Patient Summary, QR codes, and the Art of the Possible

Infoway and partners Health Canada, CIHI and others, are working towards the goals of a pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap.

This includes plans to support Provincial and Territorial partners in implementing an interoperable Patient Summary, a concise, standards-based snapshot of a patient's history including medical problems, medications, allergies, and more.

The Canadian standard, PS-CA, aligns with a global standard, the International Patient Summary (IPS).

But what does a Patient Summary look like in practice for patients and providers ?

We had a chance to meet with colleagues from the University of Washington last year, to learn about their WAverify+ QR code initiative. Please see these links below relating to their WAverify+ work on QR code access to a Patient Summary: smart-health-links-ips.cirg.washington.edu/home

and ePatient Dave's intriguing article on the topic: www.epatientdave.com/2023/09/11/making-caseys-qr-dream-starts-coming-to-life-at-last-slowly-using-fhir/

Many thanks to my colleague Allana Cameron for sharing these links. They provide a glimpse into the near future of the 'art of the possible'.