TRUSTSPHERE
This project aims to empower Canadians through a trustworthy health platform that enables them to view, share and manage their own health data in a secure manner.
Project Overview
Updated February 21, 2024
The Problem
The benefits of data-driven healthcare will empower patients to improve how they manage their health, wellness and care journey.
However, the emergence of tailored digital health, leveraging artificial intelligence, smartphone apps and sensors, requires comprehensive data and innovative ways to safely manage access to personal information.
Secure, patient-controlled data access and portability of health data is currently limited. Concerns about the privacy of patients and data breaches limit regular, secure sharing of health information. For many patients, the need for special passwords or IDs, or even physical code generators, poses further challenges to the effective and efficient sharing of needed clinical information.
How We Are Solving It
To empower patients and enable healthcare providers with improved access to health data, a digital trust framework that operates seamlessly across the entire healthcare system is needed. This framework will drive more efficient healthcare delivery and better health outcomes for patients.
In response, TRUSTSPHERE aims to close the trust gap and reduce the complexities involved with digital transactions. The project is led by Careteam Technologies and includes the University of British Columbia, Secure Key, IDENTOS, Smile CDR, MedStack and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. The platform will adopt open standards and a cooperative governance model that will allow users to easily and securely share confidential information through online healthcare services, in compliance with the highest standards of privacy protection. Patients will control the sharing and access to the information they deem sensitive. Patients will benefit from easier access to fulsome health information and improved quality of care with reduced duplication of work and information gaps.
The pilot phases start with children in B.C. with Type 1 diabetes, with the goal to engage other patient groups as well as expand across Canada and then internationally.
The Result
TRUSTSPHERE is a first of its kind digital health platform that enables the integrated care management of children with Type 1 Diabetes and extends sensitive health information for clinical research in real-time. Available to download as “CareHub” on the Apple and Google App stores, its pilot with the BC Children’s Hospital saw active use by pediatric patients, families, caregivers and clinicians. As of March 31, 2023, early feedback showcased that 90% of care providers were satisfied and over 70% of patients and families would recommend the CareHub app to other families with children living with Type 1 Diabetes.
The TRUSTSPHERE project sought to address the critical challenge of enabling strong digital identity and consent management for patients, clinicians, healthcare providers, government agencies, researchers and vendors by creating an abstraction layer for data use across jurisdictions. Through its initial pilot with pediatric diabetes in B.C., the project has shown its ability and potential to empower families and pediatric diabetes patients across Canada towards better health outcomes; and to provide near real-time data to support a learning healthcare system and deepened patient engagement in research.
Project Lead
Project Partners
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“TRUSTSPHERE, co-created with patients, families, and clinicians, empowers patients as partners to optimize their health and well-being. Through this first test use case in pediatric diabetes, we have shown that TRUSTSPHERE will address key health system gaps including digital trust, patient centered data access, collaborative and continuous personalized care experiences, a robust ecosystem of near real time data to support a learning healthcare system, and deepened patient engagement in research. I am extremely proud of the work our team has accomplished and equally excited about what is to come.”
Pediatric Endocrinologist at BC Children’s Hospital Read the Announcement (August 28, 2020) -
“We are thrilled about the success of TRUSTSPHERE’s first phase of development and testing. We see great potential for this digital solution to positively impact patient health outcomes and experience, while also empowering patients and families to self manage their diabetes and ultimately optimize their overall health and wellness. TRUSTSPHERE is well aligned with the needs of our patients, care providers, and organizational direction and we look forward to supporting the next phase of work.”
Chief Medical Officer, BC Children's Hospital & BC Women's Hospital