Optimizing Patient Usability Experience for Chronic Care

Multimorbidity increases care needs and primary care use among people with chronic diseases (1). The Concerto Health Program (CHP) has been developed to optimize chronic disease management in primary care services. However, in its current version, the CHP primarily targets clinicians and does not aim to respond directly to the needs of patients and their informal caregivers for chronic disease management . This project aims to develop, implement and evaluate a user-centered, multifunctional and personalized eHealth platform (CONCERTO+) to promote a more active patient role in chronic disease management and decision-making through three phases. For phase1: A first prototype will be developed by the design and technology teams, in close collaboration with researchers, health professionals and patient representatives who will identify the functionalities to include in the CONCERTO+ solution. The Phase 2 of the project will consist in a feasibility study based on a pilot cluster randomized clinical trial (c-RCT) where patients with chronic diseases from a primary healthcare practice will receive CONCERTO+ and be compared to patients from a control practice receiving usual care. For Phase 3, the analysis of CONCERTO+ potential for scaling-up will be done by documenting factors and conditions associated with the sustainability and scaling-up of the solution. To do so, the investigators will conduct: 1) two focus groups with patients and informal caregivers who participated in the study (one with the experimental group and one with the control group, each group gathering between eight and twelve participants); 2) semi-structured individual interviews with health professionals at the two study sites, as well as with health care managers, information officers, and representatives of the Ministry of Health and Social Services.