“Moving the needle” through partnerships

Two projects illustrate how the application of real-world evidence can help to address healthcare challenges to generate better outcomes and efficiencies. In the first example, a broad coalition of public and private partners in Alberta is applying enhanced measurement techniques and the Triple Aim methodology to improve health outcomes among complex care, high needs patients in Edmonton’s Eastwood community. The innovative findings, it is hoped, will be scaled to other areas of the province. In the second example, the Childhood Obesity Foundation, with support from Merck in Canada, and Ayogo (a Vancouver-based digital therapeutics company) are partnering to use innovative “gamification” to build engagement and change behaviours among Canada’s increasingly sedentary youth.