There has been a whirlwind of activity here at TELUS health solutions this past week. We revealed a couple of big announcements at the eHealth 2011 Conference in Toronto last week, and wanted to share some of the great initiatives we’re been working on. 

For starters, we introduced the TELUS Personal Health Record (PHR) to help Canadians better manage their health and simplify the exchange of information between health professionals and consumers. A Canadian first, the new PHR will link to doctors’ electronic medical record solutions through TELUS health space allowing consumers to view the health information transferred by their healthcare professionals into their PHR in a user friendly interface, securely accessible online. 

We also announced a partnership with Carefx to create a unique set of services for clinicians and providers to access through a private cloud. TELUS CareShare will give clinicians choice, allowing them to subscribe and pay for only the service or information they require for improved clinical management and patient services. 

Another big announcement: Dr. Michael Guerriere was appointed Chief Medical Officer for TELUS Health Solutions – our first CMO to date. Dr. Guerriere has worked with leading health care organizations on information management, clinical change, quality improvement and health care operations management initiatives, and will work with clinical professionals to incorporate powerful new tools making their way into clinical practice.

Check out my interview with Michael, who weighs in on TELUS’s new PHR application, his new role as Chief Medical Officer, and how TELUS is working to start a dialogue of how technology will change the health landscape. 

From social networking to space exploration, computers and the internet have changed the ways that we see the world. They are also ubiquitous in some aspects of health care. We take for granted innovations in medical imaging, for example, or the ability to quickly search millions of research articles for the latest clinical knowledge.

These changes affect individuals, as well as their health care providers. Although current events and celebrities dominated Yahoo’s top 10 list in 2010, Statistics Canada reports that more than half of home Internet users search for health information at some point during the year. That’s only the beginning of what is possible. Last fall, Canada Health Infoway asked Canadians about the types of e-innovations that they themselves would be most likely to use. Booking appointments online, renewing prescriptions, e-consultations with health care providers, and viewing personal health information such as lab test results topped the list. Experience from south of the border suggests that effective use of these types of innovations can improve outcomes and bring other benefits (e.g. this article from Kaiser Permanente).

How do you think that we could improve health and health care using information and communications technologies? Join the conversation at www.imaginenationchallenge.ca

In early January, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow – CES—showcased an abundance of cool tech gadgets, products, and innovation in the works for 2011. One series of apps that stood out the most is the Fitness TechZone featured apps and hardware that touched on themes of mobile monitoring for healthcare, which got me thinking about what the top tech trends for ehealth will be in 2011.More...

Since my last blog, interest and enthusiasm for TELUS health space has continued to build through some new initiatives!

The launch of TELUS health space, involving 2,000 TELUS team members across Canada, was mentioned at Day of Discovery, a recent Shepell·fgi event focused on employee health and productivity. In addition, a national TELUS road show to showcase TELUS health space kicked off in Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal and received some exceptional news coverage.More...

In my first post I discussed how e-Health tools can empower Canadians with asthma to improve their health and quality of life by managing their disease more effectively.  In this post I would like to discuss a specific example of a tool that the Asthma Society of Canada is using with success.

We recently launched the AsthmaToday Widget – this is an interactive, virtual tool for people living with asthma and associated allergies to stay informed on important issues and the information they need to plan outdoor activities. It can be downloaded free from our website at www.asthma.ca/widget  to a computer or laptop.More...