Monthly Messages: 330
Patient invites: 140 each month
Major Use Case: Document sharing
Family Health Clinic is a busy PCN clinic in Calgary that implemented Brightsquid Secure-Mail as part of their response to COVID-19. As a member of the Calgary Foothills PCN, Family Health Clinic was entitled to participate in the PCN’s Secure-Mail standardization project that covers subscription fees.
Secure-Mail protects patient safety.
Clinic Manager, Darlene Seguin explained that Secure-Mail supports patient safety in a number of ways. First, the clinic uses Secure-Mail to send patients documents such as lab reqs or disability and new patient forms so there’s less physical contact. That saves patients from unnecessary trips to the clinic. Second, her team is able to help patients access the care they need more quickly by getting them the documentation or information they need much faster than personal pickup or mail.
Secure-Mail helps take pressure off front desk staff.
The way Family Health Clinic uses Secure-Mail eliminates busy work for staff. It is much more efficient to attach a file to a message rather than print it off with an accompanying letter, fold it into an envelope and get it in the mail.
Using Secure-Mail with other clinics has added efficiencies as well. Family Health has invited 39 collaborating clinics to the system recognizing that using fax was a major drain on staff productivity. Now, exchanging notes on shared patients or transferring records is much easier and the automatic read receipts function closes the loop on communication so there’s less follow-up required.
Patients use Secure-Mail appropriately.
Ms. Seguin admitted that, “we thought patients would be messaging us constantly,” but she said that is not the case. The data backs her up. Of the 122,000 plus Secure-Mail users in Alberta, 7,000 professional users send 75% of the 90,000 messages every month. On average, the 116,000 patients in Alberta send a Secure-Mail message about once every 5 months.
Patients appreciate the convenience of receiving the documents they need without unnecessary travel and exposure. The benefit of providing patients the option to communicate with your clinic using Secure-Mail is that it reduces phone traffic and allows staff to focus with more concise communication.
