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Sault Area Hospital (SAH), a 300-bed hospital that serves a population of approximately 115,000 residents in Sault Ste. Marie and the District of Algoma, partnered with ����ֱ�� to launch a as part of their Digital Health strategy that is focused on leveraging technology to improve engagement and timely communication between patients and care teams. 

Since the initial deployment in 2021 for hip and knee replacement surgery, SAH has expanded the use of Digital Care Journeys to a total of 13 care pathways across General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, and Women’s Health. 

This implementation has been further enhanced by ����ֱ��’s platform integration with MEDITECH Expanse to expedite patient enrollment, launch remote monitoring from within the Expanse patient chart, measure analytics through dashboards, and more – ultimately reducing manual processes and creating a more effortless provider and patient experience.

Speaking of the partnership, Dr. Derek Garniss, Chief Medical Information Officer at Sault Area Hospital, shared, “With our focus on innovating the future of care, clinical informatics solutions like ����ֱ�� that digitally engage, connect and monitor patients enable us to continuously improve the quality, consistency, and safety of patient care. The turnkey integration of ����ֱ�� with MEDITECH Expanse streamlines our clinical workflows, reducing manual effort and enabling our providers to save valuable time. Automating care delivery strengthens our ability to easily track and monitor patient compliance and adherence with treatment plans to improve patient outcomes, while at the same time empowering patients to take charge of their health through self-management.”

With a vision to deliver exceptional care to both urban and rural patient populations and enable safer transitions from hospital to home with Digital Care Journeys, SAH has achieved , including:

↓ 72% in 30-day ED Visits

↓ 64% in 30-day Readmissions

↓ 8% in Length of Stay

✓ 37% of patients reported that ����ֱ�� prevented 1+ calls to the hospital

✓ 94% felt ����ֱ�� helped them feel more confident before surgery

✓ 91% felt ����ֱ�� helped them feel more confident at home after surgery

����ֱ�� worked closely with a broad interdisciplinary team at SAH to customize protocols and content on the clinically-validated Digital Care Journey platform. Patients were engaged with a mobile and web-enabled, virtual companion to guide them across their perioperative journey through education, reminders, symptom tracking and more.

Meanwhile, the care teams were able to remotely monitor recovery progress and patient compliance, automate patient self-care guidance via smart algorithms and workflows, and receive alerts and monitor dashboards to identify at-risk patients more quickly and intervene sooner. Additionally, SAH utilized a RN Navigator role to serve the remote patient population more effectively as well as use actionable insights from collected data to make changes to hospital protocols and procedures.

“Technology has increased our ability to connect with patients and encourage them to become active participants in their healthcare journey. Our patients report feeling more supported because of it,” shared Dr. James Chan, Director of Innovation at Sault Area Hospital. “The integration of ����ֱ�� into our EHR helps our providers to deliver high quality care more efficiently and with a patient-centred approach.”

SAH patients found that self-managing their care journey was easy and effective and staying connected to their care team helped reduce surgical anxiety. 96% of patients said they would recommend ����ֱ��. 

Here’s what patients like most about the program:

• “It reminded me to stay focused on recovery from my surgery on a daily basis. It provided info about where to turn for help if needed. It made me feel that the operation is over, and I wasn’t left without support or information. I feel that filling out the daily survey was beneficial for me.”

• “Knowing that in case of a problem, it was possible to talk to someone rather than go to the emergency. I only called once and felt reassured with the answer.” 

• “Visuals on exercises, daily reminders, the fact that a healthcare professional is available, list of places to get needed equipment, reminders to look for infection, lists to get you ready for surgery like planning for meals once on your own, what kind of help you will require. Overall - Excellent.” 

Read the for more insights on how Sault Area Hospital enhanced their patient engagement and experience while improving clinical outcomes across multiple service lines with Digital Care Journeys.