Latest Health News
AI, MedTech And Big Tech: Who Will Lead The Next Medical Revolution?
March 4, 2025
Having spent years navigating the intersection of technology and healthcare, I’ve had a front-row seat to witnessing the acceleration of MedTech’s digital transformation. The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and data-driven innovation is no longer a future possibility—it’s happening now. Big Tech is making aggressive inroads into the healthcare sector, positioning itself as the driving force behind the next medical revolution. But as technology reshapes the industry, the question remains: Who will emerge as the leader in this evolving landscape?
Why built-in feedback is crucial for safe AI-driven digital health tech
March 4, 2025
Implementing feedback mechanisms into AI-enabled digital health technology could benefit patients and device manufacturers alike.
Digital health in Canada: Moving towards greater health data sharing
February 10, 2025
When health data doesn’t flow seamlessly across different channels, patients might experience unnecessary delays, longer hospital stays and even medication errors, resulting in serious illness or even death.
Last year, the federal government introduced Bill C-72—also known as the Connected Care for Canadians Act—which aims to modernize Canada’s healthcare system and improve patient care. The goal is to make it easier to share health data online and get it into the right clinician’s hands quickly and efficiently.
Is paying out-of-pocket for medically necessary care allowed?
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.
Digital Medicine Society Launches Resources to Navigate Global Digital Health Regulatory Pathways
November 20, 2024
Today, the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) unveiled a suite of resources to guide industry in evaluating international regulatory pathways. These resources equip digital health technology developers with essential tools to compare and navigate the evolving, complex regulatory environments of an initial set of key markets across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America.
Charting the future: A look back at this year’s digital transformation milestones
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.
The future of health care: How Waterloo co-op students are leading innovation
July 26, 2024
Waterloo co-op students are driving innovation in healthcare, one hospital at a time. With the new Waterloo Region hospital set to be built on campus, both students and employers will benefit from health-care experiential learning opportunities close to campus.
Government releases Digital Health Strategy
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.
What Digital Health Can Learn From Big Pharma
July 2, 2024
Imagine if new drugs were developed the way Silicon Valley startups make their products. A few scrappy entrepreneurs would concoct a compound in a rented garage, then try to get as many people as possible to try it.
Digital Well-Being Strategies: How To Build A Healthy Relationship With Screens
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.
University of Toronto ranks only behind Harvard in health sciences research
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.
Digital Health Predictions: Uncertainty Will Trigger Innovation In 2023
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.
Future Of Health: Top Five Digital Health Innovations For 2023
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.
The Most Important Door To Digital Health
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.
4 Digital Health Trends Coming In 2023
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.
Ontario releases plan to stabilize the health-care system
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.
Two-tiered medical system is inevitable in Canada: Nova Scotia doctor
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."
Quebec reaches deal with family doctors to improve access to basic care
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.
BC PharmaCare provides new, expanded coverage
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.
A crisis in care: CBC series examines Victoria's family doctor shortage
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.