Health care moves online
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES GIVE PATIENTS ACCESS TO THEIR DIGITAL HEALTH RECORDS
Alexa Thompson came to know the extraordinary benefit of online access to her health records in the midst of a major health crisis earlier this year.
In march, the Halifax senior was diagnosed with uterine cancer and scheduled for a hysterectomy. Then, following pre-operative screening, health professionals suddenly discovered she had a heart problem.
“They found my heart was enlarged,” she says. “So there was a rush of emergency phone calls and tests before the operation.”
Surgery was scheduled for a Thursday. Two days earlier, she underwent an eco-cardiogram. by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, her physician emailed the results to her via her patient portal, which gave her immediate digital access to her health records.
“I was able to read the results at home through the digital health system and realized everything was fine to go ahead with the surgery.” Thompson has had a patient portal since participating in a digital health pilot project administered by the Nova Scotia provincial government in cooperation with Canada Health Infoway.
early the next morning, as she was about to be wheeled into the operating theatre, the anesthetist asked her if she understood the risk of proceeding with the surgery, given her cardiac condition.
“He was asking me at 7:30 a.m. whether I wanted to get rid of the cancer or die of a heart attack on the operating table,” says Thompson. “you are not in a good mental state that early in the morning and are half-doped just before surgery. but I had read the test results the night before and I was confident we should go ahead.
“That was the first time it hit me just how wonderful digital health records are,” she adds. “you can track all your medication. you can make appointments with your doctor. you can have email discussions with your doctor. you can get test results. And at this crucial moment, I had the confidence to go ahead with my surgery because of the digital health system.”
Greater patient involvement is a key goal as digital health moves forward, says michael Green, president and chief executive officer of Canada Health Infoway.
“We’ve made a lot of progress with digital health in terms of systems that go into hospitals to the main points of contact and care,” he says. “Almost all the diagnostic imaging in hospital is digital and so available to clinicians as well as to radiologists. We’ve made a lot of progress on drug information systems as well. Now the effort is to move to the clinicians and the patients. We are focusing on patient care and bringing the benefits of digital health care to patients, so that they can manage their own health care.”
This is exactly what’s needed today, says michael decter, board chair of Patients Canada, a patient-led organization that fosters collaboration between patients, family caregivers and the health-care community.
“baby boomers — the best educated generation in history — are starting to hit the health care system with the beginnings of manageable chronic diseases,” he says. “They’re not interested in being patient patients. They want to know what’s wrong with them, what they can do about it, and how to manage their diseases.”
digital health can be a major assistance in this regard, he says. “I’m a big supporter of moving health care to the digital world, but so far, it’s been largely for the convenience of the providers. One of the big success stories is in digital imaging, in moving the image electronically from whoever takes it to the person treating the patient. Almost nothing moves electronically to the patient.”
but Green says the needs of patients are the focus as digitization of health care moves to the next stage.
“Over the last couple of years, one of the big programs outside the hospitals has been to electronic medical records (emrs), particularly focused on family physicians. In each province, we’ve worked on this and funded it in conjunction with the provincial physician association, such as the Ontario medical Association, and we’ve funded the physicians to get certified emrs into their practices. About 77 per cent of physicians across the country have those systems in place now.”
The next stage is to focus on advanced use of the systems. “Part of that advanced use is getting Canadian patients the tools — particularly making their personal health records available through their primary care physicians,” he says. “Patients will be able to see their own test results and have the ability to communicate with doctors and to book appointments online.
“That’s really bringing the tools into the hands of the patients.”
The goal, Green emphasizes, is to make the medical system sustainable. “It will cut out unnecessary visits. Face-to-face visits will still be important but will be more focused. Patients in remote areas might be able to pick up a mobile device and have a [virtual] consultation. elderly patients will not have to go through the travel process and then have to sit in a waiting room full of sick people.”
Green knows as well as anyone that changing the face of health care through digitization will require considerable commitment.
“We have achieved a lot, and we now need to bring these projects to a broader audience across Canada. We need to focus on scaling digital health technologies for all Canadians, coast-to-coast. Our aim is to give patients online services nationwide.”
THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME IT HIT ME JUST HOW WONDERFUL DIGITAL HEALTH RECORDS ARE