Why has the GoodHope Referral process changed?
Recently, the GoodHope EDS program changed its referral pathway to help manage wait times and ensure patients receive the care they need, when they need it.
This change was required as a result of the clinic receiving an extremely high volume of referrals, over 60% of which provided inaccurate and overestimated hypermobility (Beighton Score) assessments.
Referral volumes increased by 225% in the last 3 years with a 100% increase in the last 12 months.
This volume has become unsustainable and has lead to significantly increased wait times of more than 2 years.
Inaccurate assessment of Beighton score at the time of referral creates a significant bottleneck and delays access to care for patients who are most likely to have EDS or a related hypermobility disorder. In addition, it creates a barrier to care for those without hypermobility leaving them to wait 2 years for an assessment that ultimately rules out EDS delaying work up for alternative diagnoses and subsequent treatments.
For this reason, we introduced the HAT app as a screening support tool to improve accuracy of the Beighton score of patients referred to the GoodHope EDS clinic. The HAT app is a Health Canada approved medical screening digital app, PHIPA-compliant, free to use, and has demonstrated greater than 90% sensitivity in identifying patients likely to meet the threshold for generalized joint hypermobility.
The tool uses automated vision-based pose tracking to estimate Beighton maneuvers and was designed to allow patients across Ontario to access screening even in regions where primary care access, musculoskeletal expertise, or in-person assessment resources may be limited.
In addition to the HAT app as a requirement for referral, our referral form has been updated to screen more thoroughly for features suggestive of monogenic EDS subtypes.
The goal of the new referral pathway is to:
1. Increase accuracy of screening to identify patients most likely to have EDS at the time of referral
2. To decrease wait times at the GoodHope EDS clinic
3. To assist referring providers by providing a Health Canada approved screening tool to accurately assess the Beighton score
To learn more about the HAT app click