A government-funded Ontario organization designed to help patients get care from doctors hundreds of kilometres away received its official launch Thursday.

The Ontario Telemedicine Network, funded by provincial and federal governments, provides the technology and services needed to connect patients with doctors with approaches that include:

  • Cameras and monitors for video conferencing.
  • Electronic medical devices to allow doctors far away to listen to a patient's heart or look into his or her ears and nose.
  • Long-distance referrals to specialists who can see patients through teleconferencing.

It also hosts webcast educational events for medical professionals, including those in rural and remote areas.

Hospitals in London, Ottawa, Thunder Bay and Toronto held simultaneous demonstrations Thursday morning to showcase some of the technologies and officially recognize the network formed when three smaller telemedicine networks joined on April 1 — CareConnect, NORTH Network and Video Care.

According to the network, those organizations provided 23,000 remote patient consultations in the past year with 800 medical specialists through partner organizations such as hospitals.

Patients access telemedicine from rural and urban areas around the province through local health-care providers and organizations such as hospitals.

15-year collaboration

Network spokeswoman Jane Petricic said one of the longest-running telemedicine programs in the network is a 15-year collaboration between the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Pembroke General Hospital.

Through the program, she said, someone might have open heart surgery in Ottawa and go home to Barry's Bay 165 kilometres away.

The patient could get followup care by visiting his or her local hospital. There, telemedical technology allows the patient to be examined by his or her Ottawa-based specialist remotely, Petricic said.

"He would be able to listen to their heart and do all of the same things he would do if he had them drive all the way into Ottawa."

Largest network

Petricic said the merger makes the new organization the largest telemedicine network in Canada.

She added that the larger infrastructure increases the amount of technology available to members and will make it easier to bring in smaller organizations such as long-term care facilities, public health units and even doctors' offices.  

The network is an independent, non-profit organization funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care along with Canada Health Infoway Inc., which is a federally funded non-profit organization run by the federal, provincial and territorial deputy health ministers.

According to the network, telemedicine allows improved access to doctors, nurses and emergency services while reducing the need for travel, saving money, time and travel risks.