While digitization is changing the Canadian healthcare experience, genuine digital health experiences are still relatively rare.
Unless your local clinic is particularly forward-thinking (or a WELL Health Clinic!), many Canadians still have to call a clinic multiple times or endure time on hold to book or change an appointment, even though digital experiences are common in the rest of our lives.
While there are pockets of fantastic customer experience out there, there is still an unmet demand for digital experiences across Canadian healthcare. And we know Canadians want digital healthcare services, with research from Canada Health Infoway finding a majority of Canadians want to access digital services like access to personal health information, electronic prescriptions and telehealth.
This is beginning to change, and Digital Health Week, a campaign by Canada Health Infoway, is an annual celebration of digital health. It’s about celebrating the digital health progress Canada is making and highlighting the better access and experiences that digital health solutions offer.
To celebrate Digital Health Week, we want to highlight how digital experiences help empower and support both patients and healthcare providers. Here are three illustrations of how WELL’s unique combination of digital tools and Canada’s largest outpatient medical clinic network can help provide better health experiences and outcomes.
Heather’s Digital Health Journey
Heather works in tech in Toronto and uses apps for everything. Heather is among the millions of Canadians who don’t have a family doctor and she doesn’t have the time to stand in line at a traditional walk-in clinic to wait for care. Recently Heather has been experiencing abdominal pain.
How WELL Health Can Help:
Heather wants to consult with a primary care provider, and she books a virtual care appointment with Tia Health.
During her examination, the physician has access to her medical records from her previous Tia Health appointments and notes that Heather has a history of abdominal pain. The physician recommends a physical examination to rule out appendicitis. Using Ocean, Heather can pre-book an appointment at her local WELL Health Clinic and fill out the required digital intake forms beforehand. At her in-person appointment, the physician recommends an ultrasound.
With over 40+ MyHealth Centre diagnostics and imaging locations in Ontario, Heather doesn’t need to travel far for her ultrasound. 24 hours later, her results are returned to the WELL Health physician. Heather is contacted to book a convenient time for a follow-up appointment, she can book this follow-up online for either an in-person or virtual care visit.
All these health encounters are stored securely and using the YourCare patient portal, Heather can keep track of all her visits via WELL Health’s Apple Health Records integration.
Michael’s Digital Health Journey
As a busy professional and parent in Vancouver, Michael doesn’t have time to go to the clinic unless he has a pre-booked appointment. If urgent, he will use telehealth as it helps him juggle his responsibilities. While his primary care needs are irregular, Michael is active and wants to be engaged in managing his ongoing health and wellness.
How WELL Health Can Help:
Michael wants to see a doctor for recurring pain from a sports injury impacting his daily life and exercise routine. Familiar with his local WELL Clinic, Michael visits the WELL Clinics site and uses Ocean to book an appointment that fits his busy schedule with a doctor at his preferred location.
He receives an appointment confirmation via email. Later that day, Michael discovers he won’t be able to attend the appointment and is worried he’ll need to endure a long time on hold if he calls to rearrange. Luckily, as he booked through WELL Clinics using Ocean, he can open his confirmation email and use a link to reschedule.
When his appointment arrives, Michael can self check-in and can see live wait times on his phone. His primary care physician then recommends physiotherapy and suggests the nearby WELL Health Allied Care Centre in North Vancouver.
Michael looks online and discovers the clinic is open in the evenings and fits his lifestyle. He makes an initial physiotherapy appointment using WELL Health Allied Care Centres online booking option. After his first physiotherapy session, Michael then uses Ocean to book a follow-up with the same primary care physician.
In trying to manage his busy work/life balance, Michael has always struggled with his mental wellness. And since the start of the pandemic, Michael has felt depressed, but he’s been reluctant to receive treatment due to his busy life and a sense of stigma around mental health.
During his recent visits to WELL Health Clinics, Michael notices that virtual counselling is now available without a referral through Focus Mental Wellness, and he decides to seek help.
Focus offers online therapy options that fit his lifestyle and Michael books an initial online video therapy session with a qualified professional in minutes. The flexibility and convenience of virtual therapy removes the stigma and empowers Michael to get the help he needs and take control of his wellness.
Mary’s Digital Health Journey
Mary lives in Vancouver. She works part-time and spends several days a week looking after her grandchildren. Mary has several chronic conditions and requires regular checkups with her family doctor at the local WELL Health Clinic. Mary needs the flexibility to juggle her care alongside work and life responsibilities, so she is interested in more digital healthcare experiences moving forward.
How WELL Health Can Help
In the past, Mary has always called her local clinic to book and amend appointments. But she is busier than ever and is now more open to telehealth consultations and other digital health tools if they offer her more flexibility and engagement in her care.
While Mary is looking after her grandchildren, she needs to book an urgent appointment with her family doctor. She uses her clinic’s online booking option and quickly selects a telehealth appointment with her doctor.
During her consultation, Mary’s doctor can access her medical records and writes a new prescription, sending it electronically to Mary’s local pharmacy using PrescribeIT. Her family doctor also decides to refer Mary for a specialist appointment. Using Ocean, her doctor selects a specialist close to Mary’s home.
While waiting to see her specialist, Mary uses online booking to arrange convenient telephone check-ups with her doctor that work with her busy schedule. When her specialist has availability, Mary receives an email and text appointment confirmation with a link to complete digital intake forms ahead of her scheduled visit.
