The days of always having to drive for hours to see medical specialists in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Toronto and other locations are becoming fewer as a result of the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN).
Both Elliot Lake and Blind River have more than one OTN site. Elliot Lake has one at St. Joseph’s General Hospital and another at the Elliot Lake Family Health Team (FHT).
Read more: CA: Ontario: Telemedicine gaining steam in region
Take two apps and call me in the morning.
Dr. Kendall Ho, an emergency room physician at Vancouver General Hospital and director of the University of B.C.'s eHealth strategy office, is turning to mobile apps as a way of helping patients help themselves.
Read more: CA: British Columbia: Reach for that smartphone, not the Advil
The hospital’s plan to go paperless will help it line up it’s technology standards with eHealth Ontario initiatives, but it won’t get any financial help from the provincially-funded agency.
Though eHealth is in the business of helping health care providers communicate and share patient information electronically -- something the hospital recently announced it will spend more than $50 million to do -- it steers clear of hospitals. As the agency helps more physicians, labs and other health-related workers use technology better, it’s up to the hospital to keep up.
Read more: CA: eHealth Ontario not taking the lead to ramp up technology at hospital
The new city website project wants to put the customer in the middle, according to city manager Murray Totland.
“It’s about making sure it’s successful in a variety of platforms particularly mobile devices,” Totland said. “Whatever we can do to make sure our customer can easily access our website … and hopefully use it beyond just getting information from the city.”
Read more: CA: Saskatchewan: Saskatoon: City website aims to put the customers in the middle
But according to many experts at a conference on e-health in Ottawa, Ontario May 26–29, technological limitations stemming from mismanagement by government e-health agencies and commercial turf battles are preventing researchers and patients from realizing many of the rewards that the "big data" era could deliver.