Major research contract relating to Dossier santé numérique
October 5, 2023
Professor Guy Paré has been instrumental in securing a research contract for HEC Montréal that is related to the development of the showcase project entitled Dossier Santé Numérique (DSN), which will be the first step towards implementing digital health records in Quebec. This contract, which is valued at $2.4 million, has been signed between the HEC Montréal Health Care Management Hub and the Centre of Expertise – DSN Program, which is the representative of Quebec’s Department of Health and Social Services (MSSS) in this project.
HEC Montréal will provide the scientific support required for executing this project, by using its multidisciplinary expertise to carry out a set of research activities.
This research will be conducted under the coordination of the Health Care Management Hub, by a team of around ten researchers from various educational institutions in Quebec, including Université de Montréal, Université Laval, Université du Québec à Montréal, Université de Sherbrooke and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. The team will be led by Guy Paré, Professor in the Department of Information Technologies, and Holder of the Research Chair in Digital Health at HEC Montréal.
Several faculty members from the School are part of this valuable research team:
- Benoit Aubert
- Camille Grange
- Kevin Johnson
- Marie-Claude Trudel
- Gregory Vial
The team will also rely on the support of Professor Denis Chênevert, a specialist in strategic human resources management.
The DSN will eventually become the main tool for health and social services workers as well as a tool for providing digital services to users. It’s objective: one patient, one record. This unique provincial digital health record is designed to be efficient and interoperable.
Anticipated benefits of the DSN rollout will include, among other things, optimized access to reliable and high-quality data in real time, savings linked to the decongestion of multiple information systems, reduction of duplicate examinations for patients and lower medication-related incidents.
The DSN will be implemented over the next few years in 2 integrated university health and social services centres (CIUSSS): Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and Mauricie–Centre-du-Québec. If this experience proves conclusive, the MSSS could decide to rollout the new IT system throughout the Quebec health system, as a major project for the health and social services network.
This context demonstrates the significance of the research contract awarded to the School. The research program is based on action research wherein the scientific team becomes a stakeholder in the project, by stimulating the thought processes of managers responsible for the digital transformation of the health network and by setting in motion several specific actions in collaboration with actors in the field.
The contract will entail research work over an initial period of 3 years, but its duration will be adjusted according to the progress of the activities linked to the 2 showcase sites.