OPOR Symposium Background:
In today’s healthcare system, the objective, put quite simply, is to treat the patient. One can argue that it is much more complicated than just “treating patients” – it is about many complex factors including illness care, wellness strategies, population and public health initiatives, and varying degrees of trauma management. While this detail is accurate, from a very broad perspective, health system operations are “all about the patient” – if there were no illness or trauma, there would be no need for a healthcare system.
Yet, even though the patient group represents the fundamental foundation of the healthcare system, patients have seldom been viewed as more than a “by-product” or “side-effect”. To illustrate, patients are not typically involved in (i) setting healthcare policy; (ii) conducting and disseminating research; (iii) coordinating patient networks; (iv) providing or managing individual care; and (v) evaluating the performance and outcomes of varied healthcare delivery plans.
Innovative research that focuses on putting information in the hands of the consumer in healthcare – i.e., the patient – is now attempting to achieve two major objectives:
1. Bring the healthcare system in line with many other industries by incorporating consumer inputs;
2. Improve the adoption of information technology, and thereby increase eHealth benefits, by combining the efforts of two groups – the current active stakeholder decision makers (i.e., healthcare personnel) with the patient group.
Symposium Objective:
To begin the dialogue between patients and the healthcare system to arrive at One Patient, One Record.
Ultimately, we believe in developing an electronic health record for all Ontarians that can be accessed by the continuum of healthcare providers as well as the patients themselves which will then lead to improved health outcomes.
The Patient-Physician Paradigm
Once the patient accesses their healthcare information, they must interact with the healthcare system to meet their health needs. Diagnostics are determined, treatment is executed and post-treatment follow up is completed and measured.
As a result, systems must allow and promote patient–physician interaction … and action!! We need to allow patients the freedom and time alone with their healthcare information BUT not alone with their problems! This is where the healthcare delivery system needs to step in. Research to date has identified a very specific patient group that is eager to challenge the status quo. We refer to these patients as Consumers with Chronic Conditions (or the 3C’s). This group is very knowledgeable about their condition(s) and extremely motivated to become fully empowered – both individually and collectively!
Methodology:
We anticipate an attendance of 100 people (excluding speakers and support personnel). The symposium will be set up with 10 tables with each table comprising five healthcare personnel and five patients. At different points during the day, we will have discussion on five previously prepared questions. After each question has been discussed, each participant will be asked to confidentially vote. Votes will be tabulated and reported back at the end of the day.
The five questions will cover the areas of access, content, use, privacy and outcome measurement. The answers will yield a framework for an action plan on how to move forward in the development of one electronic health record accessible to both patients and healthcare providers.
Attendees: This will be a very special symposium because we are offering a dialogue opportunity between two distinct stakeholders – healthcare personnel and patients. This event will bring together key healthcare decision makers and service delivery personnel in direct communication with highly motivated and informed patients. Further, the objective of the day is to create a firm deliverable: an action plan to move the Province of Ontario forward regarding patients accessing health information or, if you will, to provide a framework for “ePatients”. Patients: Healthcare Personnel: Healthcare personnel are comprised of providers, administrators, researchers, academics, vendors and funding organizations. They have been invited to bring together as representative a group as possible in terms of perspectives, organizational relationships and geography. We are also targeting 50 attendees from this group. Fee Structure – Adopt-A-Patient Program: The registration fee is $200 for each healthcare personnel. This is meant to cover the cost of two people – the healthcare personnel and a patient (basically, $100 per person). The patient’s fee is subsidized to support and promote attendance.
Patients will be recruited in several ways: contacted through disease associations and foundations, cross-patient representatives and communications to the public at large through health providers and the media. Each patient must apply to attend; a committee will review the applications and select the top 50.
