If you’re a healthcare provider, facility or network, you already know that pairing telemedicine and new technology offers significant opportunities to reach patients, drive revenue and improve outcomes. But if you’ve looked for a solution, you may realize that finding the right platform, equipment and partner can be overwhelming. Making the wrong choice can lead to huge impacts to your bottom line or worse, compromise patient security and safety. Let’s look at some important considerations when designing a Telemedicine solution for your organization.
First, any platform has to be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Many — but not all — video conferencing platforms are HIPAA compliant through an executed business associate agreement, but compliance also extends to your operating system. Many healthcare systems still run on Windows 7, which will soon lose support from Microsoft, creating potential future security issues.
DGI recommends the industry’s first scalable, cloud-based video telehealth service: Zoom for Telehealth. Zoom is not only HIPAA compliant, low-cost and rich in features, but it also integrates with Epic, the predominant health records platform in healthcare.
Zoom’s integration with Epic enables healthcare organizations to launch Zoom from within an Epic video-visit workflow. Using context aware linking in Epic, a Zoom video session link can be placed in an Epic patient appointment, enabling Epic users to use Zoom and the Epic EHR in a streamlined side-by-side workflow. Physicians can select their video visit appointments in Hyperspace and launch directly into the video visit in Zoom, continuing to document in Epic while performing the video visit. Also, patients can launch Zoom from their MyChart patient portal on their personal computer or mobile device.
All Zoom video sessions and communications between Zoom and Epic are encrypted with AES-256 bit encryption, and Zoom video visits launched from Epic are dynamic password protected. All account-level settings are applicable for your video visit sessions; you can disable recordings, annotations, etc. for security reasons.
The hardware that enables patient-to-provider interaction is potentially the largest telehealth solution expense. Some providers will offer free or low-cost video platforms only to sell hardware that costs 2-3 times that of alternative solutions. Buying the right cart can make a difference, and DGI has designed an industry leading cart solution at a fraction of the cost of other providers.
When evaluating a telehealth solution, it’s important to consider every element in order determine the total cost of the platform, including software, hardware and service expenses. DGI knows that service is an important consideration and has worked with several large healthcare organizations. We’ll help determine appropriate expectations, services and costs up-front.
Telemedicine is a new frontier for many healthcare providers, but you don’t have to explore it alone. A trusted consultant and provider such as DGI can help you determine your options for a compliant, effective and affordable telemedicine solution – whether you’re a small practice or a national network.
