“Perfectly Positioned for the Future”

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers are adjusting to how they can offer patient care using methods that do not rely on traditional, in-person encounters. Suresh Madan, President and CEO of MyHealth Centre, had anticipated a growing need for telehealth services in the future. Founded in 2017, their telehealth division provides OHIP-covered assessments by certified Ontario physicians and cardiologists from the comfort and safety of their patients’ homes.

MyHealth Centre offers telehealth services across the province and is preparing for a “brick-and-click” future, featuring a greater marriage of online and in-person care. “You can’t do everything remotely,” says Suresh. “You can’t take a biopsy or an X-ray. But you can do a lot. And this can do even more to reduce wait times, and improve efficiency and patient care, especially for patients in remote areas. This is the next big growth area.”

In 2013, Suresh saw an opportunity in an inefficient market where public-sector hospitals in the Ontario province of Canada were operating inefficiently. The hospitals could not cope with patients' intake, creating long and unsustainable patient waiting times, the constant rescheduling of appointments due to competing demands, or the extremely limited availability of physicians and para-medical staff. This is where the MyHealth Centre concept was born. A unique, collaborative partnership of radiologists, cardiologists, and healthcare professionals, MyHealth Centre, is focused on delivering outstanding quality and innovation through its independent health facilities (IHFs).

"MyHealth Centre has begun providing telehealth services nationwide and is preparing for a “brick-and-click” future, featuring a greater marriage of online and in-person care."

“The idea was to create a chain of clinics which can operate efficiently, maintain costs and provide the services that patients need,” says Suresh. Today, boasting 50+ locations across Ontario, with more on the way, MyHealth Centre operates under the provincial health system, with more than 10,000 doctors referring patients to its locations. The organization is well and truly on a growth journey. For Suresh, throughout this journey, the business must remain committed to providing efficiency in its operations and exemplary patient care. Still, this service level can only be delivered through the quality of its greatest asset - its people. “The quality of our service can only be as good as the quality of our team,” he says. “As a healthcare service delivery company, it requires physical interaction with the personal touches and care from the best possible people. This is only possible if you have that high-quality team.”

The company has incorporated a robust analytics system that is used to predict the spikes in demand for different healthcare scenarios throughout the year. “There is strong seasonality for a lot of procedures,” he says. “So, when there are high demands for certain illnesses, the entire staff will know how to handle the situation and arm themselves with the particular medicines or services which can curb the demand. When demand is lower, the resources can be shifted to other areas that are in higher demand.” The analytics functionality support in understanding the demand curve of various healthcare situations and can prepare the staff, including the doctors and nurses, to be prepared and reduce wait times.

As MyHealth Centre continues its journey into expanding its market share, acquiring more clinics, first and foremost in its province and then beyond the wider realms of Canada and more internationally, Suresh stresses the need to remember it is the patient that defines the organization’s growth, not the other way around. Suresh explains, “we believe that with the increasing adoption of telehealth, a plethora of opportunities have opened up and more healthcare companies are trying to expand considerably. With this they will be able to accommodate to the most remote areas and offer their services to those who need their assistance.” The company aims to expand towards offering additional healthcare verticals, including diabetes, pulmonary, nephrology, and joints care, which would benefit from their brick & click strategy. “Over time we want to become a one-stop-shop for primary care doctors to send their complex patients to.” .IE