Modernizing healthcare regulation and serving the Canadian public

Building trust and capability in our healthcare systems during COVID and beyond

For over 150 years, The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) has played a crucial role in Ontario's health system. As a self-regulating body, CPSO regulates the practice of medicine and ensures the public's trust in the medical care they receive.

Before its transformation, CPSO's manual and paper-based processes, growing trove of data and disconnected systems had become difficult to manage. Members had little visibility or control over their data, while communication was limited to mail, email, fax, or phone calls. Staff operated on a nine-to-five business model, responding to members' requests only during these core business hours.

Technical barriers to workflow and information flow between stakeholders meant the regulator lacked a holistic view of its members, created security risks, and a fragmented user experience.

Transforming outdated systems to benefit the CPSO, its member physicians, and the public

CPSO's vision was to standardize and consolidate its regulatory functions on Microsoft's single platform to meet all its operational needs.

CPSO had already begun undergoing their journey to the cloud when they brought on Deloitte as their system integration partner. Deloitte guided the regulator on completing their cloud expansion and the different capabilities available on the platform and how best to configure them to meet the organization's needs.

The modernization program was comprised of three distinct workstreams and would be built on CPSO’s selection of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service and combined Dynamics with Power Apps to create a tailored solution. The program would deliver specific functionality and benefits including:

1. Modernizing the core regulatory functions (licensing, monitoring, enforcement), including introducing a new membership portal.
2. Consolidating document and records management to a single, cloud-based platform – integrated with their CRM. 
3. Creating an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to support back-office requirements and modernize the existing finance system. 

Marshalling vital transformation skills and mobilizing as one team

Much of the success of this project was attributed to CPSO and Deloitte mobilizing as one team, operating with one purpose. As part of the partnership, CPSO could draw on Deloitte’s domain expertise crucial at every stage of a transformation journey, from financial advisory, regulatory, healthcare, digital practices and beyond.

Deloitte's cloud practitioners supported CPSO's ongoing cloud strategy with additional training on adopting and adapting to a cloud-first world. They also leveraged expertise from Deloitte’s human capital practice to support their organizational restructuring and training strategy.

Delivering immediate, measurable value tied to strategic goals

CPSO's digital transformation has streamlined operational processes (moving them from paper-based to digital), reduced workload, driven cost savings and brought consistency across the organization regarding how it serves and interacts with its members.

• CPSO received a CIO Impact Award for using digital transformation to become a more efficient and responsive regulator.
• In just over 1 year, CPSO and users have exchanged 44,000+ messages digitally through the new self-service portal, which would have been previously done via email or phone calls.
• The transformation is already a third paid off after just two years up and running (it was estimated to pay for itself in savings over seven years).
• Migrating to the cloud and creating a single platform system enabled CPSO to cancel several server renewals, save money, and keep membership fees unchanged throughout the transition.
• Zero layoffs as part of CPSO's transformation. Deloitte's human capital management team helped redefine the organization's structure, moving resources to different functions and re-skilling to avoid layoffs
• CPSO serves physicians and members around their unique schedules. Since implementing its new self-service 24/7 portal, CPSO has received 80% of requests outside business hours.