Information Integration Promises Healthcare Providers Increased Safety and Quality of Service

With populations aging all over the world, healthcare providers everywhere are looking for ways to integrate data sharing wherever possible. In most countries, medical records have traditionally been made on paper, and when they need to be shared, the process can be held up by a number of factors.

Today the healthcare system is undergoing some badly needed renovation, and patients stand to benefit from this movement toward greater transparency, and access to medical information. TELUS health is creating some big advantages across the world of Canadian healthcare, and many of the systems could also be utilized in other nations as well.

One of the biggest hurdles to providing great care is knowing the medical history of a patient, and TELUS health recently released a system that allows doctors across Canada to access patient records in a way that has the potential to greatly increase the quality of care, and even save lives.

Easy Connections

Today more than 70% of Canadian doctors use Electronic Medical Record systems (EMR's), but until now, sharing them across platforms could be troublesome. That is now a thing of the past, and with the advent of TELUS health's MedDialog, it has never been easier for doctors to share medical records, regardless of the EMR they choose to use.

TELUS health didn't want patients to be limited by their doctor's choice of EMR, so they made the MedDialog system function with any EMR out there. This means that doctors can have access to a patient's records anywhere in Canada, as long as their other doctors use an EMR system.

Innovations like MedDialog are likely help doctors to provide better service, and TELUS health has been a central figure in the drive to create a more modern healthcare system that should engender added safety, as well as significant cost savings.

Dr. Brendan Byrne is the Chief Innovation Officer for TELUS health, and with his history of looking to technology for answers, it's easy to understand why TELUS health is in a leadership role when it comes to developing potentially better ways of giving people the care they need.

A Wide Gamut

Before joining TELUS health, Dr. Byrne founded Wolf Medical Systems, which became one of the largest EMR's in Canada. Wolf Medical Systems was eventually bought by TELUS health in 2012, so it isn't difficult to see why TELUS has become a driving force in the creation of cutting-edge information sharing technology in medicine.

The Ubik system is another recent innovation by TELUS health, and it allows pharmacists to have an unprecedented level of contact with both a patient's medical history, and their doctors. The goal of the Ubik system is for patients to get the medicine they need, and avoid any complications that could arise from oversights. These technological innovations are in their infancy, but given what TELUS health has been able to accomplish in the last few years, the future of connectivity in the Canadian healthcare system is looking brighter all the time. This means better service for patients, and potentially lower costs for everyone.