Strength in Numbers

By: John Mozas, President and Chief Operating Officer

A few weeks ago I played football on the street with my kids, which I’ve done many a time. When it came my turn to QB I noticed a sharp pain in my elbow. Of course I put up a brave face and continued to throw bullet passes to my 14- and 11-year-old boys, occasionally chest bumping to celebrate a good catch. Predictably, the next day I paid a visit to my physician at Medcan. He diagnosed my issue as epicondylitis, usually referred to as tennis or golfer’s elbow. There is some irony here, as I’ve played tennis and golf a combined total of three times in the last six months. The Medcan physician referred me to a Medcan physiotherapist. She was great, confirming the diagnosis and providing therapy and rehab. She also provided information for my Medcan Personal Trainer, so he could put together an exercise regimen that would allow me to continue to work out, without complicating the injury.

I thought of this sequence of events this past weekend during a continuing medical education retreat we staged for our doctors near Collingwood. Time and time again, many of the 45 physicians in attendance referenced the special quality we all feel here at Medcan—a desire among all our staff to collaborate to provide our clients with the best possible care. You can see another example elsewhere in this newsletter, with Dr. Julia Carroll collaborating with fellow dermatologist Dr. Paul Cohen to diagnose a cancerous skin lesion several other dermatologists had missed. In my case (definitely a more mundane issue), collaboration happened because my doctor, physiotherapist and personal trainer all worked here, at Medcan. They worked together to diagnose and rehabilitate the injury, in a manner that also ensured I could continue my exercise regimen without aggravating my symptoms.

These sorts of synergies happen all the time at Medcan.  We’re now North America’s largest provider of executive health services. We have 55 doctors across 17 specialties who we can draw on in an instant for medical care. We have two radiologists connected electronically, so that our patients can get urgent results on their imaging scans within minutes. Our size allows us to ‘in-source’ expensive technologies, such as a lab, X-ray, mammography, bone density and ultrasound. We recently invested in a Bod Pod, a state-of-the-art body fat and resting metabolism measurement technology, that uses air displacement. What’s more, as we grow we create a virtuous cycle: excellent physicians want to be associated with other excellent physicians, in a positive learning environment. The bigger we get the more that happens.

We’re aware, though, that bigger is not always better when it comes to healthcare. Big can be impersonal. Big can be a factory. Big can bewilder patients and make them feel lost and intimidated. That’s the battle we fight as we grow. How to act like a small boutique clinic, while taking advantage of the massive synergies of being large? We’re taking pains to harness the positive attributes of big—synergies, expertise, equipment—without sacrificing our founder Dr. Robert Francis’ ethic of patient-centred care. The idea, regardless of how big we get, is for Medcan to feel like a small, but sophisticated practice. We aspire to have the skills housed in a hospital, but in an inviting, personal environment.

To achieve this we’ve invested disproportionately in client service.  Instead of having one large clinic that sees a large number of clients every day, we’ve broken ourselves up into four ‘mini clinics,’ each of which sees fewer clients. (Actually, as many clients as we saw in total 5 years ago.) It’s a more expensive way to add capacity, but it makes sense from a client standpoint. Each mini-clinic operates on the same floor but has its own dedicated infrastructure, including nursing, physicians, ultrasound etc. 

Instead of having the ‘nurse on duty’ contact you with your test results, you get test results from your own dedicated nurse consultant, who looks out for and manages all aspects of your care. Your nurse consultant knows your medical history. She knows your context. These small Medcan teams are organized around our clients, rather than physicians or staff. Rather than optimizing the experience of the healthcare provider, which is the aim in many large hospitals, we optimize the experience of our clients.  

We also create an environment where our staff speak to one another.  It sounds simple, but that doesn’t happen as often as it should in healthcare. Our staff members collaborate, consult and harness the excellence of others to improve every client’s medical care. So when I have golfer’s elbow, or, more importantly, a client has a cancerous skin lesion, the Medcan doctor collaborates with one of the other 55 Medcan physicians—or works with one of our 300 staff to get it treated.

My throwing elbow’s feeling a lot better these days, although we’re on to street hockey now. Hopefully I won’t be visiting one of Medcan’s specialists for a new injury, but it’s great to know that they’re there if I need them.