Quebec SmartCare Consortium reaches first year

MONTREAL – December 13th marked the one-year anniversary of the creation of the Quebec SmartCare Consortium (QSCC). Led by the Opal Health Informatics Group at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), the QSCC brings together patients, clinicians, researchers, and diverse industry partners. These groups are working together to use the technology of the Opal patient portal to provide patients with access to their medical data and to contribute new data for research.

One year ago, the QSCC was awarded $10.18 million over three years from the Quebec Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation and several private partners to achieve its ambitious objectives.

Over the last 12 months, the Opal Health Informatics Group (OHIG) has been working hard with all QSCC partners to build the necessary infrastructure to make data flow between patients, their clinicians, and researchers at the RI-MUHC.

“During our first year, we worked with all our consortium partners to co-design Opal’s updated infrastructure around their data needs, and to build a solid data governance framework,” says RI-MUHC scientist John Kildea (pictured), PhD, principal investigator for the QSCC, and a scientist in the Cancer Research Program at the RI-MUHC, as well as co-founder and research and development director of the Opal Health Informatics Group.

“We added new research and electronic consent menus in the Opal patient portal, and we have also expanded Opal’s use, to both the gastrointestinal clinic at the Montreal General Hospital and the Nephrology Division at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Stay tuned for exciting developments to come in 2023!”

QSCC partners include Hoffman-La Roche, Novartis Canada, the MUHC Foundation, the Cedars Cancer Foundation, VitalTracer, iMD Research, Injoy, My Intelligent Machines, the McGill Centre for Genomics and Policy, CHU Ste-Justine, LabTNS, and the MUHC Technology Assessment Unit.

The RI-MUHC-based research team has marked the one-year anniversary by highlighting the consortium’s different partners on its LinkedIn and Facebook platforms.

“In sharing our partners’ experiences in working in the QSCC, we can showcase their tremendous enthusiasm for making data flow between patients, clinicians, and researchers,” said Tristan Williams, social media coordinator and patient partner for OHIG. “We are very excited to move into year two of this project.”

The Opal Health Informatics Group acknowledges all hospital foundations and research funding agencies who have generously supported Opal’s development over the years, including the MUHC Foundation, the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Montreal General Hospital Foundation, and the Cedars Cancer Foundation.