It’s a myth that seniors aren’t interested in technology or that they don’t want to find new ways to stay connected. Seniors video chat with grandkids, they use smart appliances in their homes, and they wear smart, wearable devices. In fact, many new smart devices have been directly marketed toward seniors to keep them connected with loved ones, or to help them stay safe if they live alone.
One thing about 2020 is certain: telehealth is here to stay. Its use is growing exponentially, regardless of patient age, location and language. Your clinic or healthcare practice needs to choose a telehealth platform that is more than just video conferencing. Otherwise, you’ll waste time double entering data, you’ll lose patient and provider trust due to security breaches, and you’ll miss out on opportunities to create a custom, welcoming digital front door for your patients.
Integration has long been a buzz word in the tech industry. The concept of integration in healthcare isn’t new, either. In fact, some EHRs offer a plethora of integrations, but they come at great expense. Yet the practice of integration—in a painless, affordable way—seems like an unattainable goal, especially when it comes to virtual care until now.
While virtual care has been slowly gaining acceptance over the last few years, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many practices and health systems to quickly adopt emergency telehealth solutions to meet the basic needs of providers and patients. Many turned to cheap teleconferencing software like Zoom, FaceTime, and Skype to connect providers with patients face-to-face, which kept many from delaying care in the early uncertainty and upheaval caused by the virus.
Time to Add Virtual Care to your Platform
COVID-19 is not going away, and with consumer acceptance of telehealth at an all-time high and growing reimbursements for virtual care, it’s never been more important to embed secure video in your technology stack. You owe it to yourself, your business partners, and your patients to add the power of video to your existing solution.
Of the roughly 230 hospitals opened in the U.S. since 2000, only around ⅓ are in areas outside of wealthy (mostly suburban) areas. And as those hospitals have opened, urban hospitals have closed at an alarming rate – most of them public hospitals, or those in poor urban areas.
Zoombombing, Weak Encryption, Data Mistakenly Routed to China, Oh My…
If you’ve been reading the news the past two weeks, no doubt you’ve been watching the slow-motion train wreck as people start to realize that wildly popular videoconferencing platforms were never designed for security and privacy. While security may not be critical when you’re ‘participating’ in your Monday-morning team Zoom session or when you’re debating the merits of higher education with your in-laws on Facetime, buttoned-down security is critical when your children are on a call or when you doctor is talking about your health issues.
Here are a few high level points from the order and a link to the order below:
By: Brian Yarnell, President and Co-Founder Bluestream Health