The Collaborative Health Record offers flexibility and rich data for a clinic treating eating disorders
An estimated one million Canadians have an eating disorder. Many don't get the basic treatment or support they need. Body Brave, a charitable healthcare organization located in Hamilton, Ontario, is on a mission to change that.
Founded in 2017, Body Brave offers person-centric treatment and support for anyone struggling with an eating disorder. Body Brave also provides training and education for healthcare professionals to facilitate early intervention and diagnosis of eating disorders, and hosts the annual Body Peace conference, a virtual body image and eating disorder event.
The multidisciplinary team of clinicians, social workers, dietitians, family doctors, and other medical professionals serves more than 2,000 patients a year.
When Body Brave decided to adopt a new EMR, the team wanted a platform with tools that would engage patients, reduce administrative burden and provide access to real-time clinical and patient data. The first eating disorder program in Canada to offer virtual services, Body Brave also needed an EMR that would support the delivery of virtual and asynchronous care.
Transitioning to a new EMR during a difficult time
Body Brave chose TELUS Collaborative Health Record, and the transition took place in 2020 – just as COVID-19 hit. Sonia Kumar, CEO of Body Brave, says, “it couldn’t have been a worse time.” Clinicians already had significant concerns about switching to a new EMR, but having to do so during a global pandemic added to their apprehension.
However, Kumar says that the process was incredibly smooth. They were impressed with the care and detail that went into it, setting a positive tone for all interactions with the CHR moving forward. “We could see that a lot of time and attention had been paid to onboarding, knowing that it’s a really critical part of how our clinicians and administrators will interact with the platform,” she says.
Thanks to the intuitive design of the CHR, it didn’t take long for everyone to get comfortable using it. “We didn’t need to do an inordinate amount of training – our clinicians got the hang of it very quickly.” In fact, the Body Brave clinic was able to go fully virtual in less than 48 hours, enabling them to make treatment and support accessible to anyone who needed it – even during a very difficult time.
Flexible design and built-in features make the CHR a custom fit
An all-in-one solution, the CHR offers traditional EMR functionality such as scheduling, billing, labs, encounter notes and more. It also has built-in tools for seamless virtual care, patient engagement, streamlined documentation, automation and data optimization – all customizable for any clinic workflow.
“All the features are built right into the system,” says Kumar. “We have quick and easy access, and we can modify and tweak the CHR to meet our needs without having to call tech support every single time. That’s really been game-changing for us.”
Real-time data offers true picture of patients’ needs
The CHR’s advanced analytics platform provides live visibility into every aspect of the organization. Patient-reported data on outcomes (PROMs) and experiences (PREMs) enable them to collect feedback and make changes as necessary to help improve health outcomes.
“It’s very important for us to get an overview of how things are going in the clinic,” says Kumar. They look at meaningful data like patient demographics, number of active patients, and where patients are dropping off in the care journey. “We’ve become more responsive, more transparent as a clinic because we’re able to pull up analytics right from the dashboard, understand and take action on what our patients are telling us.”
Creating a patient-centric environment
Driven by a philosophy to treat “every body” with compassionate, person-centred care, Body Brave is continually seeking ways to empower patients to break free from an eating disorder and find the path to recovery.
With a full suite of patient engagement tools such as eBooking, automated reminders, encrypted messaging and customizable questionnaires, the CHR helps further Body Brave’s mission by making patients active participants in their own care.
“The CHR has allowed us to hand over more autonomy to the patients themselves so that they can really take a bigger role in their own healthcare journey,” says Kumar.