Harnessing technology to revolutionize Ontario’s health-care system

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As an expert health-care leader, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of technology in health care.

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Ontario’s health-care system, like many others, faces significant challenges, including rising costs, increasing demand, dwindling supply, and the need for improved patient outcomes. While the government is making solid inroads with expanding the scope of practice for pharmacists and nurse practitioners, as well as improving select health-care processes, it will be years before any of that impact is really felt.

In the meantime, technology can provide immediate respite.

1. Telemedicine: Expanding Access and Reducing Costs

Telemedicine has emerged as a game-changer in health-care delivery. By enabling virtual consultations, telemedicine reduces the need for in-person visits, thereby decreasing travel time and costs for patients. It also allows health-care providers to reach patients in remote and underserved areas, ensuring that everyone has access to quality care. For taxpayers, telemedicine can lead to significant cost savings by reducing hospital admissions and emergency room visits.

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2. Electronic Health Records (EHRs): Enhancing Coordination and Reducing Errors

The adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is crucial for improving the efficiency of Ontario’s health-care system. EHRs provide a comprehensive and up-to-date view of a patient’s medical history, enabling better coordination among health-care providers. This reduces the likelihood of medical errors, duplicate tests, and unnecessary treatments, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes and lower health-care costs.

Ontario is currently undergoing a couple of initiatives that will help on this front, but even something as simple as the famous “axe-the-fax” program is expected to take another three to five years to arrive. In the meantime, there are many off-the-shelf and easily customizable solutions that can help with interoperability and automating clinical workflows offered by both enterprises and startups alike.

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3. Mobile Health Applications: Enhancing Patient Engagement and Self-Care

Mobile health applications empower patients to take an active role in managing their health. These apps provide tools for tracking medications, scheduling appointments, monitoring and improving chronic conditions, and accessing health information. By promoting self-care and adherence to treatment plans, mHealth applications can improve patient outcomes and reduce the burden on the health-care system.

For taxpayers, the widespread use of mHealth apps can lead to a healthier population and lower health-care costs.

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4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning: Driving Innovation and Efficiency

AI and machine learning have the potential to revolutionize health care by automating routine tasks, analyzing large datasets, and providing predictive insights. For example, AI-powered diagnostic tools can assist health-care providers in identifying diseases at an early stage, leading to timely and effective interventions. Additionally, AI can optimize hospital operations, such as scheduling and resource allocation, resulting in improved efficiency and reduced costs.

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While it will take some years for a lot of the bigger and more promising technologies to arrive and see widespread adoption, solutions like AI-based scribes are becoming more popular every day and offer tangible savings on the ever increasing front of administrative burden.

4. Automate non-clinical workflows to create more time for actual health care

Beyond the clinical stuff that makes up the core of what doctors actually enjoy doing, and patients want them to do, many clinic owners spend untold amounts of hours running their business — HR, payroll, marketing, taxes, legal filings, etc. A lot of these processes can be relegated, outsourced or even fully automated, but a typical clinic owner often comes out of school having been taught to use a stack that’s decades old and can spend their whole career never knowing things can be done a lot more efficiently.

Aside from ChatGPT, there’s Zapier/IFTTT/Make that can connect almost any piece of software with something else, and there’s a world of freelancers and consultants that specialize in business process optimization.

In short, there is a lot of technology available already that can address inefficiencies in the broader system. All that’s left is to educate those end users about those options to improve their adoption of those tools.

— Thomas Jankowski is CEO of Medimap, a trailblazer in AI-driven health-care solutions

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