Article
Illustrative vignette
A health care perspective
The following is a fictitious scenario illustrating a human experience in today’s world, followed by an imagined improved future enabled by digital identity. In this vignette, we’ve created Aleks, from Elliot Lake, Ontario.
A look at the current state
Managing all the doctors, tests, appointments, and medications in my life is so frustrating! My doctors and nurses don’t seem to talk to each other and are scattered across different cities.I can’t keep track of my passwords to various labs or even what tests I took where! I wish my daughter could help, but when she tries, she’s told my information is private, and they cannot disclose anything to her.
Aleks is a retired forestry worker who recently moved to Manitoba after working in northern Ontario for much of his career. His prescribed care involves regular appointments with a local physiotherapist for chronic pain from a permanent, work-related injury. Changing all his identity documents for the move from Ontario to Manitoba and bringing his medical records with him was difficult and stressful, and he faces having to pay for treatment out of pocket or even pause treatment while he waits for assurance that he’s fully covered in Manitoba. Aleks isn’t exactly digitally savvy and English is not his first language.
Envisioning the digital ID-enabled future state
Using a root provincial ID, such as a digital health card, issued to his smartphone in Ontario by the provincial government, Aleks can easily apply for a Manitoba health card through its web portal. Since his key medical records (vaccination details, diagnostic tests, etc.) are also accessible through a digital portal using the identity held in his digital wallet, Aleks can pull his information and transfer it to the relevant parties in his new province rather than emailing unsecure PDFs from disparate sources.
How digital ID can enable an integrated circle of care
In his digital wallet, Aleks can assign delegation rights to his daughter so that she is able to remotely view his medical information in her own digital wallet. She helps with managing his appointments, test results, and prescriptions. Another set of eyes reduces the stress for both and is locked to her ID, ensuring she is the only one with delegate access.
For an upcoming specialist appointment, Aleks will be dialing in remotely. Using his digital wallet, he can authenticate that both he and the doctor are the appropriate parties on the call. It’s as easy as video chatting with his grandkids. At the end of the appointment, the doctor sends a digitally signed prescription to his phone that Aleks can scan at the pharmacist. No more paper trails!
I love that all my health information is available in one place. And now that I’ve digitally given my daughter permission to view my test results online too, she worries less. Virtual doctor appointments take a bit of getting used to, but I’m glad I know exactly who I’m talking to and don’t have to remember even more passwords.
Recommendations
Digital health credentials that empower the individual
Discover the advantages for Canadian citizens and for the institutions that serve them.
Illustrative vignette
An indigenous perspective