Apr 14, 2022
Challenge
One of Canada’s leading mental health care facilities was facing significant difficulties in delivering necessary care to their patients with mental-health illness and addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the limitations imposed by the pandemic, in-person access to medical care was restricted, and the opioid-overdose rate surged. To continue providing quality care, the facility required an innovative solution that could provide remote care services to their patients.
Solution
Emids was engaged to develop a digital platform that could effectively facilitate remote care delivery. Leveraging the facility’s existing Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) Clinic, Emids applied its design-led engineering and user experience design knowledge to digitize the facility’s workflows, resulting in a seamless ‘digital front door‘ experience. This allowed patients to access the same care services via the internet on both desktop and mobile devices.
Emids’ HealthConnect and InQ technologies were integral to the development of the digital front door and workflow experience. This digital platform expedited the care delivery process through online meeting tools, minimized the need for extensive IT support, and simplified system integration.
Patients could log in to the RAAM Clinic from a device with internet connectivity and a camera, answer a few preliminary questions, provide insurance information, and then connect with a clinician for personalized assessment. Moreover, this solution enabled patients to interact with various care team members, such as addiction counselors, social workers, nurses, and physicians, while also allowing additional support members like friends and family to attend the sessions.
Results
The digital solution increased the facility’s regional reach by 20 percent, extending care to underserved and remote communities. It improved the access to team-based, personalized care, with patients being triaged within three minutes and meeting their first clinician within nine minutes of entering the digital front door.
The solution had a positive impact on the facility’s performance metrics, thus aiding its continuous improvement efforts. The facility successfully transitioned from in-person care to digital care, with the digital solution receiving high praise from the facility and patients alike. A satisfaction rate of nearly 96 percent was recorded among patients, and 100 percent of the clinic staff agreed that the digital solution increased their capacity to see clients and maintain the standards of care. Patient feedback underscored the solution’s success, with one patient wishing more healthcare services were set up in a similar manner, and another expressing surprise at how quick and easy the online service was.