At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, many healthcare providers were sent "scrambling" to transition their clinics from in-person to telehealth operations. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) moved quickly to ease regulations for healthcare providers, ridding them of some of the stress associated with meeting certain HIPAA compliance criteria.
One of HIPAA's most crucial administrative safeguards is the implementation of "policies and procedures to prevent, detect, contain, and correct security violations." This particular safeguard requires a great focus on risk analysis and management, reducing risk, as well as implementing the necessary measures to keep vulnerabilities at a reasonable level.
Though aimed at being a convenient alternative, telehealth practices must do their best to replicate in-person visits. With that being said, all data being shared between patient and provider is done virtually, meaning that extra precautions should be taken to protect sensitive personal health information (PHI).
Healthcare's shift into a digitized industry with telehealth is also becoming a shift into a better customer experience. Historically, patients may receive accurate and excellent healthcare, but at the expense of a high quality customer experience.
However, with the increasingly competitive telehealth market that can now reach further than just the vicinity of a local clinic, doctors must start heavily factoring in customer experience with their telehealth services. There are multiple ways to achieve this, from employing UX/UI designers who enhance hospital and clinic sites or apps to even rebrand your organization's infrastructure in a customer-centric method.
The spread of COVID-19 into North America has left businesses and people scrambling. When it comes to healthcare, people are asking questions like, "What do I do if I am unwell and need to see a doctor?" and "Is my doctor even open?"
For the safety of patients and providers alike, most doctors' offices, which are not hospitals, have had to shut their doors temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have transitioned to online patient care, better known as telehealth. For providers who may not have had to make this type of arrangement before, setting up this service can be a daunting task, especially if you would like to provide a service that runs smoothly. You can learn more about the tech you will need to get started in Giva's article, "What You Will Need to Set Up a Telehealth Practice: The Essentials".
Healthcare organizations must remain vigilant to defend against critical IT situations, while always placing the need for increased security, protection of sensitive patient data and meeting regulatory compliance at the top of their lists. Implementing a well-rounded cloud system can help with this and more.
According to a recent NTT Data report on cloud cultures, "nearly 61 percent of organizations in the US and Canada are committed to implementing cloud adoption as quickly as possible." Though when it comes to implementing cloud services, the report notes that cultural change presents the greatest roadblock. This is despite an organization's commitment to moving enterprise applications to the cloud in an efficient manner.
Telehealth is quickly revolutionizing healthcare, as it has learned to adapt and provide increased remote services to those who are unable to access them in person for a variety of reasons. The innovative service ensures continued access to medical care for home or bed-bound patients, from the comfort of their homes.
The drastic spread of the COVID-19 virus has led to a necessity of physical distancing, especially in the overwhelmed field of healthcare. This emerging situation has created opportunity for innovation in technology to assist healthcare providers. While there are strides being made in data management and telehealth, hackers are revealing gaps in cybersecurity by continuous attacks on medical organizations, as well as unsuspecting companies and individuals. The FBI has stated that the number of cyber crime reports has quadrupled when compared to the months prior to the COVID-19 crisis. Bitdefender also reports a 475% increase in cyber criminality in the month of March in comparison to February 2020 due to the pandemic. As technology is redefining the medical field, anti-virus and service management corporations could start redefining cybersecurity. Currently, companies have to be vigilant against the following types of attacks from cyber criminals:
Attention telehealth and telemedicine providers:
It can be very difficult to meet the demands of new and exponentially scaling patient requests for service. Have you been able to effectively assist your patients using your telehealth platforms? Is any aspect of your telehealth customer service suffering or falling through the cracks? Are you successfully handling new daily challenges with patient onboarding or technical telehealth service issues?
Attention commercial and academic medical testing labs:
In light of COVID-19, how is your testing lab set up to securely, quickly and easily sync results and tracking information with local hospitals and healthcare organizations while performing ongoing, exponentially growing testing? As our nation continues to navigate into deeper waters in its attempt to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, this is an opportunity for your organization to meet this unexpected challenge and create a HIPAA compliant tracking system that will provide:
