The Opportunity
A week before Covid-19 quarantine measures were implemented, I started working at a medical software company. In those initial days of uncertainty, medical providers faced challenges in keeping themselves and their staff safe while continuing to provide essential medical care. It was crucial for us to develop a solution that was both HIPAA-compliant and user-friendly for both providers and patients.
Our Plan
We accelerated our agile iterations to provide value to our providers as quickly as possible during a time of great uncertainty. Despite much of the world coming to a halt, we were fortunate to have a clear mission and goal. Our team worked tirelessly around the clock to design and build a Telehealth application that was HIPPA compliant and easy for providers and patients to use.
Considerations
Our iterations initially consisted of a simple HIPPA conformant video interface delivered to our providers and their patients at no cost, within about a month of around the clock development. After that we listened to our our users and learned what else we could provide. Here are some examples of the use cases we worked on solutions for. Our agile iterations were accelerated to deliver value to our providers as quickly as possible. We started by creating a simple HIPAA-compliant video interface and delivering it to our providers and their patients at no cost. We were able to accomplish this within a month, thanks to around-the-clock development efforts. As we gathered feedback from our users, we learned about additional use cases we could address. Here are some examples of use cases we built out based on specific feedback:
As a provider - I want to be able to easily manage Telehealth visits from software I am familiar with.
- We enabled the practice management and scheduling software to automatically schedule a video call when the appointment was booked using the current booking workflow.
- We integrated the Telehealth application with all of our Electronic Health Records (EHRs), including the legacy EHR shown below. This integration allows providers to launch Telehealth appointments directly from within the patient's medical records.
As a provider - I need to be able to capture documentation and images from my visits for my patient’s records.
- We added a feature that enables patients to upload file directly to the provider within the Telehealth application. The provider can preview and select which documents should be imported and added to the patient's records.
- We provided a screenshot functionality in the application that allows the provider to capture and save to any image seen in the video, this feature was lauded by dermatologists.
As a patient - I need to be able to easily launch the Telehealth application on my hardware
- We created a simple and user-friendly process for patients to launch the Telehealth application on their devices. Integration with the Patient Portal, Email, and Text allows patients to easily access the video call nearly any devices.
- We created a step-by-step troubleshooting process that tests the patient's connectivity, which guides them in identifying and resolving any issues that may arise.
As a patient - I need to be able to exchange documentation with my provider such as lab results, continued care, or medication lists.
- We added a feature in the Telehealth application that enables patients to securely upload and share documents with healthcare providers, ensuring that all pertinent information is easily viewed and added to patient records during the visit.
- We integrated the Telehealth application with the patient portal, allowing patients to access documents and chat shared with them by their providers.
