Belonging to member organizations is an excellent way to stay current about industry trends and emerging technologies and to engage and network with colleagues. That is why the Stratford Management Consulting group is a member of Digital Health Canada (DHC); engaging with the digital health community allows us to continue to learn from and collaborate with key stakeholders in the sector, enabling us to better serve our clients and contribute to the evolution of healthcare.
We recently attended the UpOnDigital Health Conference, hosted by DHC, and designed to “connect with Ontario public and private sector leaders and innovators as they explore the issues that matter most to Ontario patients, caregivers, and digital health professionals.” In the spirit of continuous learning, we would like to share some of our key learnings from that event. Our purpose in attending is to learn from and collaborate with key stakeholders in the sector, enabling us to better serve our clients and contribute to the evolution of healthcare.
Key Insights and Learnings
The conference kicked off with an opening keynote by Michael Hillmer, Assistant Deputy Minister, Digital and Analytics Strategy Division, Ministry of Health/Ministry of Long-Term Care. Mr. Hillmer shared the province's ambitious plans for a more connected and convenient healthcare system, stressing the importance of interoperability across digital platforms. Following this, presentations from leading organizations like Canada Health Infoway and Ontario Health further deepened our understanding of the current state and future direction of digital health.
Our Key Takeaways Include:
- Patient-centred care as well as reducing administrative burden for clinicians are keys to successful digital initiatives in healthcare settings. This will require well-selected systems and well-designed implementations.
- AI has significant potential for reducing administrative burdens both in the back-office (like inventory management) and clinical applications (such as clinical notetaking). Organizations will need to have clear strategies to ensure value is delivered from their investments in AI.
- Interoperability continues to be a key challenge and opportunity at the same time. Nevertheless, there is continued emphasis on creating a connected care experience across Ontario aligning with our perspective on leveraging technology to make healthcare more accessible and efficient.
- Healthcare is a team sport. It requires a concerted effort from governments, administrators and clinicians to drive significant change.
- We will not be successful at designing an effective health system unless we put 'people before paperwork' and engage patients in creating the service that will best serve them.
Strengthening Our Role in the Digital Health Community
Through events like this, we gain valuable insights into the state of healthcare and the innovations shaping its future; they also work to foster partnerships with key members of the community and contribute to shaping the future of digital health solutions by sharing their expertise when it comes to creating forward-thinking strategies to support the intended outcomes.
Stratford is bringing expertise at the strategic and execution level to support our healthcare partners and clients to modernize digital systems in the healthcare ecosystem.
We were privileged to meet with Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia, eHealth Centre of Excellence, Shafique Shamji, Ontario Clinical Imaging Network (OCINet), and Robert Fox, OntarioMD who spoke about the roles of their organization in advancing interoperability.
Conclusion
We hope that you found this recap valuable and that you are as excited as we are about how the insights and trends identified in the digital health space. We are excited about the conversations these insights can spark, so we encourage you to stay engaged with us for future updates, dive deeper into our content, or reach out if you're interested in discussing these topics further.
We’ve been helping healthcare organizations achieve their outcomes with more than strategies and documents. We’re value-driven and are committed to transforming your vision into actionable plans and sustainable results. Let’s talk about how we can help you deliver results that will make an impact on your organization and our healthcare system!
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