April 2008 - Dr. Sue MacLean with Future Healthcare Magazine

In April of 2008, Dr. Sue MacLean, Medical Advisor at Sykes Assistance Services was privileged to sit down with Future Healthcare Magazine to discuss the relationship between primary care and telehealth.  The interview was published in the Q2 Edition of Future Healthcare Magazine and is summarized below:

Helping People Make Health Decisions

Dr. Sue MacLean, Medical Advisor at Clinidata, a division of Sykes Assistance Services discusses the relationship between primary care and telehealth.

I understand that Call Center based telehealth services have been available in Canada for approximately 10 years. Can you share with me a bit of the history of this type of service, how it fits into the delivery of healthcare?

Telehealth services have been described as a “quiet revolution in healthcare”, since they have changed the point of access in the health care system now patients can call a nurse for symptom triage and health information.  In Canada, this started as a pilot project in 1994 in Moncton, New Brunswick.  It was very successful, rolled out province-wide shortly thereafter and has been delivered by the Clinidata division of Sykes Assistance Services ever since.  Another pilot was done in Northern Ontario beginning in 1998, and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care implemented the service for all twelve million Ontario residents by 2001.  To date, over 7 million calls have been answered in Ontario. From the very beginning, telehealth services have been integrated with other parts of the health care system, particularly primary care.  All but two provinces in Canada provide this type of telehealth service.  These programs are publicly funded and collaborate with several branches in the various Ministries of Health to coordinate information and services.   

How did you become involved in this type of service?

As a primary care physician, how do you see the benefits of this type of application? I was fortunate to have been involved with the implementation of an electronic medical record in my family practice in 1999.  This involved 12 physicians and over 30,000 patients, and I became passionate about the need for further computerization in healthcare as an asset to clinicians and patients.  I also learned about the importance of integration, as our Electronic Medical Record (EMR) was interfaced with our local hospital.  This experience as a relatively ‘early adopter’ led to some requests to participate in committees looking at other innovations in health care.  It was while serving on a committee that I first heard about telehealth services.  In late 2000, another committee member was the VP and General Manager of Clinidata, and asked me to serve as the first Medical Advisor for Ontario.  I’ve been on board ever since.  As the Medical Advisor, I am reassured by the rigor and scientific strength that is brought to the service, especially in the area of quality management.  As a practising family physician, I am very grateful that my patients have access to a bilingual service, 24/7 with access to multilingual translation to provide them with evidence-based recommendations.  I know that the information is standardized and reproducible, and the information is sent back to me about the patient if need be.  I have seen the surge capacity the service has, when the call volume went from 3500 calls to 13,000 calls per day during the SARS outbreak, a significant public health emergency that occurred in Canada in 2003.  A paper-based system could never have done that.  I’ve stayed with Clinidata because I have seen the company evolve from its involvement in a small province to a global presence, and I’ve seen the enhancements that can be derived from this service as we spread out along the health care continuum.   

To download the full article, please click here.   

Sue MacLean MD, CCFP, FCFP is responsible for enhancing the relationship between the healthcare community and Clinidata, a division of Sykes Assistance Services.  A family physician, Dr. MacLean’s professional background includes significant hands-on involvement with electronic health records.  In 1999, her clinic in Markham, Ontario implemented a fully integrated electronic medical record which serves 35,000 patients.  Dr. MacLean has been a Medical Advisor to TeleHealth Ontario since its inception in 2001, and also to the Telephone Health Advisory Service (THAS).  Recently, Dr. MacLean was the first Senior Medical Advisor at Canada Health Infoway, an arms length agency of the Canadian Federal Government responsible for facilitating the development of a pan Canadian interoperable electronic health record.  Currently Dr. MacLean is a key member of a Family Health Team in London, Ontario.