Healthcare in Canada has been at a pivotal moment in recent years, with decentralization of services and digital transformation being key themes in these changes. The current healthcare system has been in existence is the mid-1980s, but now, it struggles to meet the demands of today’s population. Decentralization of healthcare services has been a focus of many stakeholders within the industry, from legislators to patients. A large component of this decentralization has been community-based healthcare, which is a standard of service by which healthcare is brought to patients, rather than having patients visit clinics or hospitals. The goal is this service model is to alleviate the strains on the existing system and improve accessibility to healthcare services. In Ontario, community-based healthcare has been rolled out on a trial-basis, and the province hopes to have 25% of its healthcare services provided through this model in 2020.
This model of decentralization creates the greatest value for patients within the Canadian healthcare system, especially for those who have limited accessibility to healthcare services. Community-based healthcare improves health outcomes and increases their comfort and happiness. For instance, chronic conditions require constant management. Having a community-based service enables professionals to check on patients regularly, as opposed to waiting for treatment when the illness passes a certain point. As a result, patients experience better health outcomes and improved quality of life. Furthermore, community-based health provides patients with more compassionate care for terminal illnesses, as most patients prefer to be treated in their homes. Beyond convenience, the community-based model provides services to who would not otherwise have easy access to healthcare. For instance, members of low-income and elderly population groups are likely to only seek healthcare when it is absolutely necessary. Making the arrangements to obtain these services is also a challenge for these groups. Community-based healthcare increases substantially improves access and convenience.
Value is also created for all levels of the Canadian government who contribute financially to the healthcare system. Community-based health services immediately introduces preventative care measures into the system. We currently rely on reactive care – treating patients as their illnesses flare up. Preventative care encourages healthcare practitioners to monitor diseases, which requires fewer resources than reactive care. Furthermore, community-based care takes patients out of hospitals and clinics and provides them with treatment at home. This creates space in hospitals for patients who need acute care. It also ensures that healthcare practitioners are spending their time on these patients. Allocating human capital to where it is most required helps lower healthcare costs. Additional value would be created for municipal governments. By offering community-based health services, the federal and provincial governments no longer be heavily involved in health services planning. Instead, these entities would serve as the gateway for funding. By contract, municipal governments but have a more significant role in planning health services for their communities and obtaining funding from the higher levels of government.
Community-based healthcare provides significant competitive advantages over the current healthcare service model, such as lower service costs and improved patient outcomes. However, implementing this model requires the industry to undergo a significant transformation. The existing healthcare system is exclusively centered around the providers of care. We are familiar with having to go to a clinic or hospital to obtain access to a physician, nurse, or healthcare practitioner. All infrastructure and legislation has been created to fit this centralized model. In order to successfully implement community-based healthcare, the focus needs to shift from providers to patients across all stakeholders. Moreover, healthcare providers must be able to integrate their services and information to ensure that patients truly benefit from this new model of care and do not get lost in the system. Implementation of this models requires all stakeholders to be entirely convinced of its benefits; without complete buy-in, community-based healthcare would just become a service that fails and becomes discarded.
Community-based healthcare services can be classified as an architectural innovation within the industry, as its introduction requires a new business model, as well as new technical capabilities. Implementing community-based services changes Canadian healthcare as we know it – people would no longer be required to travel their nearest medical facility for treatment. Financial resources and human capital would move away from being centered around hospital and smaller clinics. Additionally, municipal governments would have more control over the healthcare systems, given how tailored these services would be per district. This changes how provincial and federal governments fund healthcare; it will likely lead to the development of new policies to accommodate this new model of health services. Further to the new business model, community-based healthcare requires a greater level of connectivity to be executed effectively. Patient data would no longer be stored in one or two central locations; new technology would be needed to secure and freely share patient information. In order to provide integrate care, we would need medical record solutions that could be accessed by all healthcare practitioners involved in a patient’s care. This information must be secured accordingly information protection laws and be readily accessible by those who need it. Similar to updating existing legislation for a new business model, it is likely that privacy laws relating to health information will also be changed.
Community-based healthcare introduces a service model that shifts the focus of healthcare from providers to patients while improving access to those who need it most. The decentralization of this system enables us to better serve the needs of our dynamic population by removing strains in the current system and providing efficient and integrated services.
Source: https://www.marsdd.com/news/transforming-health-decentralized-connected-care/
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