Halifax, NS, May 11, 2020 – Remote Patient Management for Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices (RPM-CIED), a national randomized controlled study, consisting of over two-thousand patients in 12 sites across Canada, has launched in Calgary, AB, Halifax, NS, Kitchener, ON, and Quebec City, QC. This program focuses on patient care with remote management of implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD) and pacemakers and the efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of CANet’s VIRTUES care platform. VIRTUES will facilitate the remote-only environment of this study. Approximately 120,000 Canadian patients live with either a pacemaker or ICD. These patients are required to visit a cardiac device clinic at least once a year. The unmet need for patients with ICD’s and pacemakers to improve follow up methods outside of a clinical environment was recognized before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “In our pilot work, we found that a remote-only approach was safe and feasible. We also found that 91% of patients desire communication from their clinic regarding their device,” says Dr. Ratika Parkash, CANet Network Investigator, Electrophysiologist at Halifax’s QEII Health Sciences Centre, and Professor at Dalhousie University. “This is not currently happening in the majority of clinics in Canada, “she adds. Although remote monitoring for CIEDs has been...

“As product designers, we have to fall in love with the problem instead of the solution,” says Jonathan Kochis, head of Research and Design at the London, Ontario based firm Res.im. “Focus on the solution, and you end up with a narrow view, possibly missing something crucial.” Res.im has partnered with CANet to design front-end elements of the VIRTUES Clinical Platform – CANet’s user-driven clinical application that will transform how patients and clinicians manage arrhythmia. VIRTUES will give doctors and patients the most up-to-date medical records at a moment’s notice. It will empower patients and caregivers to be active partners in the management of their health. Kochis highlights the growing demand by consumers to have everything that they might need at their fingertips, accessible via phone. Healthcare organizations must move away from traditional ideas of healthcare access, and meet these expectations. “VIRTUES is meeting that consumer demand,” Kochis says. “It is smart and necessary.” CANet has also partnered with multiple companies across Canada to leverage world-class expertise in developing cutting-edge healthcare which also helps foster economic growth. These collaborations will help CANet come closer to its strategic goal of significantly improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and accessibility of arrhythmia care delivery...

London, ON, February 1, 2019 — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) leverages cutting-edge technology to empower its patients. Digital innovations like artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and consumer-grade wearables are now mainstream. Healthcare services must invest in these breakthroughs to deliver better medical care for Canadians. CANet is currently focusing on solutions – advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain technology – towards one simple strategic goal – significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accessibility of arrhythmia care delivery in Canada. “We are staying ahead of the digital-health curve by bridging the gap between doctors, technologists, and patients,” says CANet Research Data and Systems Manager Dimitri Popolov. So far, that gap has been a key obstacle in developing advanced healthcare technology. CANet’s VIRTUES Clinical Platform – a user-driven clinical application – is transforming how CANet works with patients and clinicians to manage arrhythmia. It presents patients with their health data and includes them in the decision-making process aimed at improving health outcomes. Think of VIRTUES as precision medicine – a bundle of technology and medical breakthroughs wrapped in an online platform seamlessly and securely sharing valuable clinical data among wearable medical devices and databases, doctors and patients, all across...

Dr. Ratika Parkash is getting closer to 120,000 patients across Canada. Parkash’s work is aimed at patients who live with pacemakers or implantable defibrillators – both, cardiac implantable electronic devices or CIEDs. Pacemakers help control abnormal heart rhythm. Implantable defibrillators deliver life-saving shocks to patients who are at risk of irregular and potentially fatal heart rhythms. “We want to deliver more efficient pacemaker and implantable cardiac device care across Canada, virtually eliminating in-clinic visits for most patients,” Parkash says. CIEDs, like any other devices, need regular maintenance in order to function properly and detect atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmia more effectively. Patients often visit specialized device clinics at least twice a year, sometimes more frequently. For 19 per cent of Canadians living in rural communities, they have to travel long distances to reach these clinics and healthcare facilities. Dr. Paul MacDonald, a cardiologist at Cape Breton Regional Hospital says, “We are over 400 km away from the teaching centre where these devices are implanted. If they do need to be checked or monitored, it can mean, for example, a five-hour drive, or an overnight stay. Often patients’ families have to go, or patients are admitted to hospital and require ambulance...