Case Study

UBC Small Steps For Big Changes | YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program

The Challenge

The University of British Columbia and the YMCA partnered to deliver their Small Steps for Big Changes Diabetes Prevention Program at a number of YMCA locations in British Columbia. After successfully moving 300+ participants through the program, they had to shutter it due to the pandemic. Looking to reinvent how counselors and patients communicate for better outcomes post-pandemic, they had many hurdles to overcome including:

• The inherent inability to the scale the program due to in-person only sessions, geography and travel time
• Lack of engagement between sessions leading to a decrease in retention, program completion rates, and patient outcomes
• A disjointed document and resource management strategy

And, existing video conferencing platforms did not meet their needs for enhanced patient privacy, complex program-level session scheduling, built-in care form requirements, or multi-role functionality.

The Solution

Our team set-up discovery & immersion sessions to better understand the requirements and co-create the solutions. Then, we built a custom eCounselor platform with functionality that included:

• A branded meeting room to provide a seamless and trusted patient experience
• A meeting scheduler to handle patient inquiries and determine program eligibility
• Transparent counselor availability and reschedule functionality for frictionless meeting set-up
• Custom meeting booking capabilities to enable complex scheduling requirements
• Automated meeting reminders via email and/or SMS
• Multi-level permission & functionality gating for different levels of visibility, access, and privacy requirements
• In-session pre, during, and post meeting forms for both counselors and patients
• Persistent in-meeting notes
• Automated session recording option

The Outcome

With this partnership, we were able to reduce the administrative burden on staff, improve accessibility for coaches and patients, increase engagement and retention rates, and poise the program for future scalability through software and automation. Future plans for the program include: further adoption of hybrid/in-person care models, wider program deployment across the YMCA portfolio, national expansion across Canada and into the US, and increased efforts to establish the program as a leader in the Diabetes prevention service space.