The
infraNET Project and
Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research
University of Waterloo
present ...
In Pursuit of the EHR Holy Grail:
A Critical Situational Review
by
Dominic Covvey
Professor and NSERC/Agfa
Executive Industrial Research Chair in Health Informatics, Faculty of Science
Founding Director, Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research
University of Waterloo
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Davis Centre, Room 1302
University of Waterloo
Seminar Sponsors:
Blackberry - Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
McKesson Information Solutions - Smart Systems for Health Agency
Healthcare Information Management and Communications Canada
Abstract
Virtually all provinces are currently engaged in one way or
another in planning and putting in place the building blocks and
infrastructure needed to realize a universally-accessible Electronic
Health Record (EHR). Although the definition of what an EHR is seems
to vary widely, we can characterize it for our purposes here as a
comprehensive, patient-specific longitudinal record of all health-related
information over a person s life accessible at all points of care.
Within Ontario there are many what I ll call province-level
superstructural projects that are intended to put in place key
components of the EHR and/or to advance the Province s transformation
agenda. How well is all of this going? Are we building the right
components and are they adequate to address the needs that the EHR
targets? How usable will these components be and what effects might
they have? What is happening regarding investment at the institutional
and regional levels regarding the infrastructural systems that will
feed the EHR the data to make it a vital and useful resource? Where are
we with regard to human resources with adequate knowledge and
experience in Health Informatics to design, build and maintain these
systems? My objectives will be to clarify what is underway, to point
out specific strengths and shortcomings of the efforts, and to make
suggestions regarding how the health system can proceed on the most
productive basis towards the goal of realizing a useful EHR.
About the Speaker
Dominic Covvey is a Professor, the NSERC/Agfa Executive Industrial
Research Chair in Health Informatics in the Faculty of Science, and
the Founding Director of the Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics
Research at the University of Waterloo. His research is in the area of
the representation and evaluation of workflow in healthcare settings,
the economics of IT in the health system, and the design of the
Electronic Health Record. He has published 6 books, 3 book chapters,
and several hundred papers, and he is a frequent speaker at international
Health Informatics conferences. Dominic is a member of the Ontario Hospitals
eHealth Council and the eHealth Alignment Review Board of the Ontario eHealth
Secretariat. Dominic is a Fellow of ACMI and of HIMSS, a senior member of
the IEEE, a member of the ACM, AMIA, API, AHIMA, CCS, CLMA, CIPS, and
COACH. He is also a CIPS-certified Information Systems Professional.
For more information
Shirley Fenton
Managing Director, WIHIR
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4074
Seminar Hosts
This seminar is hosted by the Waterloo Institute for Health
Informatics Research (WIHIR) and The infraNET Project, University of Waterloo.
The infraNET Project, initiated by the University of Waterloo in
1996, is a partnership to advance Web and Internet technologies. Its founding
partners were: LivePage (now part of Siebel), MKS, Open Text, RIM,
Sybase (Waterloo) and Waterloo Maple.
We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Institute
for Computer Research, University of Waterloo.
