Digital Health News

Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia

As part of Digital Health Week 2017, the eHealth Centre of Excellence will feature posts from guests discussing why digital health is important to them. eCE Director Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia is back to deliver this week’s final post.

I wanted to update you on the exciting news which we announced here last week: that virtual visits are coming to Waterloo Wellington!

Virtual visits will allow primary care providers to ‘see’ their patients via secure messaging, audio, and clinical video-conferencing. 

We have been working with primary care providers to make sure the virtual visit model fits within their workflow. Thank you to all the providers who have given us feedback and signed up to participate! 

The roll-out of virtual visits will be great news for all 775,000 residents in our region, but particularly for those who may struggle with mobility, live in a rural area far from their physician, cannot take time off of work, and/or lack transportation or other resources required to make an in-person appointment.

Digital health tools are making the healthcare system more equitable for everyone, and that’s just one more reason that digital health is important to me.

The eCE, in collaboration with the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), was recently one of six successful applicants for the second round of the REACH (Resources for Evaluating, Adopting and Capitalizing on Innovative Healthcare Technology). Funding from REACH is supporting us to work with providers and patients to develop a more streamlined technology for delivering virtual visits. 

Follow us on twitter (@eHealthCE) and join the Digital Health Week conversation using #thinkdigitalhealth!

And even though Digital Health Week is coming to a close, we'll be back on the blog next week with a great new eConsult spotlight, so keep watching this space!