THOUGHTS

Digital Healthcare in Canada: What Needs to be Done to Enable Smooth Transition

Sep 26, 2019

Although Canadians are keen about implementing digital healthcare, their healthcare system lags behind. To drive improved healthcare outcomes, the Canadian government must focus on adopting healthcare innovations, customer-driven models, and a new regulatory framework that facilitates change and embraces digital healthcare.

What is digital healthcare services?

Digital healthcare services is a simple concept. It encompasses using technology to improve health and wellness of patients. Today, the term digital healthcare includes electronic health (health-related information, resources, and services provided electronically) as well as developing areas such as advanced computing science ( big data that can provide valuable insights into population health) and artificial intelligence (AI), wherein computer systems perform tasks that would normally require human capacities, such as decision-making. With new healthcare solutions constantly changing the way we live, it is fair to say that the future of healthcare is digital.

Adoption and use of digital healthcare technologies have the potential to make healthcare delivery more accessible, convenient, and cost-effective. Request a free proposal to know how your organization can enable a smooth transition to digital healthcare services.

Canada ranks among the lowest when compared to other OECD countries that have universal healthcare systems. Healthcare consumers becoming increasingly empowered by the volume and ease of access to healthcare information, even so, the current model for healthcare delivery remains unchanged fundamentally. A number of challenges will have to be addressed at the national, provincial, and territorial level in Canada to create an environment wherein the current model can incorporate digital healthcare tools. While the journey towards a fully patient and family-centric approach to healthcare will be long, there are some measures that governments could initiate in order to accelerate the process and implement digital healthcare more effectively.

Digital healthcare

Adjust fees paid to physicians

The Canadian government must ensure that fair and adequate compensation is given to physicians for virtual consultations. Some provinces such as British Columbia and Alberta have implemented pilots of revised fee structures, albeit a pan-Canadian strategy is yet to be implemented for revised compensation. In such situations, if the physician billing structure has been modified in a particular province to allow virtual consultations, interprovincial licensing and regulations might restrict physicians from being able to employ these changes across provincial borders.

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