Petal presents itself as the “Ticketmaster of medical care”. The SME sees the Quebec digital health record project as a first showcase, with a view to deploying its health care access technology elsewhere in Canada and around the world.
It is not only in Quebec where digital health records are being implemented these days. The promise of data centralization intended to improve the public network is the dream of more than one government on the planet. Factors such as an aging population and underfunding of the system are causing increased demand for services whose supply is not growing as quickly.
For technology company Petal, this is an opportunity to seize. The Quebec company with 350 employees received a mandate from the Ministry of Health in 2020 to better orchestrate access to primary care. She has the availability of health professionals in hand, and she centralizes requests from patients who visit appointment sites, such as Rendez-vous santé Québec and Bonjour-santé.
She then tries to optimize everything. The goal is to send the patient to the right place to meet the right professional. “For example, during the flu season, we can redirect hundreds of patients to clinics or family doctors to avoid waiting for hours in the emergency room,” explains the CEO of Petal, Patrice Gilbert. “Clinics, nurses and pharmacists provide all kinds of care. We try to know the needs as early as possible to direct the patient to the right person — not necessarily their doctor. »
Quebec, a leader?
For Petal, the next step is to add some artificial intelligence (AI) to its solution in order to anticipate demand and help the network better respond to it. “AI will allow us to do even better,” assures Patrice Gilbert, who thinks that Quebec is taking a leading role in the adoption of digital technology to improve the health network.
“The Quebec model is the envy of other provinces,” he adds. It’s true that the public may not see it yet, but we have consolidated the offer behind the scenes. The ministry has the tools to manage supply and demand in each region of the province, and that is a first in the country. »
In any case, this is the business card that Mr. Gilbert intends to present to decision-makers in the health network elsewhere in the country. Because Petal is banking on its expansion. Quebec and Canada first, then the United States.
The company has an ace up its sleeve: it is sticking to the technology of the American company Epic Systems, which was chosen by Minister Dubé last summer to give shape to Quebec’s Digital Health Record (DSN).
“There are only a few companies in the world that have developed DSN technology,” explains Patrice Gilbert. EHRs, acronym for the English expression “ electronic health record », are the business of a handful of American and European companies. Oracle, Meditech and Epic Systems dominate the sector.
“We are already partners with Epic, and we are seeing market consolidation elsewhere in the world around these big players. We hope to use this showcase, it’s an opportunity that we will not let pass. »
Patrice Gilbert invites other medical technology companies in Quebec to consider the same approach for exporting their activities outside Quebec. “The Quebec health network serves nine million people. If you can integrate with their DSN, you can do it elsewhere,” he says. “This project could be beneficial for Quebec companies that want to demonstrate their know-how. »
And if this know-how allows patients to have better access to the care they need, everyone will benefit. In the meantime, we must fall back on this old adage: the best is apparently yet to come.