Muttitt adds that Infoway is building the new kidney disease care portal on the success of Grand River's portal for patients managing cancer.
"The portals allow patients to be more engaged in their care management. They're able to monitor their processes and keep a journal of their side effects," says Muttitt.
"This helps to facilitate better communication with their health team and improves intervention. It also prevents some of the progression of the disease, and that's really what's pivotal here."
The urgency for physicians to move to an online care environment is growing internationally, according to Dare. "What I often see as I work across Commonwealth countries and the U.S. is that physicians, especially GPs, are feeling a huge pressure to implement a full electronic medical record in their practice," she says.
Dare concurs with Chris that implementation is expensive, however. It's also a massive undertaking in terms of the technology involved, she adds, as it also changes physician workflows.
"I think the more we in the IT industry and the rest of health care can help physicians find some good first steps, that aren't quite so enormous, it starts us down that path in a very tangible way."
Key findings of the survey:
- 45 per cent of Americans said they would like to be able to directly e-mail their doctor
"It will develop (in Canada) because it's efficient for patients and for doctors. But it's only efficient if you get paid for it," says Chris. "That's something we're a bit behind on: developing remuneration systems consistently with modern electronic health systems."
- 34 per cent said they would like to access lab results via a secure Web site
"For young people, computers and the Internet are a part of their lives," he says. "So we're going to have to develop, and are in the process of developing in various places, systems by which a patient electronic health record can exist."
- 33 per cent said they would like to book appointments online
"I think there's a role for online booking and, although it seems pretty simple, I think all of us (both patients and physicians) will need to get comfortable with electronic health in other ways first."
Previous page: Canadian physicians want to use more online tools
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