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Your Weekly Dose of Health Insights – Because Your Health Isn’t Just a Headline
Good morning, Other Siders!
Welcome back—and a big shout-out to our new subscribers this week! I hope you kicked off Father’s Day weekend with joy (and maybe a quiet moment of peace 😅). This week’s edition is packed with real-world case studies and top-tier consulting insights — actionable ideas you can adapt in your organization right now. At The Other Side of Care, we’re all about driving meaningful change through digital strategy, operational transformation, and change leadership. Let’s dive into what’s trending this Wednesday morning before the clinic gets busy!
In today’s edition:
Healthcare Costs Bite! 💰
Waiting Game Continues! ⏱️
New Variant Alert! 🦠
Case in Point: Digital Transformation Success at Nova Scotia Health
Dive in and enjoy the ride. 🚀
News that Impacts You!
Healthcare Costs Bite! 💰
Hold onto your wallets, Canada! The Money Wise Institute just dropped some financial truth bombs – 27% of Canadian parents are rewriting their estate plans because healthcare costs are eating their savings alive. Even worse, 35% are telling their kids to expect smaller inheritances than planned. Turns out, growing old in Canada is getting pricier than a downtown Toronto condo!
Take my neighbor Martha, who planned to leave her cottage to her grandkids but is now selling it to cover potential long-term care costs.
Are you prepared for the real price of aging, or is your retirement plan based on healthcare fantasies from 1995?
Waiting Game Continues! ⏱️
Breaking news that surprises absolutely no one: Canadians are still waiting longer for surgeries and diagnostic imaging than before the pandemic. Despite hospitals performing more procedures, CIHI's latest data shows wait times stubbornly exceeding pre-2019 levels across the country. It's like we're running faster on a treadmill that keeps speeding up!
Consider Janet in Halifax, who's been waiting 14 months for knee replacement surgery while popping painkillers like they're Tic Tacs.
How much longer can your patients wait before temporary health issues become permanent lifestyle changes?
New Variant Alert! 🦠
Just when you thought it was safe to forget about COVID, here comes variant NB.1.8.1 strutting onto the global stage. The WHO has officially put it on their "variant under monitoring" list as it now accounts for over 10% of infections across multiple regions and dominates in China and Hong Kong. Early data suggests it spreads easier and might partially dodge some immune defenses, though vaccines should still protect against serious illness.
Think about the Thompson family who finally rebooked their twice-canceled international reunion for this summer.
Should healthcare providers be preparing for another potential wave, or is this just another variant that will fizzle out?
💭Let us know what you think in the comment section.
🕵️♀️Case in Point
Digital Transformation Success at Nova Scotia Health
Background & Problem: Nova Scotia Health, the largest provider of health services in Nova Scotia, faced significant challenges that will sound familiar to many Canadian healthcare providers. Citizens struggled to navigate a complex healthcare system, often unsure about available services, their locations, and wait times. Clinicians lacked integrated, province-wide healthcare data for effective decision-making. The organization operated with disjointed systems and inconsistent workflows, creating silos and interoperability issues. Information sharing was limited due to paper-based documentation and lack of common standards.
These challenges created a frustrating experience for both patients and providers, with Nova Scotians often making multiple phone calls to find appropriate care and staff updating information through emails, phone calls, and even faxes.
The Solution: YourHealthNS Digital Platform
Working with EY and Kainos, Nova Scotia Health embarked on an ambitious digital transformation journey with a clear goal: make it easier for Nova Scotians to manage their health by giving them access to information and helping them navigate to the right places for care.
The transformation began with a six-month discovery phase, interviewing stakeholders and conducting deep dives into healthcare systems, integrations, data collection, and operational processes. This led to identifying multiple transformation projects to overcome silos, address inefficiencies, and improve experiences.
A key priority was implementing a common data governance model by migrating hundreds of millions of healthcare data points into a single cloud data store aligned with the International Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard. This created a common framework for managing medical information across systems.
The team then created a web-based application with locations of healthcare services, from hospitals to diagnostic services, urgent care, and pharmacies. This unified relevant information in one place, making it updatable with just a few clicks.
The flagship project was the YourHealthNS digital platform, which launched provincially in November 2023, giving citizens easy access to trusted healthcare information. By July 2024, health records within YourHealthNS became publicly available for every citizen in Nova Scotia aged 16 and older.
The Outcome: Transformative Impact on Healthcare Delivery
As of March 2025, YourHealthNS had been downloaded approximately 630,000 times in a province with a population of just over 1 million. The platform has become a powerful tool for reaching citizens directly and empowering them with better healthcare information and access.
Physicians have described YourHealthNS as "a game-changer for instructing patients on how to access services and information". Whether scheduling a virtual care appointment or booking bloodwork, the app provides a central location for accessing information. This has helped reduce unnecessary emergency department visits by directing people to appropriate primary healthcare access points.
The digital transformation has also improved patient safety and health outcomes. Patients now come to appointments with more understanding of their health conditions, leading to more focused conversations about next steps and care plans. They can share comprehensive lists of medications, vaccines, test results, and other information with their providers, allowing for a more accurate and holistic view of their situation
How We Can Help: While The Other Side of Care wasn't involved in this specific project, our team specializes in exactly this type of digital transformation. We can help your organization:
Conduct thorough discovery phases to identify pain points and opportunities
Develop data governance models that align with international standards
Create user-friendly digital platforms that improve patient access and experience
Implement change management strategies to ensure successful adoption
Measure and optimize outcomes for continuous improvement
Whether you're a small clinic or a large health system, we have the expertise to help you navigate the complexities of digital transformation and achieve similar results for your patients and providers.
📈What’s Trending🔥
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