Almost ten years later, Ontario is still leading the way in telehealth services.  Several networks (Eastern Ontario Telehealth Network – EOTN, CareConnect, NORTH Network, VideoCare: Southwestern Ontario Telehealth Network) covering much of the province’s geography allow patients in remote locations immediate access to specialized medical care that would not be available any other way.

Delivering programs and services on a regional basis, Ontario’s telehealth networks offer more than 70 specialties and sub-specialties through a number of well-established telehealth programs.  Specialities include: cardiology, dermatology, mental health services, public health, burn/wound management, telestroke, geriatrics, and rehabilitation.

According to Jonathan Linkous, executive director of the American Telemedicine Association, Ontario’s NORTH Network is a telehealth innovator and well ahead of similar U.S. networks. It not only operates one of the most active telehealth networks in North America, Linkous said, but also one of the most diverse. In addition to doctor/patient videoconferencing, the network supports electronic health records (EHRs) and a provincewide diagnostic imagery system.

Ontario’s telehealth services have helped geographically remote onsite healthcare professionals save thousands of lives by facilitating immediate, responsive medical assistance at the scene, which prior to the telehealth services, was often an ambulance – air or road – ride away.