Upcoming Event – Redefining our Health Information Technology Investment Strategy
Wednesday September 22, 2010
Speaker:
Bill Pascal
Chief Technology Officer
Canadian Medical AssociationOver the past ten years Canada has pursued a health information technology investment strategy that has been fundamentally top down driven; an approach that does not mirror how care is delivered in this country. It has brought very little value to the patient; as measured in terms of quality care, safety and continuity of care. Healthcare is, in large part, a locally delivered service. Over 85 percent of care is confined to well-established catchment areas. It is time to realign our investments to reflect this reality so we can address the following: speed up value to the patient; build a better capacity to respond to an ageing population; and recognize the fiscal pressures on governments.
Health care in Canada is a $105 billion industry – one of our country’s largest expenditures. Of this, $2 billion to $3 billion is spent on information technology (IT) annually. IT allows for greater communication and information sharing among patients, caregivers, and policymakers. IT also improves the accessibility and quality of health services and significantly increases the efficiency of the whole health care system.
Recognizing the potential impact, there is growing IT interest and investment in health care by vendors and users. This has led to many technology and policy innovations in the last few years – innovations that have demonstrated a marked benefit in quality and efficiency.
Ottawa has an established IT industry and a large life sciences community. There are many examples of successful adoptions of IT in the provision of health care and in clinical research. The purpose of this seminar series is to facilitate the exposure and exchange of experiences and ideas.
The seminars are targeted at health care providers, policymakers, IT entrepreneurs, technology developers, and students. The focus is on technologies that have actually been implemented; IT infrastructure development efforts and their costs/benefits; technology adoption experiences; and new public initiatives to support IT in health care. Speakers represent a cross-section from the life sciences community including vendors and developers of technology, researchers, and public officials.
2009-2010 Program Committee Members:
Khaled El Emam, CHEO RI and University of Ottawa; Alan Forster, Ottawa Hospital; Michael Martineau, Independent Consultant; Michael Power, Independent Consultant; Tyson Roffey, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario; Jay Mercer, MD Physicians Services, CMA, University of Ottawa and Central Ottawa Family Health Organization; Hinda Mirza, Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE); Karen Robb, OCRI Life Sciences
