Digital App to Enhance Patient Preparation and Recovery from Surgery

Vitalité Health Network - Thursday, May 16, 2024 – Vitalité Health Network, through its membership with the Coordinated Accessible National (CAN) Health Network, is deploying a digital platform to improve surgical outcomes for patients. The platform, created by Toronto-based SeamlessMD, guides patients before, during and after surgery. It has been proven to reduce readmissions and emergency department visits and shorten length of hospital stay.

Starting June 2024, this digital care pathway platform will be available to patients undergoing colorectal surgery in the Surgical Suite of the Dr-Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Center, the Chaleur Regional Hospital or the Edmundston Regional Hospital.

It will give patients access to care plans on their phones, tablets, or computers, with empowering step-by-step guidance through automated workflows with reminders, education, progress tracking, and symptom monitoring, all thoughtfully curated by their healthcare team.

The platform not only benefits patients, but also enables health care providers and care teams to receive alerts, monitor patients remotely via dashboards, and access data from anywhere, enhancing decision-making and patient care efficiency.

Its use has been proven to reduce hospital readmissions by up to 89%, emergency department (ED) visits by 72%, and hospital length of stay by 1-5 days depending on the specialty.

“Developing a standardized, patient-centric navigation process will help increase patient satisfaction, prevent readmissions, shorten the length of stays and reduce ED visits. By innovating our care plan for patient navigation, we also aim to reduce costs and increase the volume of procedures”, indicated Dr. Natalie Banville, Senior Vice-President of Client Programs, Intrahospital Services and Medical Affairs.

Vitalité will explore the use of SeamlessMD's platform for patients undergoing hip and knee surgery in all four zones, as well as gynecological oncology surgery in the Beauséjour Zone, with the support of the CAN Health Network - a federally funded national organization working to introduce more Canadian innovation into Canada’s health care system - and funding from the New Brunswick Department of Health.

“CAN Health is proud to support this collaboration with Vitalité and looks forward to seeing the results this project has on the quality of, and access to, surgical care,” said Dr. Dante Morra, Founder and Chair, CAN Health Network.