Public Trust in Digital Healthcare
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly shaken healthcare systems around the world, many of which have already been struggling since pre-pandemic times. This is no different in Canada. The World Health Organization argues that digital healthcare has the potential to improve medical diagnoses, data-based treatment decisions, digital therapeutics, clinical trials, among other benefits. Notwithstanding these promises, there are concerns surrounding privacy, accessibility, and scalability. Fabian talks to Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya from the Women’s College Hospital about digital healthcare trends, implementation challenges, as well as policy recommendations. Yashree then talks to Dr. Sacha Bhatia about the future of digital healthcare and public trust in the existing system.
Guests:
Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya MD, PhD is the Frigon Blau Chair in Family Medicine Research at Women’s College Hospital, and director of the Institute for Health Systems Solutions and Virtual Care. He is the lead for the Centre for Digital Health Evaluation funded by the Ministry of Health of Ontario. He practices family medicine and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is national co-chair of the Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovation Network and has been a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Commonwealth Fund in New York City and a Takemi Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Sacha Bhatia helps lead Ontario Health’s work to support the implementation of Ontario Health Teams, enabling a better-integrated health system backed by evidence-based tools and digital technology. He is also responsible for the development of new models of care, the expansion of virtual care, and Ontario Health’s collaboration with primary care partners, focused on the social determinants of health.
Before joining Ontario Health, Sacha was Chief Medical Innovation Officer and Interim Executive Lead of Academics at Women’s College Hospital (WCH). He is also a staff cardiologist at University Health Network, a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, and an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. He has also published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious international journals.
Suggested Readings:
World Health Organization. Global strategy on digital health 2020-2025. (https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/documents/gs4dhdaa2a9f352b0445bafbc79ca799dce4d.pdf)
Policy Options. Enabling digital health care solutions in Canada. (https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/january-2019/enabling-digital-health-care-solutions-canada/ )
Producers:
Anukriti Randev - Junior Producer
Yashree Sharma - Junior Producer
Fabian Siau - Junior Producer
