If the Ontario government wants to get the biggest bang for its medical buck, it should invest in e-Health, says the head of the association representing Ontario's 156 public hospitals. Funding electronic medical health records is an investment that would bring the best yield over time, said Hilary Short.
The president and chief executive officer of the Ontario Hospital Association visited Sudbury Regional Hospital this week on a tour of northern hospitals.
The health-care sector has fallen behind other industries in using technology to improve service and cut costs.
The OHA cites investing in e-Health as No. 1 on a list of 10 priorities for the political party that forms a government after the Oct. 10 provincial election.
Northern hospitals face challenges because of their vast geography, low population density, shortage of health-care providers and high rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes.
But one area in which they are ahead of the pack is in using technology to bridge distance and serve patients in communities hundreds of miles away.
Videoconferencing, for instance, is in wide use in the North, but it needs to be expanded, said Short.
"Everyone has to realize that the hospital of today isn't going to be like the hospital of 10 years ago," said Short, "and the hospital five years from now will be different, as well."
The marriage of technology and medicine has drastically changed the way hospitals do business compared to 30 years ago, when Short began working for the OHA.
Short said when she had her gallbladder removed years ago, the operation required a 10-day stay in hospital. Today gallbladder surgery is performed as day surgery.
"The focus is on using new technology to shorten the length of stay in hospital," Short told reporters in a session Wednesday morning.
Using technology to the best effect, employing innovation and using best practices are the only way hospitals will be able to manage the challenges they face, she said.
The Ministry of Health is putting huge pressure on hospitals to curb spending. As a result, hospital administrators are getting better at planning, using demographic evidence to determine the number of beds they will need to serve their populations.
Sudbury Regional Hospital officials have come under criticism for planning a one-site hospital with 429 beds, dozens of beds short of what the original proposal called for a decade ago.
Vickie Kaminski, Sudbury Regional Hospital's president and chief executive officer, said hospital beds are one component of a system to which not enough attention has been paid.
All parts of the system - home care, supportive housing and other community services - must be in place for 429 beds to adequately serve Sudbury and region, said Kaminski.
Short said one of the difficulties facing hospitals is the number of patients in acute beds who could be cared for more appropriately in long-term care homes and other places.
"Right now ... hospitals' hands are tied in terms of being able to move people to the right place," she said.
The OHA will continue to "draw" the health ministry's attention to investing in programs such as Aging in Place, which allow people to remain in their homes as long as possible.
"I think the government is aware that we have to see some commitment that this is, in fact, what they'll do," she said.
Short toured the second phase of Sudbury's one-site hospital, which is under construction. Her news conference was interrupted several times by warnings over the public address system that blasting was to occur.
When it's completed in 2009, Sudbury Regional Hospital will be one of the largest hospital campuses in the province, said Short.
"By the end of 2009, you will have one of the premier hospitals in the province, and you'll be very proud of that."
Membership in the OHA is voluntary, said Short, but all Ontario hospitals belong. The association advocates for hospitals and health care, offers education for members and serves as the central bargaining unit for health professions such as nursing.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Carol Mulligan
Quelle/Source: The Sudbury Star, 26.07.2007
