OT-Pro – The giant digital step for occupational therapy
The Belgian market leader in software for physiotherapistsready to conquer new markets across Europe.
With OT-Pro, the occupational therapy sector is taking a giant step towards automation. Q-Top, the company behind the Belgian success story in the field of software for the physical therapist, has the sincere ambition to do it all over again, but this time for occupational therapy and across Europe.
In present times, when you can find a software solution or app for almost anything, it is quite surprising that this was not yet the case for occupational therapy. Until Etienne Custermans – the driving force behind KineQuick, the current market leader in software for physiotherapists – came into contact with the occupational therapy department of the PXL University College two years ago. The department had developed a basic toolcalledH-OPP (Hasselt Occupational Performance Profile)to monitor students optimally during their practical training.
In H-OPP, the students registered all relevant information about the clients they came into contact with. Based on that input, the tool gave them insight into the therapy objectives and interventions for the client, enabling them to guide the client towards greater independence and self-reliance, the ultimate goal of occupational therapy.
The demand for this unique tool from other colleagues and the working field was not far away. The didactic tool within the bachelor program turned out to be perfectly suited for the professional practice. Furthermore, the system met all of the requirements set by the government in its efforts to digitize the healthcare sector. Only … H-OPP had been developed as a research and working tool, not as a commercially marketable software package. As groundbreaking and scientifically sound as the tool was in terms of content, its form and user-friendliness were rather basic.
From five candidates who came forward at the request of University College PXL to commercialize the package, Q-Top emerged as the laureate. “The user-friendliness of their kine-software, the lead that their cloud solution had on the market and, above all, their long-term vision was decisive in our decision”,AnnemieSpooren, head of research at Expertise Centre for Care Innovation at University College PXL recalls. “Moreover, they offered us the best commercial proposal: the intellectual property remains ours and is remunerated, based on the success of the package.”
The result
The result of this remarkable collaboration was named OT-Pro, after the international term for the profession: Occupational Therapy. With this digital tool, the occupational therapist can scientifically map his client’s problems, and based on that, develop a multidisciplinary approach tailored to him or her.
“With our expertise in the field of software for the physical therapist, this seemed like a relatively small step into a new market for us,” Custermans looks back on the past year of software development. “But actually, you can’t compare the two packages. With OT-Pro, we created for the occupational therapist a purely substantive, scientifically based work instrument, while KineQuick – our software package for the physical therapist – is a tool to efficiently manage his or her practice. Of course, we built that functionality into OT-Pro as well, so the occupational therapist can now efficiently manage both his job and his practice in one package.”
Entrepreneurial right hand
To roll out his new project, Custermans went looking for an ambitious, entrepreneurial person who could become the face, as well as the hands and the brain of OT-Pro. Exactly what he has been for the past 15 years for KineQuick.
He found this person in Ingrid Eyckmans, who has been a remarkable busy woman at VOKA Limburgfor the past 12 years. “I am particularly grateful to Voka for the opportunities I was given there,” she proclaims of that period. “I learned a lot and met some very interesting people. Among them, Etienne. His track record as an entrepreneur and the fact that it’s not every day that you get the chance to co-found such an ambitious international project, made it clear that this was the moment to take the leap and jump. In a previous lifetime, I was already an entrepreneur for 13 years, until I sold that business. So this adventure makes my entrepreneurial blood pumping again. As an intrapreneur to be clear, because I’m not stepping into the company with Etienne.”
The future
It’s up to Eyckmans to introduce OT-Pro to ‘the market’, to gather feedback and feed it back to the software team. “She’s in charge”, Custermans frames her position in the ambitious project. “And she has all the expertise we need, and she hasall of our internal expertise available to her. This is uncharted territory across Europe, so moving quickly now is the only option.” “Exactly the challenge I was looking for,” Eyckmans seconds him determined.
Contact
OT-Pro+32 011 39 85 50
Ingrid Eyckmans
ingrid@ot-pro.com
Kiezelweg 6
3530 Houthalen
www.ot-pro.com
Background information
Occupational therapy is the paramedical discipline that aims to help people with a mental or physical disability to function as independently as possible in everyday life. This ranges from learning to wash and dress(again), to living independently or functioning better at work or school, to improving mobility. To give just a few examples.
To characterize someone’s disability, the World Health Organization uses a series of classifications with accompanying questionnaires per medical discipline. The answer to these questions is the starting point for the occupational therapist to design a therapy or rehabilitation program. Or to suggest adjustments to the client’s environment.
Given the international ambitions, the English term Occupational Therapy (OT) was the basis for the name of the new software.