Ontario's Digital Health Vision in the post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era: A Canadian Perspective

Abstract

The Canadian healthcare system has successfully enabled the average Canadian to live a longer life since the early 1980s. Yet, the prevalence of chronic diseases among Canadians is higher than ever, thereby increasing pressure on the healthcare system to develop a new vision based on the realities of the post-COVID-19 pandemic. The responsibility for Canada's healthcare is allocated amongst multiple actors and/or agencies, as the federal government and provinces/territories have significantly different responsibilities. Our study aims to discuss digital health strategies in Ontario, Canada. We examine best practices across the world and propose a digital health vision for Ontario and elsewhere. The lack of an integrated healthcare system often limits access to digital health tools, thus creating a fragmented digital health environment with organizational silos of health information. As a result, healthcare services may not use the advantages of digital health tools efficiently and effectively. We discuss some of the challenges of creating a digital health vision, such as financial feasibility, privacy, ease of use, and reaching vulnerable populations.

The Datum Project: Promoting Digital Health Data Literacy (Preprint)

“…The landscape of digital health data in Canada is multifaceted, encompassing issues of access, cultural relevance, policy implementation, and ethical considerations in using digital health tools in medicine [1]. There is growing recognition of the potential for digital health innovations to meet the health care needs of Canadians, notwithstanding the challenges and complexities of integrating digital health data in health systems [2].…”