Policy Archive

Day 2- Electronic Health Records

By
John.Weigelt
Published: May 11, 2010Posted in: Digital Economy

Since 1960s, when Tommy Douglas led the implementation of universal healthcare across Canada, it has been said that healthcare has become part of our national identity.  Even with the many changes and dramatic advances in medicine over the past 40years, this proud vision continues guide health services delivery today.  While Health Canada statistics reveal that Canadian’s are overwhelmingly supportive of our healthcare system, they also have a strong desire to fundamentally reform and improve the healthcare system [i].   Moving to electronic records is one way that leaders are looking to improve health outcomes across Canada.  While Electronic records provide a platform for transformation, it is the innovative use of these records across the variety of health interactions that has the potential to revolutionize the circle of care. Canada Health Infoway has developed and drives the adoption of the electronic health record (eHR) architecture and blueprint which supports one small aspect of technology enabled health.  As we explore the opportunties presented by the Digital Economy, let make sure that we include considerations about helping speed the use of electronic health records, helping health practitioners get more skilled on technology enabled care, innovating on new approaches to better patient outcomes.

[i] http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/pubs/system-regime/2008-fed-comp-indicat/index-eng.php#fig13

Share

Consultations on Canada’s Digital Economy

By
John.Weigelt
Published: May 11, 2010Posted in: Digital Economy, Policy

Federal Government Vision for Canada's Digital Economy

Industry Canada launched their public consultations on Canada’s Digital Economy yesterday http://de-en.gc.ca/home/.  Some people may dismiss this important process by placing an emphasis on the “Digital“, perhaps with the belief that if they are not involved with broadband networks, Internet services or software development that this doesn’t apply to them.  When I look at this conversation I see consultations on Canada’s Economy.  While conversations on the Digital Economy may often focus on fiber optic networks and feeds and speeds, let’s not forget about the other innovations that are part of the Digital Economy.  Over the 60 days of consultation, I’ll look to identify those business areas that we might not traditionally associate with the Digital Economy.  You’ll see how this consultation reaches across all businesses and industries and builds the foundation for Canadian competitiveness in the future.

Share

Learning from US Network TV

By
John.Weigelt
Published: April 23, 2010Posted in: Open Government

Like many Canadians, I grew up watching some, ok a lot, of US network television.  I admit that there wasn’t a great deal of educational value there.  Perhaps an episode or two of School House Rock that told me what a conjunction is, but not much more.  Now that Saturday morning cartoons don’t dominate my weekend schedule, although I can’t pass on the Simpsons, those “educational” experiences are less overt.  But they still come up on occasion.

One such occasion happened a few years ago during the US mid-term elections.  It just so happens that the US network stations that we get here in the Nation’s capital herald from Detroit.  We Canadians were bombarded with campaign commercials from any number of candidates seeking seats on the US Congress or US Senate and perhaps even a few seats in important places.  Of course I can’t recall any of their names, nor tell you who won the important jobs.  I can tell you what struck me most was the commentary from the many autoworkers that lent their support testimonials in the TV ads.  Most of these people were supporting particular candidates for helping provide funds to keep their particular automotive plant open.  It struck me that perhaps these hardworking people would have been better served by funding training programs to prepare them for today’s evolving job marketplace.  The recent turmoil in the US automotive industry, personalized by the Oscar nominated HBO documentary “The Last Truck” suggests that perhaps more could have been done to better prepare these communities for the Digital Economy.  Let’s keep a close eye to make sure we really learned this lesson.

The second learning came more recently, well actually earlier this week when I saw another commercial.  Yes I only pay attention to the commercials.  This commercial from the Detroit Medical Center promotes a web-based real-time Emergency Room wait times at their five hospital facilities (http://www.dmc.org/ERwait ). As we all know, ER wait times are a key concern here in Ontario as well http://www.health.gov.on.ca/transformation/length_of_stay/index.html . 

Before you jump to conclusions about the results on either site, stop.  There are too many differences between the measurements to even start to make any reasonable assertion.  What we can learn is that someone, someplace in Michigan has found a way to report useful data about the ER in what seems to be a real time basis, and that the data is useful for the community to help them make an informed decision should they have the luxury to plan their visit to the ER.  This is a lesson of making data more readily available to empower individuals to make more informed decisions.  And that’s one to grow on…

Share

Putting technology to proper use

By
John.Weigelt
Published: February 3, 2010Posted in: General, Policy

So the premise behind these conversations is around putting technology to its best use for a particular situation. Essentially, using a screwdriver to twist in screws and not bashing them in with a hammer. It’s often helpful to have guidance or instructions for how we can use these tools most effectively. This is the world in which I find I spend most of my time, thinking of that connection between guidance (or policy) and the technology it addresses. I’ve been looking at this interaction for quite some time, perhaps my entire career, although it has evolved over many years. I can recall a time when the guidance dealt with the process of physically moving a ribbon of paper tape from the tape punch to one or many of a variety of computer systems operated by other nations. Giving a little thought, perhaps out loud, to the potential scope of this conversation in today’s technology driven world I drew up a mind map of those top of mind subjects where technology and policy came together.

this is a mind map illustrating a variety of policies directly related to technology

Explicit Technology Policies

I think you’ll agree that it’s not a small area of study. But as you think about technology a little further, you begin to see how it has become an integral part of almost every aspect of our lives. The conclusion I reached is that all policies have a technology element. Technology drives better health outcomes, improved education and environmental stewardship. In this flat world of spikey regions, the availability of robust technology infrastructures helps attract people to liveable communities and drives economic growth. The growth of the knowledge economy is inextricably connected to information technology.

Now I know it seems a little far-fetched that a policy on, say, forestry has a link to information technology but after you go beyond the mental image of Paul Bunyan and his double sided axe, you quickly see how technology enabled (perhaps even driven) this sector has become. A quick review of the Canadian Forestry Service (http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/forestresearch) website under R&D leads you to FPInnovations, “the world’s largest private, not-for-profit forest research institute.” Their report “Technology Solutions for the Pulp and Paper Industry” (http://www.fpinnovations.ca/pdfs/PN_brochure%20EN.pdf ) provides a snapshot of how technology is driving innovation in this important segment of Canada’s economy.

With this incredible broad subject area, there will be any number of interesting areas to think about how best to apply the right technologies to the right problems in the right way.

Share