As the new millennium begins, the transformation of patient care services and the health care system as a whole represents a major challenge for managers, physicians, nurses and other health care professionals, as well as a relevant field of study, of great interest to the scientific community. In this context, information technologies constitute a major lever for developing and implementing a truly integrated health care network. With that in mind, the work of HEC Montréal’s Research Chair in Digital Health focuses on three main objectives:
- To better understand the leverage of information technologies for developing and implementing new health care organizational methods;
- To identify and measure the clinical, structural and financial impacts of implementing technologies such as electronic medical records, the different forms of telemedicine and telehealth, diagnostic imaging and many others;
- Finally, to study the main issues and risks—human, organizational, political or technological— related to this major digital shift.
Therefore, the knowledge that the Chair develops through its various research projects will help ensure the successful implementation of the technologies required to carry out several priorities of current Québec and Canadian reforms, including in areas such as home care, primary care and integrated care networks.