TELUS launches TELUS Health Solutions and
$100 million investment over next three years
Ipsos Reid: Majority of Canadians say their medical history is tracked on paper; 93 per cent agree that medical errors can be prevented by tracking health records electronically
Toronto, ON, November 18, 2008 — TELUS today announced plans to make continued capital investments in the healthcare sector of $100 million over three years and launched a new brand, TELUS Health Solutions.
The announcements were made with news from an Ipsos Reid/ TELUS survey that reveals the majority of Canadians are still using paper to track their lifetime medical history. In an era of unprecedented technology advances, 55 per cent of Canadians are tracking their medical history on paper, one third electronically and one in four tracks it by memory.
“Many Canadians understand and support the need for technology in the Canadian healthcare system,” said Joe Natale, president, TELUS Business Solutions. “The transformation of healthcare in Canada is an enormous undertaking that will take many hands. Business and government must make significant investments. As a sign of our commitment, we are announcing our plans to invest $100M in developing TELUS Health Solutions over the next three years. We are very serious about making a difference in Canadian healthcare with applications and technology infrastructure that help access and manage critical health information.”
The Ipsos Reid survey also reveals that the majority of Canadians agree that better health outcomes can be achieved when healthcare professionals have access to information through technology. More than 90 per cent of those surveyed agreed that efficiencies in the system could be created through additional exchange of information amongst care givers and medical professionals; 93 per cent said medical errors can be prevented by improving collaboration between medical professionals using technology.
Francois Côté, president, TELUS Health, said, “There is no question eHealth is creating a new era in Canadian healthcare. Today, patient information is scattered across a myriad of different electronic and paper-based systems resulting in decisions being made without a complete picture of a patient’s history. We need to enable richer and more effective collaboration between the stakeholders of the health system in Canada. Everyone focused on delivering care: providers, insurers, government, employers and individual Canadians themselves, will benefit from advances in technology.”
The new brand – TELUS Health Solutions, backed by Emergis - represents a unique set of technology, expertise and resources to help transform how information is used in the healthcare industry.
TELUS Health Solutions has years of expertise in successfully implementing healthcare applications and information communication technology processes through industry leading solutions and consulting services to customers in Canada and around the world. It is backed by more than 1,500 TELUS Health Solutions team members including healthcare professionals. For more information, please visit telushealth.com.
*The Ipsos-Reid poll of 1005 Canadians was conducted from November 4 to 6, 2008. For more information about the methodology, please visit www.ipsos.ca.
About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.5 billion of annual revenue and 11.5 million customer connections including 6 million wireless subscribers, 4.3 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers. TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $113 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 2.1 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Allison Vale
TELUS Media Relations
416 629-6425
Allison.Vale@telus.com