TELUS Health opened its doors to its Innovation Centre in Toronto for a look inside a few specific health services and products. The event kick-started with remarks from Paul Lepage in a speech to tell us why TELUS is in health and how we can demonstrate the power of health through technology. Taking a holistic view to the health industry, TELUS Health has made almost a billion dollar investment to date and is on a path to help improve patient care by removing current barriers and creating a seamless flow of information between all members of the healthcare continuum – from hospitals to family doctors, from pharmacists to patients.
In the opening remarks, Paul Lepage, President of TELUS Health talked about leveraging TELUS’s communications infrastructure to empower healthcare professional and patients. For instance, surrounded by TELUS’s 3G network, which is widely available to the majority of Canadians, the aim is to increase the number of doctors and pharmacists across Canada who are using a centralized network that stores Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) in a way that can be indexed, searched and updated in real time. Ultimately, driving patient data will improve healthcare decisions and increase efficiencies across the healthcare industry. In that sense, Lepage reveals that “Health is TELUS’s content play.”
The Innovation Centre tour included a demonstration of technologies powering the health industry including Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) which TELUS Health is the leading Canadian provider for; Personal Health Records (PHR), a tool that empowers Canadians to better manage their health and the health of loved ones; Pharma Space which provides online access to drug profiles and prescription refills for pharmacy customers; Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), helping to keep patients in their homes and out of the hospital; and a Wearable device station, with the latest Fitbit device to show the potential of consumer gadgets in collecting relevant health data, for better patient outcomes.
The technologies showcased ways that Canadians can become more active and knowledgeable participants in their own healthcare. For example, via the Personal Health Record (PHR) tool, Canadians can fill out an online medical form so all history is in one place for easy access. With a digital-savvy population on the rise, digital tools like the PHR will assist healthcare providers in making better connections with their patients. Through technology, TELUS Health wants to replace hours in a waiting room with electronic tools where a patient’s information can be accessed from anywhere, any device at any time.