This May, Cliniconex travelled to Vancouver to participate in the annual e-Health conference, hosted by Digital Health Canada, Canada Health Infoway, and the Canadian Institution of Health Information. The 4-day conference and tradeshow brings Canadian digital health professionals together to network, connect, and learn from one another. This year, upwards of 1500 delegates attended with approximately 250 abstract presentations and presenters.
Sunday’s Symposium, Patient Engagement: Taking it to the Next level, saw patient and physician speakers describe their experiences with patient engagement in the healthcare system.
With eye-opening presentations from the Greg’s Wings Project, Colleen McGavin, Dr. Kendall Ho, and others, the critical nature of patient engagement and communication in Canada was outlined. Colleen McGavin and the Greg’s Wings Project described their journeys through the Canadian Healthcare system, which confirmed the value of patient engagement and the consequences of a lack thereof.
The remaining 3 days provided an abundance of education and learning opportunities for healthcare. The major focus for Cliniconex’s CEO, Anthony Mar, was those pertaining to EMRs and patient engagement.
A key takeaway from this conference is that EMR deployment is saturated in most jurisdictions, and clinic staff are focused on transferring data from paper to an electronic format. Health administrators are pleased with the benefits EMRs provide, as the data is centralized and accessible; however, some physicians still need convincing. As well, many feel the patient’s point of view hasn’t penetrated digital health, and the question “how has EMR deployment affected me, the patient?” remains pertinent.
What did this conference mean for us as a company? We’ve learned new perspectives on patient engagement and had a look at upcoming patient demands for healthcare technology. “Patients are advocating for their voices and experiences to be heard, and we’re just starting to see healthcare organizations listen and act”, concluded Anthony.
We can’t wait to see how patients will take a more central role in healthcare at e-Health next year!
