The South East Community Care Access Centre (SE CCAC) – responsible for managing access to government-funded home, community services, and long-term care resources – has a systemic problem with patient flow, and recruited Infonaut to help solve it.

More than 20% of all acute bed days in the SE CCAC are being used by Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients. Acute care is one of the most expensive and resource intensive services in the healthcare system. However, an ALC patient doesn’t need acute care, but remains in an acute bed because of circumstances preventing proper patient flow to other care sites, including the patient’s home, convalescent care, or long-term care facility.

High numbers of ALC patients mean supply is mismatched to demand, which results in a significant strain on healthcare resources in a local community. Infonaut is helping the SE CCAC take control of this urgent local issue by applying our expertise to identify the inefficiencies in the flow of patients through the care continuum. In November 2007, Infonaut analyzed of the region’s patient flow problems.

Infonaut assembled a comprehensive as-is picture of patient flow, defined an improved future state, and itemized the steps for how to get from where the SE CCAC is, to where it wants to be: moving patients from one level of care to another as quickly and efficiently as possible. Recommendations included changes to the cohort structure; suggestions on how to “front-load” the discharge process; standardized client tracking & baseline metrics for ALC patients at all levels; and modifications to patient prioritization systems.

This work is especially critical in the SE CCAC, where three CCACs have been consolidated into one, making operational issues, like resource allocation & patient flow, of utmost importance. Key decision makers have to work in partnership across organizations, geographies, and providers, to ensure this transformation goes smoothly, and results in positive outcomes for patient care.

Infonaut’s work on the SE CCAC’s patient flow has created a common understanding of the region’s patient flow strengths and shortcomings, and gave the newly defined SE CCAC a starting point and strategy for continuous system improvement.

For more information on Infonaut’s products and services, please contact us at info@infonaut.ca.

A proudly Canadian company, Infonaut is expanding our presence in the capital region starting with membership in the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) – Ottawa’s leading member-based economic development corporation. OCRI is focused on assisting local technology companies become competitive on a global scale. Infonaut’s expanding Ottawa presence puts us in a position to take advantage of the many new opportunities that come with OCRI’s close ties to venture capital funding and expertise in taking advantage of emerging opportunities and markets.

OCRI’s membership network represents every sector and OCRI drives partnerships that cut across all of their 625 (and growing) base of member companies. Infonaut’s affiliation with OCRI and their Ottawa-area development initiatives opens up a wealth of opportunities for Infonaut within the local market, the federal government, grants and awards, and national economic development projects.

Infonaut is proud to be involved with OCRI in their efforts to connect businesses with cutting-edge technologies like Infonaut’s GIS based business intelligence systems and professional services.

For more information on the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation please visit their website at http://www.ocri.ca.

For more information on Infonaut’s products and services, please contact us at info@infonaut.ca.

Infonaut Inc. will be in attendance at the Ontario Hospital Association’s HealthAchieve 2007 conference, taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from November 5-7th.

The conference is a world class showcase of achievement in Health Care and features the latest in healthcare technology, presentations by some of the most dynamic leaders in our industry, and sessions covering many of the issues facing health care today.

If you’ll be attending, stop by the ESRI Canada Booth (922) and learn about Infonaut Intelligent Tracking.

For more information on OHA HealthAchieve 2007, please visit the conference website at http://www.ohahealthachieve.com.

For more information on Infonaut’s products and services, please contact us at info@infonaut.ca.