May 26, 2022

Report on Automation in Healthcare

Announcing a new publication from the members of Digital Health Canada: Report on Automation in Healthcare.

In January 2022, Digital Health Canada hosted a unique event focused on automation in healthcare. The event delivered a day of workshop activities to members and leaders in healthcare and digital health. There were with three breakout working sessions each proceeded by a catalyst conversation featuring subject matter experts.

The purpose of this workshop event was to initiate a national discussion, report, and working group to identify practices, projects, and products that are changing health service delivery across the continuum of care in Canada.

This report builds upon the conversation started at the Automation in Healthcare Workshop.

In healthcare, automation initiatives are currently addressing challenges we face collectively in healthcare human resources, wound care management, diagnostic imaging, emergency department intake, and many other areas, with the potential for wider expansion.

Canadian healthcare organizations are seeing a growing opportunity to improve upon the patient and provider experience while addressing the challenges brought on by a shrinking workforce and growing stakeholder interest in engaging with more health information, with greater access, from their home and in community settings. The use of AI, chatbots, and innovation in automation is providing new opportunities for extending access to health resources while optimizing provider time and focus on front-line care delivery.

This report is intended as an information primer and current state snapshot for digital health professionals in Canada. Furthermore, it is a call to action and invitation to participate in a national Digital Health Canada Community of Action (CoA). The CoA will drive an agenda to improve automation in healthcare and exchange best practices, methodologies, and tools to help foster implementation in Canadian health delivery.

Call to Action for Digital Health Canada members

This report is a valuable new resource for Digital Health Canada members.

Non members, please join Digital Health Canada to download a PDF copy of this report or to participate in a national Automation in Healthcare Community of Action.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Amazon Web Services and Akinox, sponsors of the Digital Health Canada Winter Workshop 2022, at which the discussions that fueled this report took place. Thank you to Burnie Group for planning assistance and workshop moderation at the Automation in Healthcare event. Thank you to Paul Agbulu (Alberta Health Services), Oliver Aygun, (Ontario Ministry of Health), Mohamed Alarakhia (eHealth Centre of Excellence), and Douglas Ward (Mohawk College) for valued input to this report.