Healthcare has gone virtual in the past decade, and this has only accelerated after the Covid-19 pandemic. Gone are the days of writing on a prescription pad or picking up the phone to get an appointment; sometimes, a patient may never meet their provider face-to-face at all.
Telehealth appointments, automatic prescription refills, and online scheduling facilitate better service and improve patient outcomes, but they also represent major logistical challenges for both private practices and large medical complexes alike. Every healthcare professional must understand the dangers of poor cybersecurity and the opportunities to improve service for their clients so as to stay competitive in a changing medical landscape.
Electronic Records Management is Critical
Almost every healthcare organization uses electronic records now: they’re faster and more accessible, especially as they allow a patient to better manage their own conditions by providing vital education. However, they must also meet strict HIPAA standards to protect patient privacy and avoid liabilities for the organization.
Healthcare providers need to understand the criticality of protecting patient privacy through using strong passwords and never working on an unsecured device; at the same time, healthcare organizations need to maintain strong firewalls and use high-level encryption so that they need never worry about a data breach.
The other concern is that many providers have an online portal where patients can review test results, read after-visit instructions, and communicate with their providers about pressing health concerns. All healthcare workers must understand the need to write their reports with the utmost professionalism, using clear language that patients can understand.
Diagnostic Outsourcing Represents a Major Vulnerability
Outsourcing has become standard practice throughout the healthcare industry; it originated with radiological diagnostics, when organizations realized that they could get quick, high-quality interpretations for a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately, though, there is a hidden downside to diagnostic outsourcing: it can compromise patient care because the interpreter will not have access to the patient’s previous reports.
More than that, the transmission must be highly secure and mostly anonymized to comply with privacy laws, and this can be difficult to ensure when working with a third party in a country with different regulations. Healthcare organizations must thoroughly vet the privacy protocols of any third-party diagnostic company before signing contracts, and they also must regularly audit their diagnostic vendors to ensure that their standards remain high.
There Are New Opportunities to Connect With Patients
Though there are many potential downsides to digitized healthcare, there are also many benefits, some of which are only being tentatively explored now. For example, in-depth patient education ensures they stay healthy between appointments.
Developing a comprehensive library of videos and text that are easily accessible on the hospital’s website can teach patients things about how to manage their blood sugar, reach a healthy weight, or keep their wounds clean after surgery. This improves the doctor-patient relationship and prevents patients from seeking potentially harmful information about their condition on unscrupulous websites. A hospital might include links about what different tests measure on lab results, helping their clients take control of their healing and feel more confident about the way that their care is progressing.
Some hospital systems may develop apps that patients can use to measure things like their weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, and menstrual cycles over time, which can then be brought to primary care appointments and spark conversation between the provider and the client. As with outsourcing diagnostics, there are privacy concerns with this, so providers must work with experts who can help them create a secure but helpful app that complies with HIPAA standards.
Health Organizations Need Highly Professionalized IT Services
Doctors, nurses, and technicians are in the healing business, and they shouldn’t be expected to handle these technological matters too. Medical organizations should ally themselves with an IT provider who understands the complexities of healthcare tech, such as a Kansas City managed IT services company.
These experts can help set up secure cloud storage, monitor the hospital’s firewalls to prevent intrusions, and host the organization’s website; they’ll also help with data recovery and back up all data so there is never a serious breach of patient privacy. Not only does this ensure legal compliance with all privacy standards, it also helps relieve pressure on healthcare workers, who can then focus on providing the best service possible to those they heal.
The medical industry is vastly different than it was in decades past, and the best healthcare companies recognize the need to adapt their services to meet patient expectations. It’s essential that hospital systems and private practices rely on good IT services, which will allow them to simplify their workflows and raise their standards of care across the board.
