Five Ontario-based companies have made the list of the “Ten Canadian Healthcare Solutions to Watch.” The list, compiled by IDC, a major market research firm, consists of 10 small privately held Canadian health care companies that have the potential to make an impact on the information and communications technology (ICT) solutions market.
Three companies are based in the Toronto area and are MaRS clients. Meet the innovators:
Infonaut develops map-based decision-making tools for disease surveillance and emergency preparedness, planning and response. Infonaut Live, the company’s web-based application suite combines geographic information systems with location-tracking technologies such as RFID and GPS to provide disease surveillance and alert applications at the building, community, or regional levels. Visit flumap.ca to see tracking of H1N1 across Canada. And check out this recent post on digital mapping tools including Infonaut.
Mensante’s product, FeelingBetterNow, is an online mental health disease management tool for the detection, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of disorders such as depression or anxiety. Individuals can log on to the site for an anonymous, confidential mental health assessment. A Diagnostic Risk Assessment and Care Map is then taken to a family physician. The maps have gained approval from the College of Physicians of Canada and the Canadian Medical Association. In 2008, Dr. Sam Ozersky, CEO and founder, was awarded Community Based Physician Innovator of the Year by the Canadian Association for Health Informatics.
Quanser Consulting in Markham develops robotics. Their solutions are being used now in eye surgeries, rehab therapy and training as well as in Margaret Atwood’s LongPen remote-signing product.
Other Ontario companies named to the list include MedShare, based in Cambridge, which provides mobile electronic health records to home health care agencies. Well.ca, in Guelph, is an online drugstore that sells health and beauty products.
Congratulations to these emerging Canadian companies for being recognized for their innovative ICT solutions to pressing health care problems.
June is an information specialist at MaRS and a recent graduate of the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto.
