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Transforming Canadian Health Care Digital Health Canada Offers Centralized Access to Canadian Digital Health Strategy Resources The online portal links to publicly available digital health and interoperability strategy resources, updates, and planning documents for each province and territory in Canada. Eileen McPhee
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cross Canada, jurisdictional health authority teams build roadmaps, outline strategic plans, and produce discussion papers focused on leveraging technology to increase access to care, bring care closer to home for people who need it, and address care inequities. While each region has unique challenges and restrictions, all stakeholders share this common goal: find the best ways to use data and technology to transform Canadian health-care delivery and continuously improve the patient and provider experience. But working in silos — focusing only on a single region or jurisdiction — reduces efficiency, narrows focus, and leaves teams open to duplication of work. Long-standing operational silos can stand in the way of widespread reform. A more strategic approach to health-care digital transformation is crucial to addressing Canadian healthcare delivery challenges; improving collaboration between teams and regions is an important component of a solid strategy.
Breaking down barriers for greater collaboration One of the first steps toward breaking down barriers between teams and jurisdictions is to facilitate the exchange of
information. By creating a free online resource that gives digital health professionals a single point of reference for regional strategic plans and priorities, Digital Health Canada is hoping to ease the way for teams looking for access to digital health strategy updates from across the country. “The concept is straightforward — collect existing digital health strategy reports from across Canada in one place,” said Mark Casselman, CEO of Digital Health Canada. “But the hope is that this new resource will act as a catalyst for important discussions about inter-provincial collaboration, national digital health strategy alignment, and the health-care digital transformation we need.” Canadian Digital Health Strategy Resources content will be sourced and maintained by Digital Health Canada with support from the subject matter experts and health sector leaders who make up the membership of Digital Health Canada’s CHIEF Executive Forum. CHIEF provides a space for senior professionals and leaders in digital health and health care to collaborate, exchange best practices, and offer their expertise in setting the agenda for the effective use of information and technology to improve health and health care in Canada.
Phase 2 planned for 2023 Currently available through Canadian Digital Health Strategy Resources (ordered from west to east): Virtual care action plan (Yukon); Health and Social Services System Human Resources Plan (Northwest Territories); Inuusivut Anninaqtuq Action Plan (Nunavut); What We Heard Report (Phase 1 & 2), EMR Summary Report; System Interoperability What We Heard Report (BC); Health Plan & Business Plan (Alberta); Saskatchewan Health Authority Roadmap; Manitoba Virtual Care Action Plan; Ontario Connected Care Update; Québec Life Sciences Strategy; Striving for Dependable Public Health Care (New Brunswick); Strategic Plan to To learn more, visit digitalhealthcanada.com. Improve Healthcare in Nova Scotia; Health PEI Strategic Plan; Health and Community Services Strategic Plan (Newfoundland and Labrador). In 2023, a planned second phase of the new resource will include the following: • Regional and federal government contact information. • Behind-the-scenes reports. • Updates on st rateg y status for CHIEF Executive Forum members.
The Future of Health Care? It’s in a Pharmacy Near You By providing increased accessibility to clinical services and actionable health data, Avricore’s HealthTab is changing the future of health care. Katherine Cappellacci
T Hector Bremner CEO, Avricore Health
he state of chronic disease in Canadians is staggering. In fact, 44 per cent of people over age 20 already have a chronic illness.* “The problem is, our system is focused on waiting until we’re really sick,” says Hector Bremner, CEO of Avricore Health. “We need to prioritize early detection and prevention.” This issue is propelled by a lack of accessibility to basic primary care. To receive help, the system is designed to direct people through clinics, ER’s, and laboratories, which are all bursting at the seams. Because of this, people’s health concerns are being addressed too late,
requiring extensive care. This cycle is not only detrimental to the patient but also costly to the public health purse.
Accessible results and resources A community-focused, data-driven, patient-centred company, Avricore has an innovative, working solution to bridge the long-unresolved gaps in the health-care system. They’re implementing vital technology into local pharmacies through HealthTab. A fully integrated screening network, HealthTab’s cloud-based software, along with trusted testing technology from partners like Abbott, can check up to 23 health markers relating to chronic conditions and bacterial
infections with results in just 10-minutes. It’s patient-facing, easy to access, and already in over 400 pharmacies across the country. Impressive initial data for the point-of-care platExperience it for yourself, form confirmed that those know your risks, visit who tested had a high healthtab.ca and find a prevalence of undiagnosed pharmacy near you. diabetes, pre-diabetes, heart disease, and more. “PharThis article was sponsored by Avricore. macists are underutilized frontline workers,” explains Hector. “Through HealthTab, they’re able to help patients take pre-emptive measures to avoid getting really sick.”
* Canada, Public Health Agency of. “Prevalence of Chronic Diseases Among Canadian Adults.” Canada.ca. Government of Canada, December 9, 2019. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/chronic-diseases/prevalence-canadian-adults-infographic-2019.html.
Publishers: Émilie Cruise-Savage, Olivia Delbello, Meredith Burt Business Development Managers: Sarah Ferreira, Chelsea Siemon Senior Strategic Account Manager: Anna Sibiga Strategic Account Director: Jessica Golyatov Content Strategist: Nicole Kansakar Country Manager: Nina Theodorlis Production Lead: Michael Taylor Designer: Giuliana Bandiera Lead Editor: Karthik Talwar All images are from Getty Images unless otherwise credited. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve the Toronto Star or its editorial departments. Send all inquiries to ca.editorial@mediaplanet.com.
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