We want to use this blog to act as a think tank for topics related to general Consumer Health. Wherever possible, we will avoid talking about TELUS products and solutions. That said, today was a big day for TELUS Health and based on feedback from today’s announcement we thought it might be worthwhile to address some of the questions that are circulating the bologsphere.
Q: What exactly is TELUS health space?
A: TELUS health space is Canada's first electronic consumer health service. It will help Canadians access, store, manage and share their personal health information and the health of their families with their physicians and healthcare providers in a safe and secure way.
Q: How will TELUS health space affect the Canadian healthcare industry?
A: Canadians will be able to collaborate with healthcare providers to manage all aspects of their health such as immunizations, allergies, medications, height, weight, symptoms, key medical measurements, pre-existing conditions, as well as their medical history.
For example:
- A clinician will be able to view patient
’s data and health information for better decision making and improved collaboration
- A patient with health monitoring requirements will be able to aggregate his results in the privacy and comfort of his own home and to share that information with his physician
- A patient will be able to get educated about his condition, discover ways to improve his health status and understand when he should seek medical attent
ion
Q: Will my information be safe?
A: Yes. Privacy and security are at the heart of everything we do at TELUS and we have years of experience providing solutions to the health industry, financial institutions and many more sectors where privacy and security are critical. In all cases, TELUS meets or exceeds provincial and federal privacy and security requirements.
Q: Who will have access to information?
A: It’s up to you. As a TELUS health space user, you entirely control the access to your health information. When you decide to share information with healthcare professionals or family members, you can decide which information you want to share and whether you want that person to be able to view only or make changes to their health information. To better understand how sharing rights work within TELUS health space, consult the Privacy statement.
Q: When will TELUS health space be available across Canada?
A: TELUS health space is available for governments, health regions, hospitals, insurers and employers to license right now. Our goal is to make eHealth a reality in Canada before the end of the year. Over the next few months, we will be rolling out a handful of pilot programs, such as MedPals, with existing partners. Cross-Canada participation largely depends on government and healthcare regulators as well as partner participation. At this time we have 12 partners providing endorsement of the platform, applications and tools, devices and health programs.
Partners include:
Q: When will the service be available to consumers that would like to purchase it directly?
A: This is yet to be determined. For the time being, our business model is to sell the service to healthcare organizations or enterprises which will then make the service available to their own constituents (patients or customers). Consumers will therefore have access to the service only when this happens.
If you have additional questions, let us know. We’re here, we’re listening and we want to fill in the blanks as much as possible.
