May 23, 2023 (Toronto, ON) – Care for homebound older adults involves little overlap between primary care and community services. This problem has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the Early Adopter Health Network (EAHN ™), OBIO® has recently facilitated an evaluation between Gotcare, a national health technology start-up reimagining health services in the home, and the Centre for Digital Health Evaluation (CDHE) at Women’s College Hospital (WCH). Gotcare enables support at home through a combination of personalized in-home visits, health monitoring, virtual care, and ongoing interventions addressing social isolation.
The EAHN™ evaluation will measure Gotcare’s model of care through the recently launched “In the Community (ITC): Health Ambassadors Connecting Primary Care for Homebound Older Adults Living in the Mid-West Toronto Area”. The initiative aims to support both patients with complex needs and their family physicians by providing a menu of services the patient and provider can access together, to expand the reach of primary care into the home.
“The CDHE is a national leader in the provision of timely, high-quality evaluations of digital health technologies at various stages of maturity. Our evaluation of Gotcare will provide the organization with the scientifically rigorous and clinically relevant insights to enhance their services,” said Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya, family physician and scientific director of the CDHE. “Comprehensive homecare for older adults, enables them to ‘age in place’ and reduces the use of healthcare resources downstream.”
“For many homebound patients, leaving their home for health-related appointments can feel like a full-time job. Alternative options, such as self-monitoring, can be stressful and challenging for patients resulting in limited adoption and success. In the ITC model, regular in-person health ambassador visits, on-demand virtual care access, easy to use technology interfaces, and ongoing interventions addressing social isolation, create a distributed ecosystem of care in the community. Initiatives like ITC bridge the gap between primary care and community services, so that we can create a healthier and more inclusive society by providing equitable access to all, regardless of background or location,” said Chenny Xia, Co-Founder & CEO of Gotcare.
“OBIO® is excited to support this EAHN™-funded evaluation of Gotcare by Women’s College Hospital. This initiative will enable better support for vulnerable patients that require at home care”, said Dr. Maura Campbell, President and CEO of OBIO®. “This project is an example of how EAHN™ can facilitate adoption of innovative Ontario technologies to enable new models of home-based care for elderly adults transitioning from in-patient care to improve coordination and patient outcomes.”
About OBIO®
Founded in 2009, OBIO®, a not-for-profit, membership-based organization dedicated to advancing health technology innovation and commercialization, is prioritizing the evaluation of new technologies through their Early Adopter Health Network (EAHN™) to provide solutions. OBIO® is engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to further the commercialization of human health technologies, positioning Canada as a leader in the international marketplace. Visit OBIO.ca for more information.
About Gotcare
The healthcare worker shortage has left many older adults without access to the care they need. By attracting and upskilling community health workers who have previously left the sector, Gotcare is rehumanizing the patient care journey. They provide personalized in-home care, AI-driven biometric monitoring, and virtual care to address low-acuity care needs right at home. Gotcare is a social enterprise and a certified living wage employer. For more information: gotcare.ca.
About Women’s College Hospital
For more than 100 years Women’s College Hospital (WCH) has been developing revolutionary advances in healthcare. Today, WCH is a world leader in health equity and Canada’s leading academic ambulatory hospital. It focuses on delivering innovative solutions that address Canada’s most pressing issues related to population health, patient experience and system costs. For more information about how WCH is transforming patient care and leading health system solutions, visit www.womenscollegehospital.ca.
Contacts
For more information about OBIO’s Early Adopter Health Network (EAHN™), or if you are interested in joining the Network, please contact:
Bibaswan Ghoshal
Director, Market Acceleration
bibaswanghoshal@obio.ca
For more information about Gotcare, please contact:
Chenny Xia
Co-Founder & CEO
chenny@gotcare.ca
For more information about Women’s College Hospital please contact:
Jordan Benadiba
Manager, Public Affairs
jordan.benadiba@wchospital.ca