by medicaltechont | Jun 10, 2017 | Healthcare, private clinics
Rosalia Guthrie is still astounded that it cost her $4,350 to get her shoulder injury assessed by a surgeon who works in Canada’s public health-care system.
She had been waiting in agony for 16 months to see Dr. William Regan when she called his office, asking how much longer it would be. His secretary gave her the number of another clinic to call – so she did. That’s when Ms. Guthrie learned there was another way in to see the surgeon – with no lineup.
But it would cost her. “The woman there called me back … and gave me three [appointment] times … right away,” says Ms. Guthrie, 67, of Salmon Arm, B.C., who was told that she had reached Dr. Regan’s other, private clinic. “Then she said, ‘You have to pay.’”
Read more at https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/investigations/doctors-extra-billing-private-clinics-investigation/article35260558/
by medicaltechont | May 6, 2017 | EHR, Electronic Medical Records, emr, Healthcare, Hospitals, Ontario
Three Ontario hospitals recently announced they are joining hands to share an implementation of Meditech’s latest electronic medical records system, called the Meditech Web EHR.
Markham Stouffville Hospital, in Markham, Ont., will host the system, and a single, shareable electronic health record will be created for patients at Markham Stouffville, Southlake Regional Health Centre, in Newmarket, Ont., and the Stevenson Memorial Hospital, in Alliston, Ont.
The new project is being called SHINE – short for Shared Health Information Network Exchange.
Read more at http://www.canhealth.com/blog/three-ontario-hospitals-announce-plans-to-share-patient-record-system/
by medicaltechont | May 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
Things are looking bright for Dan Leibu and League Inc., a digital health and benefits platform he founded with three friends two years ago in Toronto.
League plans to triple staff to as many as 200 by the end of the year and start offering services in the U.S. The company provides an alternative to traditional benefit plans offered by insurers, targeting small and medium-sized businesses that appreciate its flexibility and easy access. It received $25 million in venture funding last year from one of Canada’s largest pension plans, among others.
“We’re just racing to catch up with the demand,” Leibu, 43, said in an interview in the company’s office in the MaRS Discovery District, an innovation hub that fosters technology and medical start-ups like League in the city’s hospital row, where much of the country’s publicly funded science research is carried out.
Read more at http://business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/ontario-tech-sector-booms-as-trudeaus-innovation-strategy-starts-taking-shape
by medicaltechont | Apr 29, 2017 | Uncategorized
Physician S.S. (Sonny) Kohli was volunteering in Haiti after the devastating earthquake there in 2010, and he was treating a woman with chest pains.
“The usual course of action would be to do an EKG [electrocardiogram] and get a picture of her heart. It’s basic technology, relatively inexpensive, but not inexpensive enough for the hospital there.”
That’s when it dawned on him.
“The world needs inexpensive, portable medical technology that can leverage existing infrastructure, like the Internet and smartphones,” says Dr. Kohli, who is an internal medicine specialist and also helps run the intensive care unit at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in Southern Ontario.
Today, in addition to his regular medical duties, Dr. Kohli is an innovator – co-founder of a startup called Cloud DX, a spinoff of Mississauga medical tech company Biosign Technologies.
Read more online at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-star-trek-tricorder-inspired-this-device/article34661745/
by medicaltechont | Apr 9, 2017 | Education, Healthcare, Technology
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.
Improving the various areas of patient experience (and there are at least five outlined in the literature) can result in positive outcomes for patients, organizational health, and system sustainability. As Canadian health care organizations advance their digital health strategies, a patient experience business framework can play a pivotal role in accelerating value-based outcomes and evidence-informed strategic direction.
Read more at https://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/what-we-do/blog/consumer-health/7381-positive-patient-experience-leads-to-better-health-outcomes-and-system-sustainability
