NYGH’s Digital Health Strategy Empowering People, Transforming Health
The pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives – including how we access health care services and interact with providers. North York General Hospital’s Digital Health Strategy embraces cutting-edge technologies to empower patients to access care and support from the comfort and convenience of home or wherever they are. This five-year strategy is guiding our hospital’s digital priorities in partnership with our Ontario Health Team, North York Toronto Health Partners.
With virtual care on the rise, we wanted to highlight what people-centred care looks like virtually and spotlight some of the exciting, new services currently available to those who seek care at our hospital or other NYGH sites. To learn more about each service, click on the titles!
Remote Patient Monitoring is a free service that helps you monitor your symptoms and share updates with a remote team of nurses and physicians. The service helps reduce hospital readmissions and repeat visits to the Emergency Department through regular outreach via a smartphone app and telephone calls. The service is available to patients who are 12 years and older and who are COVID-19 positive, patients who are in the North York at Home care program to receive restorative care or rehabilitation at home, and patients undergoing hip, knee and colorectal procedures.
MyChart provides free online access to your medical records with NYGH. The service lets you access clinical information so you can monitor your results and make informed decisions. This information includes clinician notes, COVID-19 test results, lab results, pathology, and radiology reports.
PocketHealth provides you access to your medical images online. The service allows you to view your entire medical image history from NYGH, share imaging instantly with any physician, and even download the files onto your personal device or computer. There is a small fee of $5 to access your images.
Customers of the outpatient pharmacy at our hospital can refill their prescriptions over the phone or online anytime by calling 416-756-6752 or by using the online refill service through Pharma Connect. Online renewals require you to set up a personal account and obtain a code from the pharmacy.
This app provides a ‘digital front door’ for patients and caregivers to seamlessly access hospital and health care services through their personal devices. It provides links to all the services listed above along with other information about visiting the hospital like the latest guidelines for visitors, parking, and directions.
NYGH is piloting a digital platform called SeamlessMD to help patients prepare for surgeries and recover afterwards. Patients who enroll can download an app or access the platform on their home computer to receive information and to-do lists that will help them prepare for surgery. After surgery, patients will receive daily health checks and recommendations to guide their recovery. Care team members will also use the platform to check in with patients to answer questions and monitor their progress. The service is currently offered on a trial basis for patients with scheduled orthopedic, hip, and colorectal surgeries who opt-in after discussing with a member of their care team.