Chapter 20 of 27
The 62 year old client had his kidney transplant about ten years ago. The donor was his son. He did well until about nine months ago when the transplanted kidney started to fail.
He was receiving dialysis at home. He lived in a rural community near Sherbrooke Quebec.
He was lucky enough to have a friend who wanted to donate a kidney. He would not have to wait eight to ten years in the queue for a kidney. This transplant could be organized almost immediately.
Unfortunately, he learned that his antibody levels were too high. This was preventing him from receiving the live donor transplant. At this point, he called RCM and retained us to help him.
After the intake process, our clinical researcher in London, Ontario completed a research report for the patient on treatment options. One option that surfaced in the literature was called "desensitization". This technology allowed the doctors to decrease the antibody level that was preventing the transplant from occurring.
This technology is available in the US in centers of excellence such as Johns Hopkins. Through our research we found a transplant clinician and researcher in Winnipeg, Manitoba who was expert in desensitization. He agreed to join the virtual team of nephrologists and kidney transplant surgeons in Sherbrooke. Then we connected the Sherbrook team to the antibody lab at McGill in Montreal.
This virtual team organized by RCM was responsible for the first live kidney donor transplant in Sherbrooke Quebec using desensitization technology. The client has done well and is now able to enjoy the lovely out-of-doors in Quebec.
By connecting these diverse resources into an integrated solution, we were able to solve a wicked problem for this client.
RCM digs deeply to find the appropriate resources that can be located anywhere in Canada.
The wonderful opportunity that Canadians have is that their medicare coverage is portable between provinces.
An OHIP card can be used in Vancouver or in Saskatoon and vice versa. There are some limitations with Quebec but the rest of the country has portability.
This portability allows RCM to do "medical arbitrage" moving patients to the best providers with the best technology located anywhere in Canada. Our job is the find the best solution possible and match our client's needs to the providers' offerings for the best possible outcome.