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Ottawa, Canada – November 24, 2016 – The Ottawa Hospital and the Bariatric Medical Institute have partnered with ���Ƕ���Ƶ’s patient engagement platform to extend their support for bariatric surgery patients into its patients’ homes.The Bariatric Centre of Excellence of The Ottawa Hospital currently performs over 500 bariatric surgeries annually. In the past year, The Ottawa Hospital has partnered with the Ottawa-based Bariatric Medical Institute as a pilot project through the Ontario Bariatric Network to provide services to patients before and after bariatric surgery.Patients enrolled in Ottawa’s bariatric surgery program now have access to the ���Ƕ���Ƶ platform on their smartphone, tablet or computer, and it will keep patients on track with key steps in their bariatric journey. The ���Ƕ���Ƶ platform will support patients through preparation and recovery using reminders, tasks, progress tracking and feedback. The care teams at The Ottawa Hospital and Bariatric Medical Institute will be able to track their patients’ progress in real-time, intervene sooner for patients at-risk and improve the quality of its program through advanced reporting and analytics.“Patients having bariatric surgery require intensive screening and education prior to surgery and close monitoring after surgery. We wanted to leverage technology to provide additional support to our patients through the process as well as easily accessible educational resources along the way,” said Michelle Foulkes, Clinical Manager for the Bariatric Centre of Excellence at The Ottawa Hospital. “We chose ���Ƕ���Ƶ because of their previous experience with developing resources for patients who are having bariatric surgery as well as the accessibility of technology platforms. We were also impressed with their demonstrated capacity to improve the patient experience and the ability to use outcome data for quality improvement initiatives in our program”.“Our organization is always looking for ways to better support patients” said Lorne Segal, Director of Operations, Bariatric Medical Institute, “���Ƕ���Ƶ is a brilliant solution for surgical patients that will allow our care team to be more proactive, catch patient issues sooner, and help our patients have a safer recovery.”By using the ���Ƕ���Ƶ platform, the care teams at both The Ottawa Hospital and Bariatric Medical Institute will be able to deliver more coordinated care for their patients while they prepare and recover in the community.“We are excited to support The Ottawa Hospital and the Bariatric Medical Institute as thought leaders in improving patient care for bariatric surgery,” said Dr. Joshua Liu, CEO of ���Ƕ���Ƶ. “These two forward thinking organizations are setting a new bar for patient engagement and high-quality health care.”About The Ottawa HospitalThe Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada’s largest learning and research hospitals with over 1,100 beds, approximately 12,000 staff and an annual budget of over $1.2 billion. Our focus on research and learning helps us develop new and innovative ways to treat patients and improve care. As a multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, we deliver specialized care to the Eastern Ontario region, but our techniques and research discoveries are adopted around the world. We engage the community at all levels to support our vision for better patient care. For more information about The Ottawa Hospital, please visit .About the Bariatric Medical InstituteThe Bariatric Medical Institute (BMI) opened its doors in 2004 as Canada’s first evidence based inter-disciplinary medical office with an exclusive focus on weight management. Led by Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, BMI works with both The Ottawa Hospital and the Ontario Ministry of Health delivering both adult and paediatric programs that utilize the latest developments in both behavior medicine and technology to deliver leading medical care. In addition to serving the greater Ottawa community, BMI also serves as a teaching centre for medical students, medical residence, and dietetic interns. For more information about, the Bariatric Medical Institute, please visit About ���Ƕ���Ƶ���Ƕ���Ƶ provides the leading patient engagement solution for hospitals to optimize surgical care. Hospitals use ���Ƕ���Ƶ to enhance the patient experience, improve surgical outcomes and lower costs. The ���Ƕ���Ƶ platform supports patients through preparation and recovery with reminders, video-based education, progress tracking and clinical data collection. Providers and administrators can access clinical intelligence tools to track patient compliance, catch complications earlier and improve population health. For more information about ���Ƕ���Ƶ, please visit .