OVH provides tools to help you successfully manage your own Virtual Health projects.

‎We provide support to your team through all phases including:  Engagement, Discovery, Planning, Execution and Evaluation, so your team is prepared to sustain the project after it is launched.  This includes providing project management and coaching support to the clinical/academic team through:

• Readiness Assessment
• Technical Assessment
• Patient Engagement and Support
• Project Planning
• Staff Engagement and Support Process Redesign
• Evaluation

Improving the patient experience is the driver of all Office of Virtual Health initiatives, and patient input is essential to project planning,  implementation and evaluation.  The OVH team supports clinical and academic teams to engage with patients through four phases of work:

1. Identify patients needs: This requires an understanding of patients’ compelling needs and their ability and willingness to use the Virtual Health solution.

2. Co-design with patients: An open feedback loop ensures patient input guides the solution design.  Where possible, the OVH team uses formalized patient committees.

3. Evaluate patient input: A Patient Feedback Survey is used at key project milestones to ensure patient feedback guides continuous improvement.

4. Deliver patient outcomes: Demonstrate improved patient satisfaction and experience.

The Office of Virtual Health team is based in Vancouver and can be reached at officeofvirtualhealth@phsa.ca.

The team includes:

• Linda Lupini, Executive Vice President, PHSA & BC Emergency Health Services
• Kathy Steegstra, Senior Provincial Executive Director
• Michele Fryer, Director
• Supriya Bhargavan, Innovation Lead and Project Manager
• Ying Jiang, Project Manager
• Morenike Akinyemi, Project Manager

• Kristina Wong, Project Manager

Virtual Health is driven by identified clinical priorities and reflects a patient-centred, collaborative approach involving clinical and academic programs, IMITS (Information Management Information Technology Solutions) and Office of Virtual Health.

The governance model has four core elements:

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1. PHSA Virtual Health Advisory Committee
Comprised of executive leaders, this committee meets twice a year to advise and guide the OVH strategic direction, and to share information regarding Virtual Health strategic priorities within their programs and services.  This creates the opportunity to expand projects so the lessons learned and resources developed can be scaled up across other PHSA programs.

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2. PHSA Virtual Health Working Group 
OVH facilitates PHSA-wide working groups to address common needs and find solutions that will work for all clinical programs in PHSA.

 3. OVH Policy Review Working Group
Members of this group are nominated by the PHSA Clinical Leaders of Virtual Health Advisory Committee.  This group provides input into policy development and consults with other stakeholders as required.  They also ensure approved policies are disseminated and build awareness to support adoption.

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4. OVH Evaluation Review Working Group
This group strengthens the ability of OVH to monitor and evaluate progress of Virtual Health solutions and provides input into the OVH evaluation framework.  Members are nominated by the PHSA Clinical Leaders of Virtual Health Advisory Committee and represent all PHSA agencies and services.