Monitoring (HHM) team to help evaluate the program and produce a report measuring the program’s overall success. One of the key factors I looked at was the use of acute care (inpatient admissions and ED visits) for clients who are eligible to participate in Home Health Monitoring at Island Health for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or heart failure.

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Colleen McGavin

As one of the patient partners awarded a scholarship to attend this Patients Included conference, I was very grateful and pleased to be able to bring a patient lens to the event. We were warmly included and appreciated at the Partnership Conference. Because of my personal experience as a cancer patient who was treated in many care settings over more than a decade, I’m passionate about wanting to see change in how health records are managed and shared in this country, and I was encouraged to see advances being made.

Posted on November 16, 2017 by J. Tyler Moss 

My experience with eHealth Saskatchewan’s Citizen Health Information Portal (CHIP) began in the spring of 2016. A request went out to residents of Saskatchewan to sign on to the pilot project; I did, and became one of the initial 1,000 participants.

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Nancy Lefebre

With an important focus in health care on person- and family-centered care, the move towards technology seems common-sense. People are using technology to make their lives easier. We have heard time and again, that people want care where they are — in their homes — and they want health care that seamlessly fits in to their lives. To do this successfully, we need to rethink and restructure the way care is delivered and funded, with technology as a key enabler to this. There is tremendous opportunity as we shift toward “home as the hub of care,” to expand the use of digital technology and integrated funding models. 

Posted on November 7, 2017, by Dr. Sunny Kumar

A few years ago, I met with a company that had designed a consumer grade technology to monitor the pattern and frequency of leg muscle contractions during cycling. The information would be fed back in real time to the individuals’ mobile device. The rationale for this was, knowledge of these parameters could improve performance and reduce injury. At the time, I recall thinking this was a “cool” innovation, but with limited impact.

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Claire Bourget

Internet of Things refers to connected objects that have a variety of uses and a capacity to communicate and transfer data.

Posted on September 19, 2017 by Chad Leaver

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Summer theatre festivals across the country attract Canadians and travellers alike to experience the performing arts. Recently, I took in Guys and Dolls — the classic musical at the Stratford festival in Ontario. The reviews were right – an absolute sensation! Spontaneous applause erupted frequently after incredible dance and musical numbers...and every time the audience applauded, I couldn’t help but notice the white-lights, like stars, that illuminated the auditorium. I realized these ‘stars’ (and there were many) were in fact smart connected devices — wearables like watches, wristbands or bracelets — which are used to track health and well-being biometric data.

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Chad Leaver

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Across the world, citizen’s access to their own health information through secure online tools are becoming a hallmark of modernized health care systems and a catalyst for advancing access to health services and person-centered models of care.

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Kate Perkins

There is a lot happening in the digital health space — almost too much to wrap our heads around. To ensure clinician uptake, it is essential that digital health solutions and tools can be seamlessly integrated into clinician workflow. But what is becoming increasingly apparent is that the needs of patients are equally important. Since patients are an equal partner in their health care, doesn’t it make sense they have a say in which digital health tools are developed?

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Kerri MacKay

Stories are rarely created alone — and neither is change. In March, Infoway brought together health care change makers from across Canada  to share our stories and experiences about digital health within our own health regions. Over two days, 34 patients, caregivers, technology developers, and more helped construct a vision for digital health in Canada for the next ten years, together.

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Bobby Gheorghiu

Infoway recently launched a digital health myths busting campaign, and as part of the campaign, we asked you to submit myths you’d like us to bust. One myth you asked us to debunks was, “Digital health apps are not evidence-based and do not work.” In order to tackle this myth, I enlisted the help of a clinician and researcher in the digital health space, who eagerly provided me with his insight. Dr. Kendall Ho is a professor at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UBC Faculty of Medicine. He was the Faculty’s eHealth Strategy Office Director and his research focuses on digital technologies for innovative clinical practices: telehealth, wearables, health apps, social media, and patient engagement. 

Posted on June 6, 2017 by @healthadvoc_ca

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Last fall, I attended the Infoway Partnership Conference to bring the patient voice to the conference floor.

Posted on April  11, 2017 by Cassie Frazer

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Who are we in the health system? Are we patients? Consumers? Citizens, clients, Canadians? No matter what you call us – we are people. Unique individuals with unique interests and health care needs; and it is important that we are at the table when decisions about our care are being made.

Posted by Chad Leaver on March 21

Digital health and connected care services are evolving and gaining momentum in Canada. As they do, the link between patient experience and value-based outcomes is critical to both assess opportunities for improvement and determine scalability and integration of connected care solutions into Canadian models of care.

Posted on November 29, 2016 by  Shelagh Maloney

Thanks to all who participated in Digital Health Week (Nov. 14-20)! The event was very successful in sparking conversations with Canadians about how digital health is empowering them in moving from patients to partners in their care. Collectively we generated over 4,800 tweets that garnered over 23.8 million impressions! Several themes emerged from these conversations. The two that resonated most with me are 1) the importance of including patients in the design of digital health solutions and 2) the ability of digital health to transform the delivery of care.