An E Healthcare Overview: The Canadian Picture

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An E- Healthcare OverviewThe Canadian Picture

• Selina Reimann Stan Chow
• Queens University, Canada

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Demographics

• Population of Canada 31,414,000

Land Area 9,093,507 - 10 provinces
Population Density 3.4 persons/km2
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Demographics
4
Canadian Health Care System
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Canadian Healthcare Responsibilities

• Federal Government
• Setting and Administering National Health Care
  Policy - Canada Health Act
• Transfer of funds to Provinces from National
  Health
• Care Budget
• Investors in healthcare innovation
• Responsible for Native-Canadian Health Care

• Provincial Government
• Management of Health Care Services
• Fund public hospitals and negotiate rates of
  health care
• professionals

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Canadian Health Care Responsibilities

• Municipal Government
• Can contribute to capital costs of institutions
• Responsible for Public Health Programmes (Public
  Health Education)

• Private Sector
• Administering of health care
• Fee per service system

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Canadian Health Care Investments

• Health Care Budget
• Canadas GDP 1,138 billion
• Canadas Healthcare budget 97.6 billion
• ICT investment approximately 2-2.5 billion
  dollar investment

• Healthcare Costs
• Per citizen approximately 3,174/year

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Canadian Health Care

• Characteristics Service Delivery

• Privatized/decentralized administering of health
  care

• Geographically dispersed population

• Initiation of Projects from the Provincial Level

• Dissimilar Info-structure at the Provincial Level

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Why does Canada invest in ICT for Healthcare
Solutions?

• Patients are no longer passive recipients of
  healthcare 50 of people are surfing for
  healthcare information

• Healthcare providers are having difficulties in
  managing costs and creating enough capacity to
  meet growing demand

• It is time to better leverage the rapidly
  transforming technologies

• Islands of innovation BUT. Fragmented systems,
  no continuity, duplication of efforts across
  hospitals and provinces

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Challenges to E-Healthcare

• Privacy a framework

• Ownership of data debate as to who should hold
  the data

• Payment policies being addressed province by
  province. i.e. Tele-health

• No common standards

• Human Capital healthcare professionals limited
  comfort with ICT tools, adding change to a
  stressed system, reduction in healthcare
  professionals

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Challenges to E-Healthcare (cont)

• Geography a benefit and a challenge

• Language barriers link to non-Canadian
  information

• Healthcare professionals are having to adapt to
  technology, as opposed to the technology adapting
  to healthcare

• There is an assumption that e-health care will
  result in savings, but presently there is no
  proof to support this assumption.

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Canadian Health Care

• National Initiatives

• Canadian Health Network (CHN)

• The Centre for Surveillance Coordination (CSC)

• The First Nations and Inuit Health Information
  Services (FNIHIS)

• Canada Health Infoway Inc.

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Canadian Health Care

• Provincial Initiatives

• All provinces are working on their own
  initiatives with some cross-jurisdictional
  initiatives

• Telehealth, e-prescriptions, Laboratory
  Information Systems, Health Networks,
  Teleconsultation, Digital diagnostic imaging,
  Decision support tools

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National Drivers

• At the same time, the government will move
  ahead with an action plan in health policy areas
  under its direct responsibility. Under this plan,
  it will renew federal health protection
  legislation to better address emerging risks,
  adapt to modern technology and emphasize
  prevention.
• - Speech from the Throne 02

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Canadian Health Care

• The Return on Investment on healthcare investment
  better healthcare and better healthcare
  decision making