Cloud DX (TSX-V:CDX, OTCQB:CDXFF) announced recently a contract with Health PEI, the Provincial Health Authority for Prince Edward Island, for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) services, with a total value of up to C$1.34 million.
CEO Robert Kaul spoke with Proactive following the announcement to discuss the significance of the deal and why investors should expect a lot more news coming from the company in 2024.
Proactive: Your company has started 2024 with a significant deal with Health PEI, the Provincial Health Authority for Prince Edward Island and also follows on from a request for proposal (RFP) you've added last year for remote patient monitoring (RPM) with Mohawk Medbuy. Please tell us more about this.
Robert Kaul: Mohawk Medbuy is the largest hospital procurement agency in Canada. This is an agency that centralizes purchasing for over 100 hospital systems and provincial governments across the whole country. And last year, there was a competitive RFP for remote patient monitoring, which is the products and services that Cloud DX (TSX-V:CDX, OTCQB:CDXFF) sells the most.
We were the winner of that RFP, which means we're the sole vendor for all Mohawk Medbuy members who can now simply purchase remote monitoring from Cloud DX without doing an RFP separately on their own. It streamlines procurement and makes it much easier for patients to get this very important service.
This is the second large contract we've announced since winning that RFP back in the summer of last year. PEI is very progressive when it comes to deploying new health technology. And what's exciting about this particular contract is it addresses three different parts of the healthcare system in home care, primary care, and also rehabilitation care. So we're very excited to announce this new provincial contract.
So, it’s a three-year contract with two, two-year renewals that could extend the contract to seven years. Is that correct?
That's correct. These provincial level contracts are terrific types of business for companies such as Cloud DX, in that they're stable, long-term contracts that cover the entire province. And so it gives provincial governments an opportunity to deploy technology, and do that at scale, which is very exciting for Canada.
You said this is the second large contract under the Mohawk Medbuy (MMC) Master Agreement? Would you expect other deals to follow?
Yes, very much. The exciting part about this Master Agreement is it does cover over 100 different systems. And as remote monitoring and virtual care in general becomes more common and becomes the kind of care that Canadians demand, more and more hospital systems will embrace it. So, we anticipate the amount of business we're going to see through this contract growing quarter after quarter.
Please take us through your RPM because it has been published in peer reviewed studies and is the biggest and fastest growing one in Canada. Is that correct?
In 2024, Cloud DX will be celebrating its 10th year in business. We are now the leading provider of remote monitoring across the whole country of Canada with four provincial level contracts now including this one.
Remote monitoring means that patients are prescribed a connected health kit from Cloud DX. They take the kit home, they are monitoring their vital signs, communicating with their care team, doing video visits with doctors and nurses and, in general, receiving a very high level of care in the home. What this does is frees up resources, makes care more efficient for Canadians, and study after study published in peer reviewed journals has proven the health outcomes of using remote monitoring are very good. This translates into fewer emergency room (ER) visits, fewer hospitalizations, lower pain thresholds and, in general, very satisfied patients and clinicians.
Is it fair to say, then, that there are big benefits for the health authorities because they're saving money by having this remote monitoring from home
Overall, in general, it allows the health system to deliver better care for less dollars, which frees up money for more important priorities. This helps the provincial governments address issues such as the waitlist for surgeries, hallway medicine and the stress that the healthcare system has been under since the pandemic.
Apart from the potential for more deals under the Mohawk Medbuy (MMC) Master Agreement, what else does 2024 hold in store for Cloud DX?
Remote monitoring and virtual care are becoming a very rapidly growing part of the healthcare business and especially healthcare technology. In addition to this Mohawk Medbuy (MMC) Master Agreement, which covers the entire country, additional provincial governments have completed RFPs that have not been announced yet, as far as who the winner is. More importantly, in general, hospital systems across the country plan to deploy much more virtual care in 2024, and so there will be a lot more news coming from Cloud DX.