Expert’s Corner: Canadian healthcare is everyone’s business
June 9th, 2014
Expert’s Corner with TELUS’ Dave Wattling: Canadian healthcare is everyone’s business
In anticipation of The 14th Annual Healthcare Summit, Reboot is excited to present “Expert’s Corner”, a series of blog posts featuring a number of outstanding companies and industry leaders that are participating in #HealthSummit14, happening later this month in Kelowna, BC. Read on for a glimpse of what TELUS has planned for shaping the future of healthcare in Canada…
I’m often asked what TELUS is doing in healthcare. How does the telco business map to transforming Canada’s healthcare system? As a telco, we take pride in connecting millions of Canadians with the people and information that matters most to them. Connecting healthcare providers, insurers and patients with tools and information that can improve health outcomes and promote wellness is, to us, a powerful extension of that.
Today, advancements in telecommunications technology hold the promise to solve fundamental healthcare system issues: secure access to accurate health information for patients and physicians; the ability for all of the healthcare professionals in a patient’s circle of care to update and share information; reducing wait times by automating appointment scheduling and allowing care providers to engage with patients remotely.
We believe that the future of healthcare is friendly: We want mobile devices to become personal healthcare devices. We want to replace hours in a waiting room with online tools. And we want patients to be able to book appointments or refill prescriptions from wherever they are, day or night. We want to make that happen.
We also know that the future of healthcare must be cost effective and result in measurably improved patient outcomes. This is why we’ve invested more than $1 billion in healthcare and continue to make ongoing investments.
We are making progress toward future-friendly healthcare.
- Paper-based medical practices are fast becoming a bygone era. Today, more than 13,000 physicians are improving patient outcomes because they use a TELUS Health electronic medical record solution that gives them instant, accurate access to patient information that they can also share with other physicians who are treating the same patient.
- We are enabling patients to take their health into their own hands. Over 3,000 patients living with chronic conditions are equipped with home health monitoring technology that connects them to their care providers from the comfort of their own home. As a result, these patients are readmitted to hospital less often and can avoid acute events because their health is proactively and regularly monitored.
- Almost 20,000 extended healthcare providers, like physiotherapists, use our technology to process insurance claims right at the point of service. Through our industry partners, TELUS Health handles over 150 million group health insurance claim transactions, serving more than 13 million Canadians.
- Over 9,000 pharmacies across Canada are interconnected through our electronic prescription drug insurance claims exchange network. And, our drug management portal lets 250,000 people to renew their prescriptions online.
At TELUS, building national capabilities is at the heart of our corporate strategy. We consider it a fundamental responsibility to harness our technology to remove the barriers to communication that are keeping all of us – as patients, as healthcare providers and as health insurers – from creating the best health outcomes possible for all Canadians.
In short, we believe that Canadian healthcare is everyone’s business.
Dave Wattling
Vice-President and General Manager, Enterprise Solutions
TELUS Health
@DaveWattling
TELUS is a sponsor of The 14th Annual Healthcare Summit.
This post is part of Reboot Communications’ “Expert’s Corner” series. The 14th Annual Healthcare Summit is happening on June 26-27, 2014, in Kelowna, BC. Find out how you can get involved here.
Expert’s Corner with TELUS’ Dave Wattling: Canadian healthcare is everyone’s business
In anticipation of The 14th Annual Healthcare Summit, Reboot is excited to present “Expert’s Corner”, a series of blog posts featuring a number of outstanding companies and industry leaders that are participating in #HealthSummit14, happening later this month in Kelowna, BC. Read on for a glimpse of what TELUS has planned for shaping the future of healthcare in Canada…
I’m often asked what TELUS is doing in healthcare. How does the telco business map to transforming Canada’s healthcare system? As a telco, we take pride in connecting millions of Canadians with the people and information that matters most to them. Connecting healthcare providers, insurers and patients with tools and information that can improve health outcomes and promote wellness is, to us, a powerful extension of that.
Today, advancements in telecommunications technology hold the promise to solve fundamental healthcare system issues: secure access to accurate health information for patients and physicians; the ability for all of the healthcare professionals in a patient’s circle of care to update and share information; reducing wait times by automating appointment scheduling and allowing care providers to engage with patients remotely.
We believe that the future of healthcare is friendly: We want mobile devices to become personal healthcare devices. We want to replace hours in a waiting room with online tools. And we want patients to be able to book appointments or refill prescriptions from wherever they are, day or night. We want to make that happen.
We also know that the future of healthcare must be cost effective and result in measurably improved patient outcomes. This is why we’ve invested more than $1 billion in healthcare and continue to make ongoing investments.
We are making progress toward future-friendly healthcare.
- Paper-based medical practices are fast becoming a bygone era. Today, more than 13,000 physicians are improving patient outcomes because they use a TELUS Health electronic medical record solution that gives them instant, accurate access to patient information that they can also share with other physicians who are treating the same patient.
- We are enabling patients to take their health into their own hands. Over 3,000 patients living with chronic conditions are equipped with home health monitoring technology that connects them to their care providers from the comfort of their own home. As a result, these patients are readmitted to hospital less often and can avoid acute events because their health is proactively and regularly monitored.
- Almost 20,000 extended healthcare providers, like physiotherapists, use our technology to process insurance claims right at the point of service. Through our industry partners, TELUS Health handles over 150 million group health insurance claim transactions, serving more than 13 million Canadians.
- Over 9,000 pharmacies across Canada are interconnected through our electronic prescription drug insurance claims exchange network. And, our drug management portal lets 250,000 people to renew their prescriptions online.
At TELUS, building national capabilities is at the heart of our corporate strategy. We consider it a fundamental responsibility to harness our technology to remove the barriers to communication that are keeping all of us – as patients, as healthcare providers and as health insurers – from creating the best health outcomes possible for all Canadians.
In short, we believe that Canadian healthcare is everyone’s business.
Dave Wattling
Vice-President and General Manager, Enterprise Solutions
TELUS Health
@DaveWattling
TELUS is a sponsor of The 14th Annual Healthcare Summit.
This post is part of Reboot Communications’ “Expert’s Corner” series. The 14th Annual Healthcare Summit is happening on June 26-27, 2014, in Kelowna, BC. Find out how you can get involved here.
