Blog: Infoway Connects

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia

Physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other clinicians all play an important role in patient care. In the current landscape of the health care system, providers far too often operate in silos. Despite this recognition, we still haven’t fully figured out how to break down barriers and address patient care seamlessly.

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Michael Green

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It takes just one simple online search to uncover all sorts of dangers and warnings around social media use. From loss of productivity to impairing sleep, there is no lack of research or experts citing the downsides of online communities and digital mediums for communication. One area in particular that has often made media headlines is how social media has been found to affect the mental health of Canadians across the country — especially youth.

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Seema Nayani

One of the places I frequent is my local Tim Horton’s (very Canadian of me, eh?). When I’m picking up my medium steeped tea double-double, I marvel at the ability of the staff to complete orders in a timely, and accurate manner. Tim’s, and other establishments that pride themselves on consistency of their final product, have analyzed their workflows to a science. They provide a streamlined experience — their menus are pared down, they use technology to communicate efficiently within their locations, and the staff follow standardized processes.

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Tanya Achilles

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In 2016 alone, opioids were responsible for almost one in 13 deaths across the country. Despite the attention that the opioid crisis has received from mainstream media and focused efforts by many in health care and law enforcement, opioid-related deaths continue to climb each year.

Posted on March 5, 2019 by Dr. Rashaad Bhyat

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The world around us has changed rapidly in the past few decades, as technological advances have accelerated — the Internet, smart phones and social media have all redefined the way that we interact in our daily lives.

Posted on February 27, 2019 by Bobbi Reinholdt

The PrescribeIT™ journey began three years ago with a commitment to the creation of a single, national e-prescribing service, enabling prescriptions to be electronically transmitted to a patient’s pharmacy of choice. By eliminating handwritten and faxed prescriptions, the service benefits Canadians by providing their clinicians with the digital tools they need to better manage their health, enhancing the patient experience and driving improved outcomes.

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Michael Green

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A few months ago, Infoway launched a movement called ACCESS 2022 to inspire a new day for health care in Canada. We envision a future where all Canadians have access to their health information through the availability and use of digital health tools and services. We believe this will empower patients and improve health outcomes.

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Linda Monico

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On February 16, Canada joins the Regenstrief Institute in celebrating 25 years of LOINC®. It’s an unprecedented success in pursuing laboratory and clinical data exchange, and though you may not know it, you’re benefiting from LOINC.

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Artem Safarov

As the health care needs of Canadian families evolve, structures providing care, such as primary care, must evolve accordingly. The Patient`s Medical Home (PMH) is the vision for the future of family practice presented by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). It emphasizes the factors that contribute to patient-centred, continuous, comprehensive, compassionate care that is valued by both patients and providers. After serving as a blueprint for several primary care reforms across Canada, the vision is being updated in 2019 to remain relevant and account for the latest evidence available.

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Abigail Carter-Langford

Do you know how safe your personal health data is? When the Cambridge Analytica Facebook data scandal exploded onto news headlines, it put into question what we as consumers are willingly, and likely unknowingly, sharing about ourselves, and how that same data may be used to the advantage of others. In fact, it has become abundantly clear that our personal information has become a valuable commodity.

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 November 9, 2018 by Derek Ritz

In my digital health work here in Canada and around the world, I regularly hear the ill-framed, but nonetheless pertinent question, “With the rising popularity of FHIR, what is the role for IHE?” This question is pertinent because of how much hype currently surrounds the FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) initiative.

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 October 16, 2018 by Tanya Achilles

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I was honoured in February to be asked to lead the work on the PrescribeIT™ Opioid Digital Health Strategy. It is a critical piece of work as we continue to see the number of deaths from opioid overdoses increase. In my time as a pharmacist, I have seen both the benefits and struggles these drugs can bring, and I believe that there are steps we can take to make opioid prescribing safer.

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Andrea MacLean

For as long as I have been working in health care, I have been hearing, reading and/or discussing the need for disparate IT and health care solutions to talk to each other — to communicate and share information.

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Poonam Khanna

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Email, auto-fax and e-prescribing — one of these methods of prescribing is not like the other. While on the surface, emailed and auto-faxed prescriptions may look the same as e-prescribing, there's a big difference between them when it comes to patient safety.

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Bobby Gheorghiu

Prescriptions for medication are a regular part of the lives of most Canadians. A recent survey conducted by Nielsen and commissioned by Infoway found that 65 per cent of Canadians aged 18 and over have obtained a prescription in the past two years, with seniors filling over eight prescriptions on average just in the past year.

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Bobby Gheorghiu and Seema Nayani

It may be a surprising stat to some, but roughly 30 per cent of prescriptions generated in Canada by prescribers for their patients go unfilled.¹ Reasons range from prescriptions that are lost or damaged, to the cost of the medications, to forgetfulness, to not wanting to take the medication, and many others. Medication non-adherence could result in a worsening of a patient’s condition and, potentially, more frequent hospitalization and/or emergency department visits. According to a World Health Organization report, medication non-adherence accounts for five per cent of Canadian hospital admissions and five per cent of physician visits, resulting in an additional $4 billion in health care costs annually.¹

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Poonam Khanna

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I recently had an appointment with a specialist and she provided me with a prescription and booked a follow-up appointment in a month to check whether the medication was working. She also mentioned that sometimes the medication takes a good two weeks to start working. So the clock was ticking…I wanted to start the medication right away so it would have time to kick in (if it worked) before my follow-up.