Please click here to download the PDF.

We are excited to share that the eHealth Centre of Excellence’s Virtual Visits: Delivering Primary Care through Innovation has been judged as an ITAC (Information Technology Association of Canada) Ingenious Award winner in the SME Public/Not-for-Profit Category.

The ITAC Ingenious Awards were created to recognize all of the very best applications of technology from all corners of Canada and from all sectors, and to celebrate innovation and excellence. Thank you to ITAC and to the jury of judges for this honour – we are extremely proud of the work that our team is doing with patients and clinicians.

View the press release from ITAC here.

View more about the virtual visits award here.

We also recognize that we couldn’t lead this important work without continued support from our partners across the community. In particular, we’d like to extend our gratitude to the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) and Think Research for their collaborations on this project.

Please click here to download the PDF.

We were delighted to have our virtual visits program featured in the Waterloo Record and on 570 News!

From the Record article: 

As the province pledges more funding to expand virtual care by doctors, this region is already embracing technology to make primary health care more convenient.

Since a pilot project launched in March 2018, nearly 17,000 virtual visits have been made in Waterloo Wellington — the most virtual visits in any region across the province.

Read more here!

Our Managing Director, Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia, was interviewed on the Mike Farwell show on 570 News Kitchener:

You can listen to the entire program here. (The interview took place on November 20)

These interviews come on the heels of the provincial announcement earlier this month that the first phase of the "Digital First for Health" strategy will focus on virtual care, with about 55,000 more video visits over the next year and $3 million in funding to compensate physicians.     Any Ontario Health Team (OHT) who is interested in the work we’re doing here should feel free to reach out to us at info@ehealthce.ca – we are happy to share what we’ve learned with you.

Digital Health Week (November 11-17, 2019) is an annual celebration and recognition of how digital health tools are transforming the delivery of care across Canada.

In honour of this week, we’d like to invite you to two webinars we will be hosting:

• Tuesday, November 12th – 12 PM - 1 PM: Patient-Facing Digital Health Tools
  • Sign up here to learn more about how patients benefit from our innovative Virtual Visits and Tablets programs
• Thursday, November 14th – 12 PM - 1 PM: Enhancing Communication between Healthcare Providers across the Care Continuum
  • Sign up here to learn more about how eReferral and eConsult work to connect healthcare providers

There will also be lots of activity on our website and on twitter (#ThinkDigitalHealth) throughout the week! Be sure to follow along as we highlight the many benefits of our digital health toolbox.

On Nov. 1st, the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) will be providing an upgrade to the eConsult platform that will allow clinicians to access their local specialty groups more efficiently.  We are pleased to let you know that new Waterloo Wellington Regional Groups will now be available!

In order to use this functionality, you will be prompted to set your priority groups. This is a one-time setting. Selecting this priority feature will ensure that all eConsults will go to local specialists followed by your next priority selection.

For more information, please email Wendy Lang or Andrea Mathieu.

Please click here to download the PDF.

Please click here to download the PDF.

eConsult is a secure email messaging system that uses the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) to connect primary care providers with specialists, giving them timely access to experience-based specialist knowledge. The team here at the eHealth Centre of Excellence is providing support to both primary care providers and specialists looking to adopt eConsult into their practice workflow.

Through eConsult, primary care providers can reach out to specialists such as Dr. Catherine Alderdice (pictured below), who specializes in Rheumatology and Osteoporosis.

Dr. Alderdice completed Medical School at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1976 and went on to do her Family Practice Residency in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She then did her Rheumatology fellowship at University of Toronto and was Associate Professor at Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Head of Rheumatic Disease Unit from 1982-2003.   Dr. Alderdice made the move to Guelph ON in 2003, where she opened a private practice in Rheumatology and Osteoporosis. She counts herself lucky for being one of the few clinicians allowed to report BMDs, outside of Radiologists.   Dr. Alderdice is excited to be joining the eConsult service providing her expertise in Rheumatology and Osteoporosis.

Are you a family doctor or specialist interested in using eConsult in your practice? Connect with us today to get started!

eConsult is a secure email messaging system that uses the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) to connect primary care providers with specialists, giving them timely access to experience-based specialist knowledge. The team here at the eHealth Centre of Excellence is providing support to both primary care providers and specialists looking to adopt eConsult into their practice workflow.

Through eConsult, primary care providers can reach out to specialists such as Dr. Brian Lyttle, who specializes in Pediatric Respirology.

Dr. Lyttle completed his Medical Degree at the University of Western Ontario and subsequently has been Board Certified in: Family Practice (University of Calgary), Pediatrics (UWO and Dallas Children’s Hospital), Pediatric Pulmonology (Harvard School of Public Health and The Boston’s Children’s Hospital).   Dr. Lyttle’s primary clinic is located in London ON, where more than 5000 children and young adults are followed regularly for their asthma, some for as long as 25 years. He also is active in the the London Pediatric Sleep Clinic.   Dr. Lyttle has participated in over 50 clinical trials, largely in asthma and Cystic Fibrosis. The studies demonstrated the efficacy and defined the ‘side effects’ for inhaled steroids, montelukast and combination products. He is currently involved in studies with newer biologic asthma medications.

Dr. Lyttle is excited to join the eConsult service providing expertise in Pediatric Respirology for our area and beyond.

Are you a family doctor or specialist interested in using eConsult in your practice? Connect with us today to get started!