Simon Hagens
Vice President, Performance
Canada Health Infoway
Simon Hagens is Vice President, Performance at Canada Health Infoway, leading Analytics, Research, Performance Reporting and Governance functions. Simon was recently Board Chair at Four Villages CHC in Toronto, leading the organization through a merger with two other community health service providers. Simon holds a B.Sc from the University of Guelph and an MBA from McGill University.
Chris Ng-Fletcher
Project Associate
Canada Health Infoway
Chris Ng-Fletcher is currently a Project Associate, Interoperability Governance, Metrics, and Reporting at Canada Health Infoway, with a focus on the Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap. He has held a variety of roles in the past, including in a primary care medical office where he has been involved in mapping clinical workflows and digital transformation efforts, including the implementation of Telus PS Suite EMR and other clinical tools, EHR implementation, and health innovation ecosystem development.
Chris holds a Bachelors of Science in Biology from George Washington University and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Windsor. He is actively engaged in a number of organizations, including co-chairing the Events Committee of the HIMSS Eastern Canada Chapter, sponsorship chair of the HIMSS Michigan Chapter, and co-chair of the Emerging Leader Forum. He is interested in interoperability, AI, SDOH, and the future of primary care. Outside of work, Chris is an avid lover of tennis.
Atena Keshavarzian
Director, Digital Health
Healthtech Consultants
Atena is a dynamic leader with a strong background in management and technology consulting, as well as product and program management. As the Director of Digital Health at Healthtech Consultants, she collaborates with jurisdictions and health systems on transformation initiatives aimed at advancing the Canadian healthcare system. Most recently, Atena completed a published report with Canada Health Infoway, providing a comprehensive snapshot of the current state of interoperability in Canada, with a particular focus on health IT solutions and standards across provinces and territories.
Prior to Healthtech, Atena’s experience spans start-ups and scale-ups in the data and AI space, as well as consulting at PwC, where she worked with clients in healthcare, public safety and justice, utilities, education, and federal government and agencies, steering them through transformation journeys from planning to execution.
Day 2, Concurrent Sessions - McCallion AB
November 6, 10:50 am - 11:15 am
Understanding the current state of Interoperability in Canada
Canada Health Infoway’s upcoming release of their Jurisdictional Inventory of Health IT Solutions and Data Flows report, developed in collaboration with Healthtech Consultants, provides a comprehensive snapshot of the current state of interoperability in Canada, with a particular focus on health IT solutions and standards within provinces and territories. This report is the first of its kind, and developed in consultation with jurisdictional health ministries, healthcare organizations, and vendors to establish a baseline of both progress and opportunities in areas such as pan-Canadian health data standards and systems.
In the first part of the presentation, attendees will learn about the current state of clinical terminology and data exchange standards
deployment, patient summary, and eReferral/eConsult solutions across the country and the progress being made across the public and private sector. In addition, they will learn about the challenges that respondents had reported that hinder the adoption of newer and panCanadian standards, as well as the top incentives/strategies identified to further adoption.
In the second part of the presentation, we will be exploring the importance of the report in measuring future progress on terminology and exchange standards deployment and how it will help shape strategies for advancing digital health across the country. We will also be highlighting how the report ties into the initiatives currently underway at Infoway associated with the Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap, such as the Terminology Server, how this will impact jurisdictional health ministries, healthcare organizations, and vendors, and how they can get involved.
In conclusion, this report establishes a baseline to measure future progress in Canada's digital health landscape, showcasing
advancements made over the years and recent efforts. It will highlight to attendees both the achievements and gaps in health IT
adoption across provinces and territories, providing a clear picture of the work still needed to fully realize a connected and
interoperable healthcare system, the work that Infoway is doing to plug these gaps, and how your organization can get involved in this work.