E-Health Book

Informing provincial e-health strategy, patient experience

In health care, information needs to be accurate, accessible, and timely. The vast amount of the work the O’Brien Institute has done in the e-health sector has moved Alberta closer to this vision.

The Institute’s e-health work has focused on developing informed digital health policy and practice, the creation of accessible tools and information, and timely delivery where and when those services are needed.

Laid out by past Scientific Director Dr. William Ghali, MD, the philosophy which has guided the Institute’s foray into this field is grounded on the belief that e-health is not just about computers and software, but about human beings working with, improving on, and benefiting from timely and accurate health information.

The Institute has shaped Alberta’s e-health landscape through the development of a policy white paper, endorsed by Alberta Health, which lays out the necessary considerations for a successful transition to an e-health system, highlighting the importance of high-quality health information for quality health care, and that patients and their care teams should have access to the best information whenever and wherever it is needed. Although led by the O’Brien Institute, doing this type of work well required partnerships with different ministries in the provincial government, Alberta Health Services (AHS), the Alberta Medical Association, and other associated bodies.

In recent years, a number of key partnerships and collaborations have formed between the Institute, Alberta Health, and other external partners, that have helped shape Alberta’s e-health landscape. Working with Alberta Health and AHS, the Institute worked to convene strategic discussions between civil society groups, service providers and policy institutions, to create a common vision of e-health services for Alberta. The Institute also advised the Alberta government following a national and international scan to inform the provincial system, which is moving toward a digital integration that promises to put patients at the centre of their care.

Work done by Institute members in the digital health landscape has shaped the way patients and providers interact with information and with one another, but it has also impacted the way care is delivered. Working directly with AHS, the Institute informed the development and implementation of the Connect Care program. Allowing for the sharing of high-quality clinical information between all AHS care sites, Connect Care positioned Alberta to eventually become the largest, most powerful digitally-integrated health system in Canada. The Connect Care promise is to allow patients access to their complete AHS health record, allowing them to be better informed and engaged in all health care decisions.

Impact on practice

As part of an effort to make care transitions safer (i.e., potentially dangerous health care moments such as transitions from hospital to home, or from one care provider to another), the Institute, through its W21C health care innovation program, has led the development and testing of e-health tools that communicate important medical information on medications and clinical conditions.

One such tool, a web-based seamless discharge platform, became part of routine care for all Calgary Zone hospitals as a nationally – and internationally – leading e-health platform for safe transitions.

The Institute has also worked in the domain of health care apps and app development. This includes the development and testing of a powerful smartphone app for chronic disease management in patients with liver disease, and a state-of-the-art app that supports doctors in antibiotic prescribing decisions. The latter has involved global partnerships between the O’Brien Institute’s W21C health care innovation program, and colleagues working in the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.S., and Australia on the societal challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

In step with the digital era that we are in, the Institute aims to continue to work in this space as a national leader in health information sharing.

E-Health Book

Informing provincial e-health strategy, patient experience

Impact on policy

Impact on patients

Impact on practice