Young Edmonton company ready to help reopen economy with COVID vaccine passport

Miral Mehta, Atom Health founder.

As politicians and governments across Canada debate the merits of a COVID-19 vaccine passport, an Edmonton startup is ready to jump into the fray with their recently developed, easy-to-use “COV:ID” app.

Atom Health is part of the U of A Health Hub and Accelerator, using cloud computing solutions and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve health outcomes and assist physicians with personalized health advice for their patients. Its founder, Miral Mehta, says their COV:ID app is an extension of the firm’s main technology, a digital health hub that allows users to store and securely share all their personal medical information. Mehta is an Edmonton ophthalmologist who obtained her medical education in India, which she supplemented with training in computer coding and AI upon her immigration to Canada. After initial attempts at a couple of startups that were ultimately unsuccessful, she established Atom Health last October.

The Atom platform was developed by IT engineers led by Mehta. For both the personal health wallet or digital health information storage and COV:ID, users can create a profile online at atomhealth.ca and upload all their health information, COVID tests and proof of COVID immunization. This profile, which is encrypted for security, becomes the user’s personal health repository or Atom.

From there, health information can be downloaded as a unique QR code onto a smartphone or a computer, or printed out. COV:ID is a separate QR code that only stores COVID-related records. It can be exported directly onto an airline boarding pass, which makes things simpler for both the traveller and the airline staff.

Those who sign up for either the Atom health app or COV:ID or both will get the first three months free, then an annual subscription fee will be charged.

While some people believe COVID passports may be our ticket to reopening the economy, Canadian governments were initially reluctant to commit to the idea. However, thinking has changed globally and in Canada. Federal Health Minister Patty Hadju said recently her government embraces the concept of vaccine passports for activities such as international travel.

There has been some controversy surrounding the passports because of the potential unfairness to those who cannot be vaccinated due to medical or other reasons. Mehta points out that in addition to vaccine status, COV:ID contains information about any past COVID tests and whether an individual has had COVID and recovered, which makes it a fairer tool.

Mehta has recently been in discussions with some airports and airlines to convince them to adopt Atom’s COV:ID as their vaccine passport of choice. At this point, however, it is not clear who will be the authority—airport, airlines or governments.

Meanwhile, Mehta and her small Atom Health team are doing beta testing on their products. She stresses that the personal health information in the Atom profile goes beyond what is available through Alberta’s electronic medical health record system, Netcare. “Atom Health has been designed to serve as a digital health passport for all Canadians, a small unique electronic code that can be added to our provincial health cards,” she says.
Mehta says she is grateful for the support she has received from staff and other companies who are part of the U of A Health Hub and Accelerator. While she is not currently using the Accelerator space at Enterprise Square, due to her team working remotely during the pandemic, “they’ve helped me in many different ways—networking, sharing funding opportunities and more.”

She describes herself as an optimist with practical views, and despite challenges that have come her way, she is resilient. “Most big problems have simple solutions, but as humans, we tend to overthink and overcomplicate. Health-care silos are one such problem.”
“With Atom Health, I think I’ve finally managed to crack these barriers. I want to remind people that the primary reason health information exists is for the protection and betterment of the patient, and the silos that are created in the name of privacy are actually creating hurdles. As physicians, we pledge the oath for the well-being of patients and Atom Health is just another small step I am taking in that direction.”