Profile
Keywords: Medical ethics, Information Systems, Health services and systems, Social policy, Statistics, Public policy, Cognitive sciences, Neurosciences, medical and health and physiological aspects, n.e.c., medical physics
Vess Stamenova is Assistant Professor of IT Management at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Hospital. She studies how technology is used in the healthcare system with a focus on clinical informatics (technology used in patient care) and telemedicine.
Vess is interested in understanding how the use of technology impacts patients and healthcare providers experience, patient outcomes, cost to the healthcare system, and access to care across various vulnerable patient populations, including immigrants. She uses mixed-methods research, including qualitative, quantitative and population-based health administrative studies. Her research ultimately feeds back into supporting organizational and policy decisions around the use of virtual care.
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Leveraging cultural-language translation apps to support and promote equitable older adult care: A scoping review TRS1 1.3.8 Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia Publication 2026-01-07 Chung-Lee, L. , Abdolreza Akbarian,
Yoon, R. ,
Abdulai, A. , Anoushka Saksena,
Zinaic, R. ,
Stamenova, V. ,
Hou, R. ,
Wong, J. TRS1 1.3.8 Impact of billing policy changes on telehealth use in Ontario: a population-based repeated cross-sectional study Abstract As telehealth is being integrated into a regularly functioning system, policy makers have been adding some restrictions related to its use (e.g. modalities and pre-existing in-person relationship rules). We explored how the new policies impacted the levels of use across telehealth modalities and if the impact varied across sociodemographic and chronic condition groups of patients. This is a population-based repeated cross-sectional study examining all outpatient visits in Ontario, Canada on a weekly basis from the week of January 1st, 2018 until the week of December 25 th , 2023. We used linked health administrative databases of health services provided to all Ontario residents who are insured through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). We examined the total number of visits and the rates of in-person and telehealth visits per 1000 persons per week. Across Ontario, there were 115 046 536 telehealth visits during the study time period (26.4% of all ambulatory care). There was a 6.7% reduction in telehealth and a 10% reduction in the number of physicians using telehealth at the beginning of December 2022 when the new policies were introduced. This was in the absence of a reduction of total ambulatory visits. The impact varied across medical specialties, patient age groups, rurality and chronic conditions, but seemingly not across sex or income quintiles. The use of video increased slightly over the study period with 1 in 4 telehealth visits occurring over video. While the policy changes led to an overall reduction in telehealth use, the total ambulatory visits did not change, suggesting a shift of care from virtual to in-person. The adoption of video increased, but future studies should focus on exploring whether there are clear benefits of using video over telephone, as certain groups of patients may be impacted more than others. Author Summary As healthcare systems returned to normal functioning after the pandemic, rules around the use of telehealth (use of telephone and video to provide care) changed. For example, in Ontario, Canada, physicians were paid on par for video visits as in-person visits, but telephone visits were paid at 85% of the rate. In addition, the government introduced requirements related to whether a patient has been seen in-person by a physician within the last two years prior to a telehealth visit. Our study explored the impact of these changes using physician billing data. Overall, there was a 6.7% reduction in telehealth and a 10% reduction in the number of physicians using telehealth when the new policies were introduced in Dec, 2022. The impact varied across medical specialties, patient age groups, rurality and chronic conditions, but seemingly not across sex or income quintiles. Overall outpatient visits were not impacted, suggesting that care shifted back to in-person. The majority of telehealth still occurred over telephone, despite a slight increase in the use of video after the policies were introduced. Toronto Metropolitan University Publication 2025-05-07 Stamenova, V. , Cherry Chu, Jiming Fang, Onil Bhattacharyya, R Sacha Bhatia, Mina Tadrous
The Value Proposition for Payers and Users of Generative AI Message Drafting in Healthcare: A Mixed-Methods Study TRS1 1.3.4 Toronto Metropolitan University Grant 2025-06-01 TRS1 1.3.4 Connecting Care: Telehealth Access and Preferences Among Immigrants in Ontario TRS1 1.3.4 Toronto Metropolitan University Grant 2025-02-01 TRS1 1.3.4 Bridging Divides Research Discovery Retreat TRS1 1.3.8 Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia Conference 2025-06-11 Chung-Lee, L. , Abdolreza Akbarian,
Yoon, R. ,
Abdulai, A. , Anoushka Saksena,
Zinaic, R. , Michelle Hou,
Stamenova, V. ,
Hou, R. ,
Wong, J. TRS1 1.3.8 Migrant Integration in the Mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides Barriers and Bridges: Technology, Hiring, and Health for Newcomers Spring 2026 Retreat TRS1 1.1, TRS1 1.5, TRS2 1.2, TRS2 1.3, TRS2 1.4 Toronto Metropolitan University Event 2026-03-26 TRS1 1.1, TRS1 1.5, TRS2 1.2, TRS2 1.3, TRS2 1.4 Bridging the Communication Gap: World Café Insights on Mobile Translation Technology in Improving Care of Older Immigrants in Community and Long-term Care Conference abstract accepted for oral presentation in May 2026TRS1 1.3.8 Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Toronto Publication 2026-01-19 Andrew Marciniak,
Stamenova, V. ,
Chung-Lee, L. ,
Wong, J. , Mable Ho, Anoushka Saksena, Abdolreza Akbarian,
Yoon, R. TRS1 1.3.8 Moving Beyond Being Lost in Translation – Leveraging Mobile Cultural-Language Translation Tools to Enable Equitable Older Adult Care Abdulai, A.-F., Chung-Lee, L., Ho, M., Hou, R., Stamenova, V., Yoon, R., Anoushka, A., Akbarian, A., Marciniak, A., Wong, J.P. (accepted). Moving Beyond Being Lost in Translation – Leveraging Mobile Cultural-Language Translation Tools to Enable Equitable Older Adult Care [Conference presentation abstract]. Community Health Nurses of Canada 2026 Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 20-22, 2026.
TRS1 1.3.8 University of British Columbia, Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Toronto Publication 2026-01-20 Abdulai, A. ,
Chung-Lee, L. ,
Hou, R. ,
Stamenova, V. ,
Yoon, R. , Anoushka Saksena, Andrew Marciniak,
Wong, J. TRS1 1.3.8 Adopting Cultural-Language Translation Technologies to Advance Equitable Older Adult Care Akbarian, A., Yoon, R., Ho, M., Stamenova, V., Chung-Lee, L., Hou, R., Wong, J.P., Abdulai, A.-F., Anoushka, A., & Marciniak, A. (submitted 2025, December 1). Adopting Cultural-Language Translation Technologies to Advance Equitable Older Adult Care [Conference presentation abstract]. 37th International Nursing Research Congress, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 16-18, 2026.
TRS1 1.3.8 University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, University of British Columbia Publication 2025-12-01 Abdolreza Akbarian,
Yoon, R. ,
Stamenova, V. ,
Chung-Lee, L. ,
Hou, R. ,
Wong, J. ,
Abdulai, A. , Anoushka Saksena, Andrew Marciniak,
Wong, J. TRS1 1.3.8 Bridging Divides Research Discovery Retreat TRS1 1.3.4 Toronto Metropolitan University Conference 2026-02-19 TRS1 1.3.4 Bridging Divides Research Discovery Retreat TRS1 1.3.4 Toronto Metropolitan University Conference 2026-02-19 TRS1 1.3.4 Bridging Divides Spring Retreat TRS1 1.3.4 Toronto Metropolitan University Conference 2026-03-26 TRS1 1.3.4 Bridging Divides Annual Conference TRS1 1.3.4 Toronto Metropolitan University Conference 2026-04-20 TRS1 1.3.4 Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) TRS1 1.3.4 Toronto Metropolitan University Conference 2026-04-20 TRS1 1.3.4
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