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Why Do Hospitals Require Secure Telehealth Solutions?

Even before in-person doctor visits were halted to comply with social distancing rules, practitioners began to confer with patients online via video technology. The research team conducted a survey with healthcare providers and patients who had recently received or provided telehealth service in January. We spoke with eight patients and ten doctors, who worked in cardiology, emergency medicine, patient education, pharmacy, and orthopedics, among other disciplines. One of the major misconceptions we heard from doctors was that their patients were not tech-savvy. Patients would be hesitant or unable to download an app or join a video meeting via a URL link, according to the providers. As a result, several physicians resorted to using apps that were already on patients' devices.

Providers may unwittingly expose their patients, themselves, and their companies to cybersecurity dangers by using such services. Providers in our survey acknowledged taking privacy precautions such as making video conversations from a secluded office, room, or even bathroom to guarantee that no one overheard patient information.

Despite the fact that some providers were aware that the applications they used with patients did not enable HIPAA compliance, they continued to use them, frequently on the assumption that their patients would not want to learn how to utilize a new app or service. Patients reported even fewer security worries in our study, with many assuming that because they'd already disclosed important personal information with their healthcare providers, utilizing video software for a telehealth appointment would be no different. When these attitudes are combined, patients, providers, and employers may be exposed to undue risk.

How can we make it easier for healthcare professionals to use a secure video service for telehealth as telehealth becomes the new normal? We take our customers' data security very seriously at Dallas Meditech, and we're committed to providing world-class collaboration that's easy to use, scalable, and tailored to fulfil your HIPAA compliance requirements.

As a result, we've come up with a few ideas for how to improve virtual healthcare appointments while keeping patient data safe.

• 1. Educate providers on the importance of choosing a videoconferencing service that is built with security in mind and meets HIPAA compliance criteria.

2. Training, documentation, and webinars should be used to keep healthcare providers up to date on cybersecurity best practices regularly Providers, for example, should be educated on the importance of secure screen sharing. When sharing their screen during a video meeting, providers should share by a programme rather than their entire desktop. As a result, they avoid inadvertently disclosing patient information to the wrong individual.

3. The belief that patients are not tech-savvy contributes to doctors' reliance on consumer apps. To avoid having to download an app, providers and schedulers can urge patients to make video conversations from their computer's browser. Patients can also join meetings via one-touch join, which allows them to join appointments over the phone's audio rather than relying on data. Providers can assist keep their data secure by decreasing the steps required when patients join a telehealth appointment.