Hosted by The JC School of Public Health and Primary Care (JCSPHPC) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the “SPHPC Thematic Research Seminar Series – Hospital at Home in British Columbia: Providing Acute Care for Patients in Community” will take place on 10 October 2025 (Friday).
Dr. Kendall Ho, Professor of the Depeartment of Emergency Medicine, The University of British Columbia, will present about the “Hospital at Home” model—an innovative approach that delivers hospital-level care to patients in their own homes using community-based professionals and remote monitoring technologies. He will share insights from its implementation in British Columbia, Canada, and discuss how this model can help relieve hospital overcrowding and improve care experiences for both patients and providers.
The seminar will be held in hybrid mode, with Dr. Ho Zooming in from Canada, and Prof. Kelvin Tsoi, Associate Professor of JCSPHPC, moderating in person.
Registration will close at noon on 9 October 2025 (Thursday).
Please refer to the details below:
| Date & Time | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm 10 October 2025 (Friday) (Hong Kong Time) ** 20:00 pm – 21:00 pm 9 October 2025 (Vancouver Time) |
| Venue | KCTCRC 1/F, School of Public Health Building Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin |
| Mode | Hybrid |
| Topic | Hospital at Home in British Columbia: Providing Acute Care for Patients in Community |
| Speaker | Dr. Kendall Ho Professor Department of Emergency Medicine The University of British Columbia (More about Dr. Ho) |
| Moderator | Prof. Kelvin Tsoi Associate Professor The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
Seminar Abstract
As there is increasing pressure on health systems around the world to address the needs for hospital care for patients due to increasing complexity of illnesses and aging population, hospital capacity to accommodate the volume of patients is being significantly challenged, resulting in hospitals constantly operating in more than 100% capacity, boarding of patients in the Emergency Departments, stress on acute care health professionals, and difficulties in resource management for senior health administrators and policy makers.
Hospital at Home (HaH) is a rapidly emerging approach in the management of patients who conventionally needed in-hospital treatments, but can be safely sent home for treatment using community-based health professionals together with digital technologies for remote patient monitoring. This session is to explore the principles of HaH, how this is being deployed in British Columbia, Canada, and areas of growth in this innovative health service delivery to alleviate hospital pressure and improve patient and health provider experience.
About the Speaker
Dr. Kendall Ho serves as a Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Medicine and the leading emergency medicine specialist of the UBC Digital Emergency Medicine Unit.
Dr. Ho is the medical director of the BC Ministry of Health HealthLink BC virtual physician program, and clinical evaluation lead of the BC Real Time Virtual Support provincial virtual care services. His Digital Emergency Medicine research and knowledge translation work focus on virtual care, wearables and sensors, machine learning and artificial intelligence in urgent and emergency care, and multicultural engagement in digital health literacy.
Dr. Ho’s body of research and educational work has been recognized with multiple awards, and he received the BC Medal of Good Citizenship for his community work. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is a member of the International Society of Digital Health, the health informatics and technology special interest group in the International Federation of Emergency Medicine, and the telehealth working group of MEDINFO.
About the Moderator
Professor Kelvin Tsoi is an Epidemiologist specialized in Digital Health. His research interests focus on digital innovation in chronic disease management, including mobile and telecare application for hypertension management, technological implementation and social engagement for cognitive screening, artificial intelligent application on electronic health records. He also works as the traditional epidemiologist on evidence-based medicine and population cohort studies.
Professor Tsoi is an academic pioneer to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between medical schools and engineering departments; and further promotes research participation in Digital Health. He worked with his research collaborators from Stanford University, Columbia University, University of Rochester, University of Sydney, University of Leeds, University of Southampton, University of Reading, University of British Columbia, and National University of Singapore to organize the 1st International Symposium on Digital Health (ISDH2019). After the symposium, he was nominated as the Founder of the International Society for Digital Health to promote the interdisciplinary research network. With global vision and professional experience, he also serves as an advisor in the Society for Innovative Healthcare Hong Kong. This is an important action for him to apply his knowledge to serve our community in Hong Kong.