Transforming Canadian Health Care
Digital Health Canada Offers Centralized Access to Canadian Digital Health Strategy Resources
The online portal links to publicly available digital health and interoperability strategy resources, updates, and planning documents for each province and territory in Canada.
Across Canada, jurisdictional health authority teams build roadmaps, outline strategic plans, and produce discussion papers focused on leveraging technology to increase access to care, bring care closer to home for people who need it, and address care inequities. While each region has unique challenges and restrictions, all stakeholders share this common goal: find the best ways to use data and technology to transform Canadian health-care delivery and continuously improve the patient and provider experience.
But working in silos — focusing only on a single region or jurisdiction — reduces efficiency, narrows focus, and leaves teams open to duplication of work. Long-standing operational silos can stand in the way of widespread reform. A more strategic approach to health-care digital transformation is crucial to addressing Canadian healthcare delivery challenges; improving collaboration between teams and regions is an important component of a solid strategy.
Breaking down barriers for greater collaboration
One of the first steps toward breaking down barriers between teams and jurisdictions is to facilitate the exchange of
information. By creating a free online resource that gives digital health professionals a single point of reference for regional strategic plans and priorities, Digital Health Canada is hoping to ease the way for teams looking for access to digital health strategy updates from across the country.
“The concept is straightforward — collect existing digital health strategy reports from across Canada in one place,” said Mark Casselman, CEO of Digital Health Canada. “But the hope is that this new resource will act as a catalyst for important discussions about inter-provincial collaboration, national digital health strategy alignment, and the health-care digital transformation we need.”
Canadian Digital Health Strategy Resources content will be sourced and maintained by Digital Health Canada with support from the subject matter experts and health sector leaders who make up the membership of Digital Health Canada’s CHIEF Executive Forum. CHIEF provides a space for senior professionals and leaders in digital health and health care to collaborate, exchange best practices, and offer their expertise in setting the agenda for the effective use of information and technology to improve health and health care in Canada.
Phase 2 planned for 2023
Currently available through Canadian Digital Health Strategy Resources (ordered from west to east): Virtual care action plan (Yukon); Health and Social Services System Human Resources Plan (Northwest Territories); Inuusivut Anninaqtuq Action Plan (Nunavut); What We Heard Report (Phase 1 & 2), EMR Summary Report; System Interoperability What We Heard Report (BC); Health Plan & Business Plan (Alberta); Saskatchewan Health Authority Roadmap; Manitoba Virtual Care Action Plan; Ontario Connected Care Update; Québec Life Sciences Strategy; Striving for Dependable Public Health Care (New Brunswick); Strategic Plan to Improve Healthcare in Nova Scotia; Health PEI Strategic Plan; Health and Community Services Strategic Plan (Newfoundland and Labrador).
In 2023, a planned second phase of the new resource will include the following: Regional and federal government contact information.
• Behind-the-scenes reports. Updates on strategy status for CHIEF Executive Forum members.
The Future of Health Care? It’s in a Pharmacy Near You
By providing increased accessibility to clinical services and actionable health data, Avricore’s HealthTab is changing the future of health care.
The state of chronic disease in Canadians is staggering.
In fact, 44 per cent of people over age 20 already have a chronic illness.* “The problem is, our system is focused on waiting until we’re really sick,” says Hector Bremner, CEO of Avricore Health.
“We need to prioritize early detection and prevention.” This issue is propelled by a lack of accessibility to basic primary care. To receive help, the system is designed to direct people through clinics, ER’s, and laboratories, which are all bursting at the seams. Because of this, people’s health concerns are being addressed too late,
requiring extensive care. This cycle is not only detrimental to the patient but also costly to the public health purse.
Accessible results and resources
A community-focused, data-driven, patient-centred company, Avricore has an innovative, working solution to bridge the long-unresolved gaps in the health-care system. They’re implementing vital technology into local pharmacies through HealthTab.
A fully integrated screening network, HealthTab’s cloud-based software, along with trusted testing technology from partners like Abbott, can check up to 23 health markers relating to chronic conditions and bacterial
infections with results in just 10-minutes. It’s patient-facing, easy to access, and already in over 400 pharmacies across the country.
Impressive initial data for the point-of-care platform confirmed that those who tested had a high prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, pre-diabetes, heart disease, and more. “Pharmacists are underutilized frontline workers,” explains Hector. “Through HealthTab, they’re able to help patients take pre-emptive measures to avoid getting really sick.”
Eileen McPhee
Katherine Cappellacci
e-Prescribing Service Ensures Easier Access and Safety for Canadians
Canada Health Infoway’s e-prescribing service is making life easier for patients, prescribers, and pharmacies by making the prescription process faster, safer and more efficient.
Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) is on a mission to transform health-care. This federally-funded, independent, and notfor-profit organization works with health care organizations, clinicians and patients to make health care more digital by ensuring that everyone is able to access health information and services online. This means multiple benefits for patients, including being able to see their personal health information, booking appointments, and viewing lab test results online, as well as getting prescriptions filled more easily.
Infoway’s PrescribeIT® national e-Prescribing service
A main Infoway digital health initiative is PrescribeIT® — a national e-prescribing service. PrescribeIT® eliminates the need for paper prescriptions or fax transmissions, which have a high risk of being lost or fraudulent and are a hassle for patients and time consuming for prescribers. In addition to enabling pharmacies to receive prescriptions directly into their pharmacy management system, PrescribeIT® lets pharmacists request prescription renewals from the physician electronically. The ability to send secure clinical information through the integrated messaging tool avoids much back and forth with fax and phone — resulting in saved time, convenience and increased patient safety. Additionally, PrescribeIT® safeguards patient health data from commercial use and maintains an influence-free prescribing and dispensing environment.
This
With more Canadians embracing virtual care, PrescribeIT® is a valuable tool for clinicians as it reduces the need for in-person contact while ensuring patients have access to the medications they need. A recent Infoway survey reports that 82 per cent of Canadians would like to have their prescriptions sent electronically to their pharmacy by their physician, and 75 per cent would like to send prescription renewal requests electronically. PrescribeIT® lets them do just that.
PA Brace Giving People Their
Lives Back, One Step at a Time
Revolutionary in craft and function, Ottobock’s C-Brace gives individuals the chance to safely rediscover and participate in everyday activities.
Most people take their ability to perform daily tasks for granted. But for those who’ve lost some degree of mobility, even the smallest chore can seem impossible.
Setting new standards
For over 100 years, Ottobock has been offering transformative solutions for people with limited mobility. They strive to improve quality of life and promote independence through their offerings in prosthetics, orthotics, patient care, and neuro mobility.
“Our strength is that we work with the patient and Practitioner, for the patient,” explains Josée Mathieu, Clinical Specialist, Orthotics at Ottobock. “We’re helping people maintain and gain mobility.”
As the sector’s world market leader, it’s no surprise their C-Brace KAFO (Knee, Ankle, Foot Orthosis) is the most exciting product yet. It’s the very first mechatronic stance and swing phase control orthosis system that functions hydraulically through a knee and leg microprocessor. Ottobock is known for their microprocessor products including C-Leg (the world’s first fully microprocessor controlled prosthetic knee).
Restoring control
Paralysis orthoses tend to be limited in functionality due to the release and lock of one’s knee joint. The C-Brace defies this by supporting users through every phase of the gait cycle. “It works with the body by replacing the resistance they’re missing,” Mathieu adds. “It gets to know the user’s stride and adapts to all their movements.”
Ottobock’s C-Brace is empowering users by helping them regain their mobility. “I’m beyond happy with the brace; it completely changed my life,” Melissa, a C-Brace user, says. “When people ask me about it, I refer them to Ottobock because if the C-Brace is suitable for them, it’ll drastically improve their movement.”
Investigating Personalized Treatments for Pancreatic Cancer
Now underway in leading cancer centres across North America, the PASS-01 trial aims to improve survival rates and give patients more time through personalized treatments
ancreatic is one of the world’s toughest cancers. The fiveyear net survival rate is just 10 per cent, according to the latest Canadian Cancer Statistics. Having the lowest survival rate of all major cancers underscores the urgency around current efforts to help pancreatic cancer patients live longer.
At the forefront of this movement is Pancreatic Cancer Canada, a progressive organization focused on improving survival rates through investments in innovative research, raising awareness of the disease among the public and health-care professionals, and supporting patients and their families with specialized services and resources at every stage. This level of dedication is how real change can happen.
Treatments tap into the power of personalized medicine
Pancreatic Cancer Canada’s research initiatives include exploring how a tumour’s unique genomic profile can advance personalized medicine and give patients better treatment options.
To tackle pancreatic cancer more effectively, physicians will benefit from a greater knowledge of the different subtypes of the disease to understand which treatments will work best for a patient.
Maximizing the potential of per-
sonalized medicine for those with pancreatic cancer is the goal of the PASS-01 clinic trial, now underway at cancer centres in Canada and the United States. PASS-01 is using cutting-edge technology that’s shaping the future of pancreatic cancer research.
“We’ve brought together some of the finest pancreatic cancer researchers in North America,” says Dr. Jennifer Knox, Principal Investigator, PASS01. “The time is right to dig in much deeper to help understand pancreatic cancer. We need to stop assuming one size fits all and instead advance the field by gaining a better understanding of every tumour.”
Bold new directions in research
The PASS-01 trial is using genomic analysis and organoid technology to help predict how a pancreatic cancer patient will respond to various standard and novel treatments based on the biomarkers of their tumour. Key to this are the organoid models, which use a patient’s own cancer cells to make tumour “avatars.”
Researchers use these “avatars” to test more than 100 treatments at the same time to quickly discover which ones will be the most effective for that specific patient. Pancreatic cancer is fast-moving, so this expedited approach is already proving to be helpful for making the best treatment decisions.
“PASS-01 is leading the field of
personalized medicine for pancreatic cancer, working to get the right treatment to the right patient at the right time,” says Michelle Capobianco, Chief Executive Officer of Pancreatic Cancer Canada. “This research and the innovations that will stem from it’ll help us give patients and their loved ones what they want most: time.”
Dr. Knox has seen firsthand the positive impact highly targeted, personalized treatments can have on many patients with pancreatic cancer. “One good example is a man who was benefitting from the chemotherapy,” she says. “It was working modestly, but he was having a lot of side effects and was reluctant to continue. The tumour model (organoid) we grew from his cancer suggested that a different drug combination might be more effective. We switched it over and suddenly he tolerates the chemotherapy much better, and we see a better response with more shrinkage of his cancer.”
She notes that, outside of the PASS01 study, this type of information to tailor his treatment wouldn’t have been possible. With funding support and dedicated researchers, better outcomes will be within reach for pancreatic cancer patients.
Anne Papmehl
Katherine Cappellacci
Visit ottobock.com and request a free C-Brace trial through your orthotist.
This article was sponsored by Ottobock
PHOTO COURTESY OF OTTOBOCK
Visit PrescribeIT.ca to learn more.
article was sponsored by Canada Health Infoway
Michele Sponagle
Travel Safely by Making Sure You Have the Necessary Vaccines
Canadians are eager to travel abroad again. But before booking that trip, have a plan to protect yourself against infectious diseases.
As travel restrictions ease, Canadians are busy making plans. But before you take off for that tropical destination, a yoga retreat in India, or a European backpacking trip, it’s important to be aware of the travel health risks — especially the risks of infectious diseases. The last thing you want is to have your vacation ruined by an avoidable gastric bug or a potentially life-threatening illness.
Be aware of the risks and plan accordingly
Fortunately, proper planning and preparation before departure under the guidance of a health-care professional can help you prevent getting sick while travelling. Aside from advising you on appropriate COVID-19 precautions to take, your health-care provider can inform you about the infectious disease risks at your travel destination. “The most likely thing people tend to encounter is usually some kind of gastrointestinal problem like travellers’ diarrhea,” says Jason Kmet, Pharmacist at Polaris Travel Clinic in Airdrie, Alta. But there are other, less obvious risks to be aware of, like dengue fever, malaria, and hepatitis A, as well as rabies and Japanese encephalitis, a mosquito-born illness found in some Asian countries.
In addition to the destination, you should consider the activities you’re planning to do, as these will affect the precautions you need to take. For example, spending most of your time at a five-star resort tends to come with less risk of exposure to infectious diseases than going off-road and eating among the locals, but even there, you should be cautious. “It’s not enough to
avoid drinking tap water. You also want to avoid things like ice cubes in your drink, brushing your teeth with tap water, and eating raw fruits and vegetables,” says Dr. Vivien Brown, a family doctor, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Vaccines have preventive benefits against infectious diseases Travel vaccines can be effective in managing the risks of infectious diseases. “We have a number of different vaccinations with preventive benefits against these diseases that are well tolerated and with minimal downsides,” says Kmet.
We have a number of different vaccinations with preventive benefits against these diseases that are well tolerated and with minimal downsides.
One of these is an oral vaccine that can help to protect against one of the most common causes of diarrhea during travel. “An oral immunization like Dukoral® is very easy to do and doesn’t require a prescription. You take it about two weeks before you leave, and it can decrease your risk by more than 50 per cent,” says Dr. Brown. If you’re planning to visit an Asian country and take part in outdoor activities that put you in contact with mosquitoes, you might want to consider the Japanese encephalitis vaccine. Similarly, if you plan to be exposed to
CARIBBEAN DREAMS?
animals on your trip, it’s a good idea to consider a rabies vaccine before you leave, particularly if access to medical care in the visiting country is difficult. “There are treatments you can take after the fact, but they require a series of vaccinations taken on specific days and scrambling around in an emergency figuring out how to do that can negatively affect your trip,” says Dr. Brown.
Consult a health-care provider prior to travel Travellers should give themselves ample time before their trip to consult with their health-care provider or travel medicine specialist because some vaccines require several doses over time to be fully immunized. “I’d say the sweet spot is between four to eight weeks, but even if it’s before that, there are still things we can realistically do,” says Kmet.
During that consultation, travellers should also make sure they’re up to date on their routine vaccinations like tetanus. “When we do a basic evaluation, less than 5 per cent of adults are up to date with everything, and of course travel is one of those situations where people come to the doctor to talk about immunization, but what’s interesting is we have a lot of new vaccines coming down the pipelines, so I think we should be having this immune discussion with every patient about general health as well,” says Dr. Brown. It’s always wise to invest in protecting your health before travelling abroad. With knowledge and preparation, you can protect yourself against many common and preventable travelrelated illnesses.
Anne Papmehl
Vivien
Physician,
Jason Kmet Pharmacist, Polaris Travel Clinic
Innovative Medicines Can Transform Lives, but Only if They’re Available to Canadians
Timely access to innovative medicines ensures Canadian patients receive the life-changing treatments they deserve.
Pamela Fralick
In 2016, Blair Price was diagnosed with bladder cancer that, over time, metastasized into his lungs. Thanks to his oncologist, Blair had access to innovative immunotherapy and chemotherapy treatments that have proven effective for those living with cancers like his.
Pamela Fralick President, Innovative Medicines Canada
As Canadians, we likely read this without any surprise. We assume that our health-care system ensures that people like Blair have access to the newest, most innovative life-saving treatments available to patients and health-care professionals. For most of my career, I’ve worked on behalf of patients with organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and the Health Charities Coalition of Canada, to name a few. But unfortunately, I can tell you that timely access to innovative medicines isn’t the case for many patients in Canada.
We owe it to Canadians to do what’s necessary to improve availability and access to new drugs.
Consider Biba Tinga’s son Ismael, for example. Not long after he was born in Niger, Ismael was diagnosed with sickle cell disease (SCD), a death sentence for nearly 50 per cent of children born with SCD in that part of the world. Biba and her son Ismael came to Canada when he was 16. Since then, he’s had access to treatment options that have contributed to a better quality of life. However, like many other drugs, after prolonged use, the primary treatment for SCD can lose its effectiveness while serious side effects increase, leaving patients with few treatment options. As a result, quality of life declines and the life expectancy of patients is much lower than the rest of the population.
Biba, who’s President and Executive Director of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Canada, notes that the situation is different in the United States where, in 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved three new drugs specifically targeted for people with SCD. Yet, even today, none of these drugs are available in Canada. As she points out in an interview for the Meet the Patients series, any regulation or delay that prevents SCD patients from accessing these life-changing medicines risks exposing patients to significant health complications and possibly death. Canadians expect and deserve better from our healthcare system.
According to one recent analysis of IQVIA data, less than 20 per cent of new medicines launched globally are available to Canadian patients on public plans. Of those that are available, patients are waiting, on average, as much as eight times as long as a U.S. patient, over three times as long as a patient in Germany, and approximately twice as long as a Japanese patient. Overall, Canada ranks last in the G7 and 19 out of 20 peer OECD countries for access to new medicines on our public plans.
As the examples of Blair and Ismael demonstrate, this is more than an abstract regulatory or policy challenge — it has a tangible impact on the health, well-being, and quality of life of patients and their loved ones. The impact is felt beyond the individuals and their families too. Delayed access to life-changing new medicines has possible implications for overall health-care costs, economic productivity, and Canada’s ability to attract investment and much-needed labour talent.
There’s no denying that science and innovation play a critical role in overcoming serious disease and in enhancing our quality of life. But it requires hard work and significant investment. While patient access to a new drug can take nearly two years in Canada, the path from a drug’s discovery to clinical trials and regulatory approval takes much longer. For example, a new drug can take more
than a decade and up to $2.6 billion to develop and then deliver to patients. Of the 5,000 to 10,000 compounds that are screened for their potential, only five will ultimately make it to the clinical trials phase.
Given the human, social, and economic cost of disease, the tremendous financial and intellectual effort required to develop new medicines, and the power of the innovation underpinning them to improve quality of life and help drive economic growth, we owe it to Canadians to do what’s necessary to improve availability and access to new drugs.
To improve access for Canadians, governments should take a holistic view of delays across the entire approval process at the federal and provincial levels, as delays in any part of the process negate efficiencies gained elsewhere. For example, while pending improvements to Health Canada’s drug approvalprocess are likely to be beneficial, their impact will be undermined by adverse Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) Guidelines changes, health technology assessment recommendations, and finally, by prolonged drug negotiation and listing processes. Canadian governments need to work collaboratively with industry and other stakeholders to accelerate patient access to new medicines and vaccines.
In Canada, it takes an average of 732 days from the time a new medicine is approved by Health Canada to it being covered on a public plan. If we were able even to cut that time in half, it would bring us in line with the G7 average and peer OECD median. More important, though, is its tremendous impact on the lives of patients like Blair and Ismael and their families. So let’s commit to working together to ensure more Canadians enjoy the benefits of access to these life-saving medicines while doing more to support the innovation and investment in the pharmaceutical sector that fuels their discovery.
DID YOU KNOW?
Now Is Your Time to Consider a Career in Nursing
Seneca's
With the value of health-care workers more apparent than ever, a new degree at Seneca equips tomorrow’s nurses with the skills and knowledge to be leaders in their profession.
The first cohort of students in Seneca’s Honours Bachelor of Science – Nursing (BSN) program — which launched in September of this year — is acquiring a global perspective that will help them make a positive difference in our most vulnerable communities.
BSN students will graduate after four years with the prerequisites to become registered nurses in Ontario.
“The pandemic has shone a light on the critical need for nurses, and we all understand the important role they play in a strong health-care system,” says Maria May, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Arts and Health Sciences at Seneca. “Seneca can now further support this need with its own degree program, featuring a state-of-the-art facility with patient care labs and simulation rooms that are second to none.”
The BSN degree is offered at Seneca’s King Campus, a unique destin-
ation among Ontario colleges, which is surrounded by more than 280 hectares of protected green space and boasts custom-designed teaching and learning spaces at the newly constructed Magna Hall.
The BSN degree program features placements in various clinical settings. Students gain transferrable skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, self-management, and communication, which will serve them throughout their careers.
The BSN curriculum includes newly developed courses based on COVID-19 and other current trends in health care.
In addition, students learn from experienced faculty about best practices, ethical decision-making, leadership skills, and commitment to excellence in nursing care.
The practical portion of the BSN program includes experience in the 20-bed patient care simulation lab at Magna Hall, where students take part in hands-on learning that reflects what they will encounter on the front lines.
“The Honours Bachelor of Science – Nursing degree program builds on more than 50 years of nursing educa-
tion at Seneca,” says Sharon Cassar, Chair of the School of Nursing at Seneca. “Our curriculum is taught by industry professionals and provides the foundation for a fulfilling career spent heling others.”
BSN graduates will find careers waiting for them in Canada or abroad with a wide array of employers, including hospitals, public health units, community nursing organizations, rehabilitation centres, longterm care facilities, private clinics, and more.
“There has never been a better time to consider a career in nursing,” says May herself, a former nurse. “Trained nurses are in high demand, and that’s expected to remain the case for a long time to come as Canada’s population ages. Seneca is proud to offer its students this new pathway to becoming registered nurses.”
Applications are now open for the next intake of the Honours Bachelor of Science – Nursing program in January 2023.
This article was sponsored by Seneca
Honours Bachelor of Science is a Nursing degree program that prepares future generations of health-care professionals.
Introducing Personalized Medicine
When it comes to medicine, one size doesn’t fit all. Treatments and prevention strategies that help some are ineffective for others.
We’ve known this for a long time. William Osler (1849-1919), a Canadian physician sometimes referred to as the father of modern medicine, once wrote that “variability is the law of life. As no two faces are the same,” he noted, “so no two bodies are alike, and no two individuals react alike and behave alike under the abnormal conditions which we know as disease.”
But until the beginning of the 21st century following the mapping of the human genome, physicians lacked the tools and technologies necessary to understand the reasons for variabil-
ity among patients. Physicians treated all patients essentially the same, relying on trial and error to find the right solution to a particular patient’s predicament. Personalized medicine allows us to do much better. Also called precision or individualized medicine, personalized medicine is an evolving field in which physicians use diagnostic tests, often but not always genetic, to determine which medical treatments will work best for each patient. By combining data from diagnostic tests with an individual’s medical history, circumstances, and values, health-care providers can develop targeted treatment and prevention plans.
Effective solutions for a new era Health systems are still developing and adopting the updated policies
and procedures that are necessary to facilitate the widespread implementation of personalized medicine. Change does not come easily. But because biology is complex, it demands that we employ more sophisticated approaches to treating patients.
As we learn more about the root causes of certain diseases and develop new ways of delivering health care to patients, proponents of personalized medicine envision a new era of medicine in keeping with Osler’s appreciation of the principle of individual variation. It will be one that promises better outcomes for patients at lower systemic costs because medicine in the future will become more targeted and more efficient.
Edward Abrahams
Edward Abrahams President, Personalized Medicine Coalition
CFilling Gaps in Health Care? The Answer Is Innovative Tech
anadians benefit from a free, robust health-care system, unlike most of the world. But like other sectors, there’s an urgency to keep up with ever-changing industry trends and progress. Unfortunately, the country’s health-care system has been slow in adapting to technological upgrades that could dramatically improve patient care.
There’s a need for innovation throughout — from switching to electronic health records to increasing patient-facing metrics. Leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), diagnostics, wearable tech, and virtual care could lead to more efficient, clinically supported care methods.
“Measurements taken in a clinic are just a snapshot of a person’s health,” says Dr. Raj Padwal, a physician collaborator with SRx Health Solutions.
“Better use of technology could allow someone to bring data they recorded in their environment, making it easier and more accurate to diagnose them.”
Putting patients first SRx Health Solutions is backing this change. Since 2013, their ever-expand-
ing network of pharmacies, clinics, medical professionals, and innovative services have been working to revitalize Canada’s health-care system. Prioritizing a patient-centred approach, they provide a comprehensive, integrated care model that expands beyond pharmacies and clinics, to include nursing services, diagnostics testing, clinical trials, industry services, virtual care and more.
Upgrading technology will help fill gaps in the health-care system. “There also needs to be more focus on preventative care and healthy aging,” Dr. Padwal adds. “But our system is overloaded. Hence, people need to be empowered to take control of their health and require the tools to do so.”
SRx is all about delivering services and leveraging technology to help Canadians optimize treatment out comes and improve overall wellness.
“Wherever appropriate, stages of the patient journey are automated using AI as the bedrock of streamlining processes,” says Adesh Vora, President, and CEO of SRx Health Solutions. “This allows health-care teams to prioritize the well-being of their
patients. The streamlined solution has proven to support the public, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies alike.”
The future of care is here
Embracing technology has given SRx teams a major competitive advantage. Thanks to their proprietary AI Automated Customization Commercialization Efficiency and Scheduling Solution (ACCESS) program and integrated care model, health-care professionals are able to spend less time on administrative duties and can spend more time on what’s most important – providing optimal patient care.
Plus, their upcoming mySRx app serves as a onestop hub for on demand care. “SRx has made a name for itself as a pioneer in leveraging technology to enhance better outcomes,” Vora adds. “Whatever your health-care needs, we’re able to provide a tailored, comprehensive system of help.”
Leahy
BioCanRx is the only not-for-profit network composed of academic health centres, scientists, clinicians, trainees and partners across the country connecting the required expertise and infrastructure to fasttrack breakthrough immunotherapies from the lab to clinical trials to benefit Canadian cancer patients.
By filling critical capacity gaps to conduct world class translational cancer research, BioCanRx has enabled 12 novel immunotherapy trials and has the support of more than 50 cancer charities and 38 private sector companies.
Katherine Cappellacci
Adesh Vora President & CEO, SRx Health Solutions
Dr. Raj Padwal Physician
Health Care Meets Big Data at the University of Calgary
Precision health is a major disruptor in health care. A new graduate program at the University of Calgary brings professionals up to speed.
Veronica Stephenson
It’s hard to think of a sector untouched by the virtual omnipresence of big data, and health care is no different. From genome sequencing to environmental and administrative data, the vast quantity of health-related information available to researchers and physicians, administrators, computer scientists, data analysts, even patients and consumers of health-care services continue to increase.
A paradigm shift is in the works as health-care clinicians, patient and consumers, administrators, and innovators ask a crucial question: how can we maximize the impact of big data to improve health-care outcomes for individuals, communities, and society at large?
The answer to this question is an emerging disruptor known as precision health: in short, the application of the big data era to health and wellness. At the University of Calgary, a new graduate program is training people interested in the application of big data in the context of health and wellness to take advantage of the exciting new developments in this field.
If we’re going to see precision health realized in our system, it’s going to require different kinds of people working at different levels.
Multiple specializations for every application of precision health
“If we’re going to see precision health realized in our system, it’s going to require different kinds of people working at different levels,” says Dave Anderson, Associate Professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.
“A program that only focuses on the technologies of precision health, like genome sequencing and machine learning, would ultimately yield an impoverished view. Technology is a key component, but there’s a huge amount to be done that doesn’t require you to be an expert at that level.”
Accordingly, the Precision Health program at the University of Calgary offers four streams of specialization to reflect the different ways people can contribute to precision health as it emerges in Canada. Precision Medicine is the most technologically and clinically focused stream, covering subjects like pharmacogenomics and artificial intelligence applications in precision health. Another stream, called Quality and Safety Leadership, takes a broader look at the field, focusing on achieving
optimal outcomes for patient populations.
A third stream, Health Professions Education Leadership, is designed to train educators in the curricular implementation of precision health. And the fourth stream, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, teaches leaders to think entrepreneurially to develop innovative precision health solutions.
Entrepreneurial thinking key to implementing precision health
“The Innovation and Entrepreneurship stream is about training health-care leaders to identify opportunities and design, analyze, implement, and evaluate precision health projects,” says Jo-Louise Huq, Specialization Lead for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
“It’s relevant to both health-care professionals, whether administrators or clinicians and people outside the traditional health-care system, like engineers and computer scientists. It’s a multidisciplinary stream for anyone interested in advancing novel solutions in health care.”
Students in this stream cover the foundations of precision health before moving into areas like managing technology development, health system leadership, and managing complex precision health projects. Like all specialization streams in the program, students can ladder from a certificate in year one to a diploma in year two to a master’s degree in precision health in their third year — all delivered part-time.
Career options for graduates in this specialization are broad and include roles within business and the health-care sector. Graduates will be well-suited to take on roles in areas such as business analysis, product or innovation management, program management, and more. We expect that Precision Health Program graduates will become leaders in Canada’s Precision Health-focused future.
Accessible training opportunities for practicing professionals
The precision health program is carefully designed to be maximally accessible to practicing professionals who are interested in big-data, health and wellness, quality improvement, and innovation. To that end, the program is delivered online, making it possible for people who work fulltime to obtain a certificate, diploma, or master’s degree without giving up their current role. “Our program is designed for people who already have an undergraduate degree and want to continue their professional development,” says Huq. “We do have more intensive one-week courses, which we call block courses, that are offered in a hybrid manner, but most classes take place virtually and in the evenings to accommodate working professionals.” Program leaders invested heavily in
educational design expertise to ensure high-quality virtual instruction that eliminates geographic barriers. “Our priority was making sure the program is accessible to people in clinical careers, like nurses, MDs, pharmacists, and nutritionists, but is by no means limited to people working in those areas. We’ve also had many students with business backgrounds, for example,” says Anderson.
Precision health without equity is a non-starter Equity is a fundamental focus for all specializations within the precision health program. “On one hand, implemented appropriately, there’s a possibility that precision health could help ameliorate the poor health outcomes faced by groups that historically and continue to face inequity in the health-care system,” says Anderson.
“But there’s also the possibility that it could make it worse,” he continues. “For instance, genomic data that leads to precision health initiatives have historically focused on people of white, European ancestry. That means the insights, targeted interventions, and customization options that emerge to optimize care are going to be most beneficial to the groups most studied. Precision health practitioners have a real responsibility to keep this in the forefront of everything they do.”
To help keep equity front and centre of the precision health program, the University involved patient advocate groups, including the Imagine Citizens Network, in the design of the program. Modelling the concept of “co-production of care” integral to medicine, the program makes a point of integrating patient perspectives. “This isn’t easy, and to be upfront, we’re not where we want to be yet,” says Anderson. “But we’re doing our best to figure it out and to share what we learn with other medical training programs.”
Inclusivity is another major focus of the program. Financial awards, amounting to the full cost of tuition, are distributed on the basis of financial need and status within a given equity-deserving group for 10 per cent of students entering the program. For Anderson, one of the most rewarding parts of leadership within the precision health program has been watching students make the material their own. “It’s been incredibly fun to see all the ways students in the program are taking precision health,” he says. “There are so many ways to deploy this knowledge to reflect your passions in the world. It’s an exciting and dynamic community.”
article was sponsored by the University of Calgary Visit cumming.ucalgary. ca/gse/about/programs/ precision-health and become part of the precision health paradigm shift underway in Canada and around the world.
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Dave Anderson Director, Precision Health Program, Cumming School of Medicine
Jo-Louise Huq Specialization Lead for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Cumming School of Medicine
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