“Cisco to health? Don’t you just sell switches and routers?“When I talk to doctors, that’s often a question they ask. And we welcome the conversation because it means we can stop talking about bits, bytes, speeds and feeds and really get into how technology is transforming the Patient care We can talk about how Webex, voice, video, contact center, wireless and mobility technologies have transformed every doctor’s experience We can talk about how Cisco has always invested in healthcare innovation and how we have doubled over the last year, especially in virtual care, to help our customers overcome difficult times.And it is beginning to make sense that in today’s constantly connected world, healthcare is not happening without Cisco transforming the experience for both doctors and patients.
For many years, Cisco’s innovation has been critical to the growth of the telehealth industry, and we are pleased to announce the next generation of virtual care with our official launch of the Webex Telehealth Connector for Epic. Patients and physicians can now launch Webex virtual care sessions directly from EPIC workflows without downloading any software.
The most effective telehealth option for most healthcare providers and patients is a secure webRTC experience like the one offered by Cisco’s Webex Telehealth Connector for Epic. When I look to the future, patients will not be forced to download a new app or create a username and password just to meet with their doctor. A no-download experience may be even more important for countries that are earlier in the teleshopping adoption curve, as regulations on virtual care are evolving rapidly around the world.
What’s at stake?
COVID-19 urged governments around the world to do so temporarily relax the normative application of telehealth application security requirements, which allow healthcare providers to get back to work quickly. While this was necessary in the short term, it became clear that health systems have too many isolated telehealth options today. And many of them are not integrated, are not scalable, and are not secure. The CIOs of the healthcare system tell us that one of their top priorities is to establish a business telehealth standard that fits into the current workflow and can scale safely.
For telehealth to be sustainable after the pandemic, it must be better than it is today. Here are five keys to adopting sustainable virtual care globally;
- Simple to support. Take advantage of technology you know and support for your CISO, such as Webex.
- Easy to connect. Almost all browsers and smartphones today support a no-app experience via webRTC. Patients say no to new app downloads and new passwords
- Built-in security. Security cannot be a later idea when scale telehealth is offered. We have designed our solution to take advantage of the HITRUST certified Webex Teams platform and meet ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 standards
- Reliable platform. Doctors need to be confident that it will work every time. And IT needs real-time visibility into connection issues and visit telemetry that will help them minimize frustrations for both providers and patients. The Cisco Webex Control Hub provides critical connection data to maximize uptime.
- Integrated into existing workflows. Providers and physicians want a process they know and rely on for patient care without jumping through technological hoops. We’ve integrated Cisco Webex with Epic using the Epic App Orchard APIs to enjoy an easy experience from start to finish.
What about virtual care?
While no one knows for sure, the privacy and security requirements of governments and health authorities around the world are likely to not only return to pre-pandemic regulations, but are likely to increase in complexity as explode the number of virtual visits. When the new information blocking rule is taken into account, the level of complexity of healthcare infrastructures is doubled again. Every day we hear from IT leaders who want to simplify the number of systems they support. That’s why Cisco doubled to Webex and health innovation. Epic integration is the first version of many Cisco solutions.
Learn more about telehealth and Cisco collaboration and stay connected to all issues of health and leadership thinking with ours #HealthNow block series.
To share:
