Latest Health News

November 20, 2024

Health workers across Canada, including doctors and nurses, say patients can wait no longer to know whether paying out-of-pocket for medically necessary care is allowed when delivered virtually or by providers other than physicians, such as nurse practitioners.

November 18, 2024

The Fraser Health population is expected to grow by 32 per cent over the next 15 years, according to population estimates from BC Stats. To keep up with this growth, we’re focusing on digital transformation to provide high-quality, patient-centered care more efficiently.

July 12, 2024

A new strategy will guide investments in secure digital health technologies and improve the use of health information in PEI over the next five years to help build a healthier future for Islanders.  

August 1, 2023

While technology offers benefits such as instant communication, access to boundless information, and opportunities for self-expression, it's also crucial to recognize and address the real-world challenges accompanying its use. If consumption goes unchecked, digital media can have far-ranging effects on our physical, emotional, and mental well-being.

July 31, 2023

The University of Toronto is the second most prolific academic health sciences research institution in the world, according to a recent international ranking compiled by the scientific journal Nature.

February 7, 2023

It was an interesting year for digital health. We moved into a Covid-changed world in 2022, with fewer massive funding rounds and broader economic concerns, but consumer demands (and expectations) around a digital experience continued to rise. Hospitals face serious financial challenges, including inflation and staffing shortages, which will also impact the companies and vendors that do business with them. In fact, expenses for health systems are projected to rise by almost $135 billion in 2023 and about 30% of rural hospitals are in danger of closing.

December 9, 2022

New data shows that the future of health innovation will need to be equitable. As a physician innovation representative to the AMA Physician Innovation Network, I recently attended the HLTH 2022 meeting. There, I learned that 19% of digital tools are inaccessible by Americans with disabilities. Moreover, health disparities amount to over $90 billion a year in excess of medical costs and 24% of the lowest income bracket in America does not have access to a smart phone.

October 17, 2022

Then Covid-19 hit. For months, even a simple trip to the doctor wasn’t so simple. Suddenly, from virtual doctor visits to remote consultation and patient monitoring, people-centered health initiatives that had once represented aspirations swiftly became top priorities for health systems. Digital transformation in healthcare changed from a long-term industry project to an immediate necessity. Digital health went from being seen as the domain of doctors, hospitals and insurers to something that was also equally in the hands of patients.

September 14, 2022

More insurance companies will cover virtual services and telemedicine. As telemedicine has become more accessible, it's also become more frequently covered by insurance companies. What once was an ad hoc activity is now a common inclusion in employee insurance programs. Today, several insurance products—such as this Kaiser Permanente plan—cover all virtual and telehealth services in a "virtual first" format. Other insurance plans (such as those offered by Humana and United Healthcare) give people the option of virtual or physical appointments.

August 18, 2022

The plan focuses on "health-care system stability and recovery" and aims to add thousands of health-care workers and free up hospital beds. Officials said these additions will help reduce the burden on the broader health system, which has been severely strained over the past few months with staffing shortages.

August 11, 2022

In addition to being the mayor of Amherst, David Kogon also happens to be a retired physician who continues to practice and do surgeries across the border in New Brunswick. Kogon says, with private health-care clinics already making their way into Nova Scotia and other provinces like Quebec, a two-tiered system is likely the solution to the current health-care crisis. "I think a combination of a public and private system is inevitable," said Kogon. "Only Canada and North Korea seem to be left with a totally public system, because it isn't really sustainable anymore."

May 3, 2022

The provincial government has reached a deal with the association representing general practitioners to give Quebecers easier access to healthcare.  In a statement published Sunday, the government said the deal will allow patients signed up with a family doctor to have access to that doctor or another one from the doctor’s group within 36 to 72 hours, depending on their medical situation.

May 2, 2022

Thousands of people in B.C. will benefit from BC PharmaCare’s new and expanded coverage of medications for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, severe hypoglycemia, migraines, the treatment of low white blood cell levels, multiple sclerosis, heart failure, and birth control.

April 23, 2022

Southern Vancouver Island has some of longest walk-in clinic waits in the province and country. According to the B.C. College of Family Physicians, only 80 per cent of residents in the Capital Regional District have one, compared to 84 per cent of people provincewide, while a report from the Canadian tech company Medimap found Victoria walk-in clinics have the longest wait time in the country, at more than 2½ hours.