Canadian HR Reporter is the national journal of human resource management. It features the latest workplace news, HR best practices, employment law commentary and tools and tips for employers to get the most out of their workforce.
Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/1220817
4 www.hrreporter.com N E W S A n o t h e r c o n c e r n ? W h i l e t h e technology is available in Canada, it's siloed and varies by province or territory. "What our patients and our clinicians are telling us is that that type of care isn't being linked back to their established physician or health-care provider. And it's providing episodic care, but it's not supporting and continuing the continuity of care that people also want," says Osler. "Patients don't want fragmented care — they want care that continually improves their health." If we do want to achieve the goal of enhancing care for patients in Canada to ensure that it is safe, effective, timely, efficient and equitable, we will need to find ways to ensure that whatever care is provided in the private system could somehow be integrated into the public system, she says. "Patients don't want their health information fragmented. And so that is part of the discussion that we're having in terms of having a national framework and a framework that ensures that covers the standards and the policies and legislation in all the different areas to really ensure that the care that's delivered protects patients, is efficient and provides quality care," says Osler. "We need a framework nationally with governance standards, legislation, to ensure that care that's provided virtually continues to be safe, effective and helps continue that continuity of care." Dialogue is built around the continuity of care, says Brown, and to that end it has put in place several initiatives, including: the possibility to speak with the same medical professional; personalized followups after a consultation; electronic care plans that can be shared with the patient's family doctor; and doctors and health-care practitioners using the same electronic medical record (EMR). Maple has also built up a comprehen- sive virtual medical record-keeping sys- tem, says Prada. "Not only can patients go in and add their own medical information to the platform, but there's a full proper formal consultation summary generated at the end of every visit. And that can be directly faxed to the family physician at any time by the employee." Getting the word out When it came to rolling out the new offering, CAA did an intensive communication launch to generate some buzz, says Notarfonzo. The actual launch provided an overview of the program, including how to access it and register. "Then our CEO — who's so behind this — talked about it at one of his town hall meetings, how important it is for him to ensure that our associates are provided with these types of services and to make their lives easier." Prencipe says Samsung communicated to employees through: in-person and online information sessions; email communication; information on large- format displays throughout the offices; and company-wide meetings. "It's a big communications exercise," says Brown, citing one large employer with 10s of thousands of employees that didn't have the email addresses of employees so direct mail was used to reach people. He says lunch-and- learns, promotional materials and an onboarding playbook are also effective. " That allows us to be uniquely positioned to drive awareness, drive engagement, drive utilization, and all those things together are what leads to the outcomes that everybody in HR is after when they're investing in health benefits." CHRR APPS, ELECTRONIC RECORDS POPULAR "We need a framework to ensure that care that's provided virtually is safe, effective and helps continue that continuity of care." Gigi Osler, Canadian Medical Association The most valuable digital health solutions an app that finds the right doctor or medical care (42% workers, 41% employers) electronic medical records (41% workers, 36% employers) telemedicine (36% workers, 40% employers) self-managing health conditions using wearable tech (36% workers and employers) an app to find an expert doctor based on a diagnosis (35% workers, 43% employers) Source: Mercer The wellness room at CAA's offices in Markham, Ont.