Island Health's Drew Digney, MD, CCFP (EM) on Solving Healthcare's Challenges of Demographics, Access, and Accountability

In this episode of the Healthcare Disruptors podcast, Ohad speaks with Drew Digney, MD, CCFP (EM), Medical Director at Oceanside Health Centre, Island Health - Vancouver Island Health Authority. They discuss the biggest challenges facing healthcare today — demographics, access, and accountability — and what hospital administrators can do to reduce wait times and improve patient care, including better data recording and tracking. They also talk about how handheld ultrasound assists in faster decision-making and how AI will be a "game-changer" for radiology.

 

Topics discussed:

• How primary care has changed with the rise in specialists and fewer generalists.
• How reducing wait times improved care across "vertical" customers and "horizontal" patients.
• Why an aging demographic of patients presents a challenge to healthcare systems.
• Why hospitals need smoothing when it comes to access on different days of the week.
• How a lack of accountability has led to healthcare having an expenditure problem.
• Why recording and tracking good data is a solution to more accountability and less variability.
• How handheld ultrasound improves decision-making and how AI in radiology will be a "game-changer."