The Manitoba government is investing more than $2.4 million over four years for three applied research projects to enhance real-time access to the data health-care providers need to make informed decisions when caring for patients.

“Health-care providers need timely access to information so we can maximize the benefits and deliver better health care sooner for Manitobans,” said Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen. “Investing in this research will help us find ways to ensure clinical providers have access to the data they need to make more informed decisions about patient care, which supports the implementation of Manitoba’s provincial clinical and preventive services plan.”

This project also receives funding support through Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Rewarding Success initiative. The Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) and the province of Manitoba will each invest $600,000 annually over four years to support work on the project.

“This project demonstrates the power of research in improving the health of Canadians and enhancing the health care experience for patients while making health care systems more effective and efficient,” said Dr. Tammy Clifford, vice president, research programs, CIHR. “This is an excellent example of a collaborative effort supported through our SPOR program.”

Three physicians at the University of Manitoba are leading the project, each focusing on a different area of health care and how timely access to data can be used to:

  • create efficiencies to reduce the need for blood transfusions and ensure appropriate care is provided during surgeries;
  • enhance the use of home dialysis to ensure care is delivered closer to home for rural patients; and
  • enhance navigation to health care for cancer patients to ensure timely access to care, particularly in rural and northern Manitoba.

“Mindset, the Manitoba integrated data platform, will transform how patients and providers access, and are informed by, health data,” said team lead Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, associate professor of medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine and senior scientist, Research Institute of Oncology and Hematology. “Developed with diverse stakeholders, including patients and the Government of Manitoba and the federal government, the province-wide platform will be the first of its kind in Canada and transformational for our province. It will help promote the efficient functioning and sustainability of our health system and will improve the lives of all Manitobans.”

The minister noted these projects will inform how data is collected and used in real time as the province’s health-system transformation moves forward.

“As we develop one system for data collection, information management and analysis, it’s important to find out what kind of data is needed and how it can be provided in more timely ways so that we can support patients and ensure quality care,” said Friesen. “This project will guide our investments in this area in the months and years ahead and allow us to maximize the benefits as we continue to transform the health care system, and provide Manitobans what they have long deserved, better health care sooner.”

The SPOR Rewarding Success initiative was established in 2017 to address complex health problems. The initiative provides funding in a way similar to social impact bonds, where a portion of any economic benefits from research projects are reinvested to conduct further research studies.