Community Learning Space

The infraNET Project and 
Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research
University of Waterloo


present ...


eHealth is Changing
Health Care Culture

by

Sam Marafioti
VP Strategy and Development, & CIO
Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Science Centre

Wednesday, June 22, 2005
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Davis Centre, Room 1302
University of Waterloo

Seminar Sponsors:
McKesson Information Solutions, VON Canada and HIMCC Inc.

This seminar is of interest to Health and IT Executives, IS/IT Staff, Faculty and Students.
There is no charge for this event. However, please register to attend or view the live web cast.

Go To Presentation Archive 2004-2005

Abstract
Our health care system is in crisis; real change is needed. Ontario is facing growing challenges in meeting consumer expectations and needs, such as the requirements of patients with chronic diseases. We are spending more than necessary on chronic illness as our health care system is used to treat patients who reach a crisis, rather than keeping them healthy and out of hospital through more effective prevention models of care.

Navigating in a complex health care system can be difficult. There is a lack of coordinated care and timely distribution of results. Frequently, patients receive inconsistent information when dealing with multiple care providers/teams.

eHealth promises a new health care experience; one that will change patient relationships with providers. It promises a seamless continuity of care from inpatient to outpatient setting, providing patients more information, more family and caregiver participation, and more self-management and responsibility over their own care. However, eHealth must be threaded into Ontario s health system strategies.

Sam Marafioti will give his perspective of the status and future of eHealth in Ontario.

Sam Marafioti
Sunnybrook and Women s College Health Sciences Centre (S&W) in Toronto. Sam is responsible for strategic visioning and long term planning to ensure that technology facilitates, enables and supports the timely achievement of corporate goals and aligns with a broader system vision for eHealth. He has been instrumental in creating a culture at S&W and increasingly in the broader hospital system where IT is valued as a key enabler to the success of an organization.

Sam leads the development and implementation of numerous initiatives including electronic health record, connectivity, network infrastructure, corporate technology standards, web services and telehealth, and oversees all major corporate technology acquisitions. Under his direction, S&W has established a solid foundation of clinical, business and decision support systems. These strategically position the organization to leverage successes and explore e-health opportunities on a greater scale over the next 5 years.

Sam was a member of the Ontario Hospital Association s Information and Communications Technology Advisory Committee in 2000 which evolved into the Ontario Hospital e-Health Council in 2001. As Vice Chair of the Council, Sam brings leadership, a spirit of collaboration, and hospital insight to an emerging provincial eHealth strategy in partnership with government, physicians, other providers, and consumers.

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 are: 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.