We are delighted to announce the launch of PopData's Metadata Central, an online data documentation system for our Research and Data Steward communities.

The use of publicly-funded telehealth services, or virtual visits, in the primary care setting in British Columbia has dramatically increased over the last five years, as has the cost of providing these services. So far, however, such virtual visits have undergone little objective evaluation.

Data access has been approved for a study to measure the health care costs of cancer care in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec and Nova Scotia. Dr Stuart Peacock, Distinguished Scientist at the BC Cancer Agency, is leading the British Columbia arm of the project which is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

In 2010, the BC Ministry of Health set out a three-year service plan which included a focus on integrating family physician and community health care to address the increasing needs of the population due to aging, a rising burden of illness from chronic disease and an increased prevalence of frailty.

As anyone who has been touched with breast cancer knows, the experience of breast cancer is not just about oncology treatment, but about the whole journey from timely diagnosis to post-treatment care, including community-based care.

Every year ovarian cancer affects over 2,600 Canadian women and the five-year overall survival rates for this disease remain below 50%. 

Almost a third of Canadians have experienced a mental health disorder at some point during their lifetimes, according to data from the Canadian Community Health Survey. In 2006 alone, it is estimated that mental illnesses accounted for a $52 billion economic burden.