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Infoway Challenge Sparks
Innovations for Health Care
ImagineNation Ideas Challenge
Winners Announced
http://www.imaginenationchallenge.ca/ideas-challenge/
July 5, 2011
(Toronto, ON) - Imagine having your child's immunization record at the
click of a mouse, as well as email alerts when they need a vaccination.
Or using your cell phone to track the care that you need during
pregnancy, your due date, and your ultrasounds. Or using an app to
manage your diabetes, with helpful advice on how to improve your
results. These are just a few of the winning ideas submitted to the
ImagineNation Ideas Challenge, which asked Canadians how they would
improve health and health care through innovation in information and
communications technologies (ICT).
"Canadians are passionate about our health system, and we wanted their
ideas on how digital solutions could strengthen health care," said
Richard Alvarez, President and CEO, Canada Health Infoway (Infoway).
"The caliber of entries we received surpassed our high expectations and
the range of ideas on leveraging ICT to improve access, safety, and
efficiency of care is inspiring."
When the Ideas Challenge was launched in March 2011, Canadians were
asked to submit their ideas online. An independent panel of judges
selected the top five bold and innovative ideas through two rounds of
judging.
The Winners:
The first place submission and winner of a $10,000 award is a web-based
system to record and schedule immunizations, based on the latest
recommendations from the Canadian Immunization Guide. The idea comes
from Dr. Christopher Clarke based on his experience as a family doctor
in Puslinch, Ontario. "I imagined a website where each patient would
open an account to contain their comprehensive immunization history.
More important, the website would continuously update a personalized
plan for each patient's future immunizations, using the latest Canadian
guidelines and including any new vaccines," said Dr. Clarke. "Modern IT
is ideal for communicating this sort of complex information to both
patients and clinicians."
The Canada's Choice Award winner - determined through thousands of
votes cast by Canadians - is "Mom2B", a mobile telephone app for
expectant mothers based on health guidance from Canadian experts. It
would offer help at every stage, from fertility planning to tracking
contractions. The "Mom2B" idea was submitted by Jeff Biletchi and
colleagues at Niagara Region Public Health.
The following three submissions round out the
top 5 winning ideas. Each entry has earned a $5,000 award:
"Connected health care...The whole life
EHR" to track key health information for individuals with chronic
conditions, such as vital signs or medications dispensed, and make it
available to them and their health team (submitted by Donna Byrne
and
her team from Quebec)
"Empower persons
with diabetes interactively with enhanced reporting on iPads,"
including tracking their health condition, viewing information from
their health team and lab results, and receiving personalized advice to
reduce the risk of complications (submitted by Jonathan Lapointe,
Montreal)
"Head Home, Speak
Up: Empower patients and health care providers with an online voice at
discharge" to improve the hand-off between hospital and home (submitted
by Pamela Chan and Richard Norman, Toronto)
"Innovation is a
driving force behind what we do at Infoway - and is key to the future
of health care," added Dr. Jennifer Zelmer, Senior Vice-President of
Clinical Adoption and Innovation, Infoway. "The ImagineNation Ideas
Challenge identified some great ideas and helped to get Canadians
thinking and talking about health care in the digital age."
About
Canada Health Infoway:
Canada Health Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization
funded by the federal government. Infoway jointly invests with every
province and territory to accelerate the development and adoption of
information and communications technology projects in Canada. Fully
respecting patient confidentiality, these secure systems will provide
clinicians and patients with the information they need to better
support safe care decisions and manage their own health. Accessing this
vital information quickly will help foster a more modern and
sustainable health care system for all Canadians. The ImagineNation
Ideas Challenge is part of Infoway's ongoing innovation program.
For further information please contact:
Dan Strasbourg
Director, Media Relations
Canada Health Infoway
Tel.: (416) 595-3424
dstrasbourg@infoway-inforoute.ca
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