eHealth Can Make a Difference

Richard C. Alvarez, President & Chief Executive Officer, Canada Health Infoway

I recently had the privilege of listening to David Price, who was the opening speaker at a conference that I attended.  You may be forgiven for not knowing David Price because he is not a famous clinician or informatician; he is not even employed in the health sector.  David Price was speaking in his capacity as a father – the father of Greg Price, a 31 year old athlete and professional engineer whose life was tragically cut short by testicular cancer.  For a parent to have to bear the devastating loss of a child is tragic. To know that Greg may very well be alive today had things gone differently in his interaction with the health system is heart-wrenching.  Yet David was not at the conference to rail against the system and to cast blame; David was there to remind us that we can, and we must do better.  No excuses.

You see, David works in the food industry where there are strict regulations in place that dictate how he runs his business.  Quality protocols and processes are built into every step of the process to ensure that his product is safe and of a certain quality.  Imagine how shocked he must have been to find out that many of the quality assurance protocols that guide the food and other industries are not applied as vigorously, or at all, in healthcare.  With the Price family’s permission, the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) developed a detailed timeline of Greg’s journey; from the time a clinician noticed a suspicious lump during a routine checkup to the time of his death, a few days after his cancer surgery.  If you haven’t already read the report, I would encourage you to do so or to visit Health Arrows, a website the Price family has established to bring about change in the system (Twitter @healtharrows). In a very clear and compelling manner, the report chronicles Greg’s experience, which included at least four complete breaks in his continuity of care.

So, what does this have to do with eHealth 2014? Everything.  Of the thirteen recommendations that stemmed from the HQCA report, the first one was “additional investment in the provincial electronic health record and e-referral system”.  As a health informatics community, we know better than most what the issues are.  We also know that ehealth can make a difference.   So, as we convene in Vancouver at eHealth 2014 coming together to share best practices and to learn from one another, let’s remember why we’re doing this.  Let’s think about Greg, David and the entire Price family so that we are continually reminded of the importance of our work. As the report so rightly states: “Using [Greg’s] name rightly keeps him, and other patients like him, at the centre of the issue of continuity of care.”  Yes, it’s hard. But, we can make a difference – and we must. No excuses.