Skin Clinic of IPO Porto – creating value in healthcare, from organization to outcomes  

IPO Porto creates value for the patients by means of systematically assessing, managing and improving quality (including PROM’s), effectiveness, safety and cost. Having implemented the IPO Porto Skin Clinic, we are able to offer a multidisciplinary approach and a customized treatment for each patient. We cover the whole cycle of care, from diagnosis, up to comprehensive and specialized care, for every type of medical condition in cancer. The IPU includes, clinical and nonclinical personnel, and value is added by centralizing patient care into large units that provide high volume services. The IPU team takes responsibility for the duration of care, including patient education, empowerment and follow-up. The main advantages of the implementation of this IPU are the outcomes, i.e., the ability to leverage the patient experience to a new level, while controlling for costs. As a means to these ends:

• IPO Porto has 8 clinical trials related to skin pathology ongoing with 54 patients recruited; The professionals of Skin Clinic participate in several initiatives within the scope of Euromelanoma Day and integrate the cooperative group of melanoma of the EORTC; Several partnerships are ongoing with national and international pharmaceutical, hospitals and consulting companies to performed RWD studies;

• Some of the performance improvements accomplished: +21% patients in treatment, +57% medical multidisciplinary decision, +21% medical appointments, -20% waiting time between admission and 1st consultation, -65% waiting time between multidisciplinary consultation and start treatment, +17% ambulatory surgeries, +69% reconstructions surgeries, +557% patients in systemic oral and +5% of injectable treatments, among others;

• This initiative is cost-effective within the full cycle of care and can be replicated in other institutions;

• We implemented an automated patient relationship management solution upon check-in, check-out and continuity of care (future visits, home care, preparation, etc) based on 13 kiosks named Bem-Me-Ker;

• A digital tool allows the patients, through mobile devices to access to a set of functionalities that support a distance relationship, such as knowing the future appointments, to consult exam reports, to request declarations, or asking for an online administrative support via chat. Since 2007, with the implementation of the 11 pathology clinics [Porter’s IPU’s], structured around 11 different cancers, IPO Porto has built a system of value-based health care delivery. Today we are an organization focused on cancer patients, offering e-health solutions, moving towards the use of state-of-art technology and providing a unique patient experience.

IPO Porto moved from paper records to databases and knowledge that are at the service of optimization processes, effectively reducing waiting times, to continuous improve care delivery, cost controlling and increasingly patient perception of quality. As a result, we are now in the catbird’s seat to produce knowledge and to leverage evidence for better care.