In recent years, more and more British Columbians have gotten into the swing of using virtual health, and for good reasons:
- It promotes equitable access to health care (for people with mobility issues, or who may need language support)
- Saves travel time and travel costs
- Empowers patients who can participate in their care management
Provincial Virtual Health has collaborated with PHSA programs and teams across the B.C. health sector on initiatives that bring virtual care to individuals and support the Ministry’s vision of a digitally enabled health system trusted by all who use it.
“We regularly track virtual health activities across the province,” said Amir Rasheed, senior director, Provincial Partnerships & Clinical Innovation. “The data we gather and analyze helps us measure how well we’re doing, and ultimately tells the story of how virtual health is having an impact on the people who use it.”
For instance, since 2020, there have been approximately three million provincial virtual health visits, across all platforms including Zoom for Healthcare and BC Virtual Visit.
The Provincial Virtual Health Activities and Initiatives report features key insights and trends in virtual health from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023, including:
- Provincial virtual health activities
- Partners and collaborators on all initiatives
- New virtual health product initiatives
- Patient and clinician feedback
- A list of Power BI dashboards for more detailed statistics
We’re highlighting five of the insights below. For a detailed list of all virtual health initiatives and health sector collaborators from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023, see the PVH Year in Review infographic.
A text messaging service that shares timely alerts about toxic drugs in the community. - 7,100 total subscribers across B.C. All regional health authorities adopted the system between May 2022 and June 2023.
- Impact: Alerts aim to reduce drug poisonings and deaths.
Provides on-demand access to 240 languages, including American Sign Language 24/7, when a patient and health-care provider meet in person.- 35% of total interpreting sessions at PHSA used audio or video remote interpreting
- Impact: Used in several clinical sites across PHSA and regional health authorities, VRI ensures people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing or with a language other than English can access health care
Uses technology to monitor a patient’s health (usually from their home), and share the information electronically with health care teams- 100,000 cumulative encounters at PHSA programs from April 2020 to December 2023.
- Impact: Empowers patients to participate in their health care monitoring
Evidence-informed, central online resource for perinatal and newborn care providers in B.C.- 2,800 website visitors across the province and a website engagement rate of 61% in first month of launch.
- Impact: Improve access to knowledge, clinical decision support tools, and overall quality of care.
Web-based tool improves access to resources and information for people living with Long COVID- 3500 MyGuide Long COVID website visitors across the province since launch
- Impact: Empowers patients to take an active role in their health care
Thank you to our partners in all of our digital and virtual health initiatives across PHSA and the B.C. health sector.
Reach out to the PVH Analytics and Evaluation team: PVHAnalytics@phsa.ca
As part of the Provincial Partnerships and Clinical Innovation team, the Analytics and Evaluation team are critical enablers to a digitally enabled health system, helping with data analytics, visualization and management, from creating and maintaining dashboards, to managing virtual health evaluation initiatives, and knowledge translation for appropriate use of analytics.
