Cortico Health, a Vancouver-based software startup, is addressing the family doctor shortage crisis by improving Canadians’ access to healthcare services.
Established in 2020, Cortico has already facilitated millions of appointments between patients and primary healthcare providers, ensuring that Canadians can easily access the care they require.
In March 2023 alone, Cortico’s innovative platform helped over 80,000 Canadians schedule in-clinic, phone, and virtual telehealth appointments, while also connecting more than 21,000 individuals with new primary care providers at medical clinics using cutting-edge automation software.
The company has served over 1 million Canadians to date. This development is crucial, as many Canadians face challenges in obtaining timely healthcare services, and reducing administrative tasks can play a pivotal role in alleviating the family doctor shortage crisis. Cortico’s co-founder, local programmer Clark van Oyen, asserts, “The problem may not be simply a shortage of doctors, but the paperwork and other administrative tasks taking them away from patients.”
Cortico’s origins can be traced back to a 2015 software project aimed at easing administrative burdens for a local medical clinic. After adapting its services to support clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cortico’s automation tools now assist hundreds of Canadian clinics and over 1,700 healthcare providers.
In the past month alone, the company has automated an impressive 449,000 labor-intensive tasks, enabling healthcare providers to concentrate on delivering top-quality patient care.
Over the past year Cortico has engaged in a handful of public sector projects, working at the health system level to improve provider efficiency. One of the first public sector groups to see Cortico’s potential was Burnaby Division of Family Practice.
“Burnaby is a very innovative team, brimming with game changing ideas, while holding their finger on the pulse of digital health, the evolving complexity of health systems and practical needs of stakeholders. It’s been our absolute privilege to work with them in furthering Burnaby’s leadership as a hub for digital health innovation,” Van Oyen told Techcouver.
With $1.5 million in funding from customers and government sources since 2020, Cortico is well-equipped to expand its impact even further.
The company remains committed to tackling the family doctor shortage crisis by increasing healthcare providers’ capacity to see more patients, ultimately improving access to vital healthcare services for Canadians.
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