HIPAA/HITECH-Compliant Virtual Platform Helps Providers Extend Their Reach
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
New platforms offer improved connected quality care.
Connected health, or technology enabled care (TEC), is transforming global healthcare according to Deloitte. As we see the convergence of health technology, digital, media, and mobile telecommunications, new platforms for connected care are emerging that promise to improve patient outcomes and enable more effective integration of care while reducing healthcare costs and improving efficiency. In fact, “In five to 10 years, we’re not going to talk about telehealth, it’s just going to be health,” says John Kornak, director of telehealth at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, MD.
As the technology improves and becomes more affordable, healthcare providers are turning to new options to help expand their patient reach. According to Dave Skibinski, President and CEO of SnapMD , “The growth of telehealth services is expanding and accelerating in 2016 as healthcare providers utilize telemedicine technologies as a new way to extend their reach of care. To fully understand how quickly things are moving, you need not look any further than a recent statement made by Dr. Robert Pearl, Executive Director and CEO of the Permanente Medical Group, who noted that, ‘By 2018, Kaiser Permanente will perform more virtual visits than in-person office visits.’”
Now, Konica Minolta has announced it has rolled out a cloud-based Virtual Care Management (VCM) solution powered by SnapMD as part of its Workplace of the Future portfolio. The VCM telemedicine platform used real-time diagnosis to let physicians extend their reach of care through the use of secure live video, audio or text consultations between physicians, patients, and extended care teams. The solution is also HIPAA- and HITECH-compliant, and allows healthcare providers to schedule virtual consultations for patients needing ongoing care.
“Virtual visits represent the next true point of care in the evolution of healthcare.” said Skibinski.