At my coffee discussion group the other day, we began discussing some of the barriers that patients in Northwestern Ontario face when medical procedures take place out of province. Rather than having some tests such as CT scans, MRIs and echocardiograms performed in our communities, we are often required to undertake several separate visits to Manitoba.
Imagine if those digitally produced files could be transmitted through the internet to where they are needed. It may be possible in the near future.
Or suppose you have moved from Alberta to Fort Frances and need a hip replacement, and your surgeon needs information about your original hip surgery, which is not easily accessible, delaying treatment.
Sometimes our medical systems just can’t talk to us or even share information. We worry about privacy and secrecy and protecting our individual identities, and in doing so, we often create barriers to the best possible care available.
Healthcare is a provincial responsibility, and the sharing of data between provinces has always been difficult. Each province has built its own independent system. In February of this year, the government announced legislation to create a new health care system. Currently, only 29 per cent of physicians share patient information outside of their offices. In Ontario, hospitals can share information seamlessly with each other.
From Health Canada, Bill S-5 (Connected Care for Canadians) is designed to keep up with international standards in digital health and will require all technology companies providing health services in Canada to adopt common standards to support secure information exchanges across various systems.
Australia and many European countries already have a digital national health connection policy to improve care for their citizens.
The Ontario government has already begun a program to connect all Ontario residents with a family doctor or primary care medical professional. In Fort Frances, the Family Health Team has received substantial funding to support more Nurse Practitioners, and the Physicians Group has added additional doctors practicing at the clinic.
As part of the plan, the Ministry of Health is advancing a new province-wide Primary Care Medical Record system to integrate patient records to improve the quality of care provided to patients.
Nationally, the federal government is looking to create an AI strategy to fund national health data systems to promote healthcare and investment in healthcare. The gathering of anonymous medical information from hospitals across Canada is hoped to improve patient outcomes. Being able to gather information on millions of patients and then being able to mine that data for best practices will improve health care.
Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing sectors in our economy. The legislation by both Ontario and Canada is needed for Canadians to benefit from AI innovations, improving patient care and creating economic opportunities.
