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 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 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 January 9, 2018 by Sukirtha Tharmalingam

What does connected health information mean to you? For me, it means that when I show up at my upcoming medical appointment with my midwife who is managing my pregnancy, she can see my latest lab test results to make sure my iron and glucose levels are in check. She can also see that I’ve recently had a wrist injury and had an ultrasound done. The ultrasound, ordered by my family doctor was conducted in a private lab. Results were sent back to my family doctor, who referred me to a sports medicine specialist for diagnosis and treatment. That is my health information connected.

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Jeff Green

There are many new and exciting initiatives underway at Infoway including PrescribeIT^TM, Canada’s national e-prescribing solution, which has made incredible progress in the past 18 months.

Posted on November 03, 2017 by Chad Leaver

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Six years ago when I began my role at Infoway, adoption of electronic medial records among primary care practices in Canada was at 56 per cent. In the next two years, through partnerships and collaboration we established a growing body of evidence supporting the value of EMR use in primary care and released a national study in 2013 estimating the emerging value of EMR use in community-based care at $1.3 billion.

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Bobby Gheorghiu and Sukirtha Tharmalingam

For ten years, Infoway has been exploring with different ways of measuring progress that accurately and coherently convey the progress in digital health across the country. Earlier in our mandate, availability of systems was deemed to be a core measure since it tracks clinical data in provincial/territorial assets for the use of clinicians and other health system professionals. This measure did an excellent job in conveying progress in building infrastructure right up to the point of go-live. However, what it did not do was give an indication of how many people were actually using these systems and how often they were doing so.

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Chad Leaver

When you visit a specialist at a hospital clinic for the day, you’re probably there because you received a referral from your family doctor. Or, perhaps you are following up from a recent in-hospital stay, or receiving ongoing care or treatment for a health condition. Maybe, like so many Canadians, you’re helping a family member or friend to get to — and from — appointments. Whatever the reason, you know that a visit to the specialist is an important part of supporting your health care needs and contributes critical information to your health care journey.

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Dennis Giokas

A lot has changed since the initial blog post on this topic five years ago. The nature of the systems supporting clinicians and patients has matured significantly. For example, many now have advanced functionality beyond simple record keeping and some have patient-centred functions. In addition, the scope of these systems now covers a broader user base – one beyond their original users. The description of these digital health solutions has become quite complex, especially when we consider users, care settings, the data, functionality and technology.

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Shelagh Maloney

With some vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles making a resurgence, quick and easy access to immunization records is more important than ever before. Digital health offers public health officials the ability to pull records quickly and provides parents the peace of mind of knowing their children’s records are easily accessible.

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Mark Nenadovic

Before I took on a new role as the Group Director for Infoway’s Certification Services program, Infoway had partnered with the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) to conduct a joint review of digital health certification services in Canada.

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Bobby Gheorghiu

From system efficiencies, to enhanced care, the shift from film-based medical images to digital ones has been an unqualified success across the country with significant benefits realized for radiologists, patients and the health system overall.

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Rose Serjak

When I talk with family and friends, I am able to share a lot of information with them about the progress that has been made in digital health in Canada. Thanks to Digital Health Week shining the spotlight on this progress, Canadians who might not have been “in the know” are now able to start their own conversations about the impact that digital health is having on their lives, and the promise it holds for the future.

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Trevor Hodge

This blog post was created in collaboration with my colleague and fellow blogger Dennis Giokas.

The use of digital health records is accelerating worldwide. As we meet with our colleagues in other countries we often discover confusion – and in some cases disagreement – with the definition of terms associated with digital health records.