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

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Manitoba Invests in Research Project to Support Health System Decision-Making Data Needs

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February 13, 2020

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The Manitoba government is investing more than $2.4 million over four years to enhance real-time access to the data health-care providers need to make informed decisions when caring for patients and to create a learning health system for Manitoba, Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen announced today.

“Health-care providers need timely access to information so we can maximize the benefits and deliver better health care sooner for Manitobans," said 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 received funding support through Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR). CIHR and the province of Manitoba will each invest $600,000 a year over four years, for a total of $4.8-million, 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. This is an excellent example of a collaborative effort supported through our SPOR program,” said Dr. Tammy Clifford, Vice President, Research Programs, CIHR.

Three physicians at the University of Manitoba are leading the project, each focusing on a different area of health care. Each physician will focus on one of three different initiatives looking at 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 more 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 maximize the benefits,” said Friesen. “This project will guide our investments in this area in the months and years ahead and allow us to maximize the benefits and deliver better health care sooner for Manitobans.”

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.   


For more information on SPOR, please visit CIHR’s website.  

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For more information: Ilana Simon,
Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, 204-295-6777
or email: ilana.simon@umanitoba.ca

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