Santovia
Bringing Patient Education to the Fore

Gone are the days when patients were content to sit back and let physicians make all the decisions about their health for them. Studies showing that patient involvement leads to better outcomes have led the healthcare industry to demand increased participation of patients on their path to better health. “The journey to physical well-being is often tough, but it can be simplified by ensuring that patients have full knowledge of their diseases and understand all possible choices allowing them to make informed decisions,” says Fiona Calnan, CEO of Santovia. However, an abundance of confusing, sometimes inaccurate, online information can make it difficult for patients to find sources they can trust. An understanding of the necessity of patient and familial awareness in healthcare-based decisions has led Dr. Ibrahim Eid, a surgeon, to found Santovia. Dedicated to providing access to patient education resources along with the opportunity to provide feedback, Santovia offers a unique platform that engages patients along their healthcare journey.

Santovia aims to actively engage patients and facilitate their participation in shared decision making. It provides an intuitive engagement platform that integrates with the electronic and medical records of the customer organization and enables physicians to effortlessly access the information they need related to the patient’s condition. Physicians can use Santovia’s engaging user interface, accessible education and in-depth analytics to understand how to improve the patient experience. Santovia’s platform works within existing patient portals to provide information directly to patients. Doctors can swiftly chose a range of different videos and short written articles that help them better understand their condition. The use of different languages and formats allows patients to understand the healthcare challenges they are facing irrespective of their background or literacy. “Active patient engagement is vital, especially in the case of chronic conditions, to ensure patients understand the situation, change their behavior to recover faster, and the condition is managed optimally,” explains Fiona.

Santovia simplifies the task of informing and involving patients and caregivers in the decision-making process. It ensures patients and their families are well educated about the basics of the conditions affecting them so that appointments with their physician can be focused on shared decision-making and better outcomes. Santovia is available on all platforms and optimized for smartphones and tablets, enabling seamless access to tailored knowledge. It also allows physicians to create their own written material or video content from scratch and customize it for their patients.

Santovia recently launched it partnership to offer both providers and patients with the EBSCO Health’s evidence-based clinical resource tools, Option GridTM. These high quality decision aids demonstrate Santovia’s commitment to simplify choices for users.

Active patient engagement is a prerequisite for critical circumstances, especially in the case of chronic conditions, to ensure patients understand the situation, change their behavior to recover faster, and the condition is managed optimally

The personalization feature of Santovia’s platform has recently proved invaluable to physicians at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Massachusetts. Santovia worked closely with the hospital’s team catering to surgical patients admitted for orthopedic procedures. The Santovia team provided support to the patients, and this has allowed doctors to confirm that patients are completely aware of their conditions, the procedures to be followed, and the recovery journey. Santovia even provided a recovery pathway including physical therapy videos that can be watched on their devices and followed regularly. As the Program Director of Orthopedic Excellence at Saint Anne’s hospital, Cory Urban, explains, “While partnered with Santovia, we have received the Joint Commission Advanced Certification for hip and knee replacement and the gold seal of approval for our spine surgery program. Utilizing Santovia’s concierge service provides us a dedicated platform to guide our patients in better understanding their condition, treatment options, surgical procedure and pathway home. The Santovia platform provides our orthopedic and spine patients with video and written education, as well as easy to follow physical therapy videos to aid them in their preparation and recovery.”

Santovia enables the delivery of surveys following patient treatment. These help physicians check their patients’ understanding of health issues and receive regular reports on the outcome of treatment given. These surveys can be used to track patient recovery over a period of time.

Santovia also has an employer/ self insured employer support service integrating tele consultation services alongside its educational content, to help those facing complex health decisions understand and explore their options fully. This is achieved through online discussions with experts as well as utilizing the best decision aid tools to support and educate.