to Better Communication in Healthcare
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Unify communications to create conversations
Delivering effective care to more patients, while streamlining operations and meeting regulatory requirements, relies on proactive collaboration. Find out how to select the right communication solutions for healthcare in seven steps.
New Demands Require New Ways of
There are major shifts happening in the healthcare industry – and delivery models are under pressure.
From workforce shortages to employee turnover, you need to create healthy, collaborative environments that simplify and automate routines to improve employee workloads. You need to do this while building patient trust and ensuring efficient use of funding. In today’s healthcare landscape, you must adopt unified communication solutions that help you:
Next
Communicating
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Simplify care coordination, reduce delays in delivering care, and eliminate bottlenecks in the care delivery chain Increase patient engagement, improve their ability to manage their own care and increase their satisfaction levels with your care delivery Improve access to information for patients and everyone involved in their care delivery and make it easier for all involved to stay connected
Back
What to do
NEXT...
With secure and reliable communications solutions that keep patients, physicians, staff and partners connected in real time, you are in a far better position to get the right information to the right people at the right time. And, you will have the capabilities needed to address some of the biggest challenges facing your industry.
Here are the seven areas to focus on.
Collaboration
Efficiency
Engagement
Support
Integrate
Compliance
Partner
1
Enable Secure
Among All Staff
When on-site nurses, dispersed physicians and non-clinical staff can quickly, easily and securely share information in real time, the entire care team is more effective and efficient.
Healthcare professionals already use their own mobile devices to text colleagues with work-related information.
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But unless texting capabilities are implemented in a way that complies with regulatory requirements, it can put information security and privacy at risk.
Care planning involves multiple stakeholders – physicians, nurses, radiologists and others.
When the entire team can quickly connect by voice, video and text to share information, productivity increases and communication breakdowns decrease.
Physicians and nurses need to securely collaborate with staff who may not have access to the privileges required.
Being able to share information in electronic health records is particularly important to avoid gaps in care.
DID YOU KNOW?
By using digital tools and collaboration technology, clinicians can make decisions based on more informed care, leading to better outcomes for their patients. It also makes clinicians feel more valued and confident in their abilities.
Collaboration applications
that use virtual
rooms and dashboards
Team conferencing
applications for voice,
video and text
Reliable and secure communication
through a
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) solution integrated with healthcare applications, alarm servers and workflows
Secure messaging
applications with customizable
availability settings
Schedule-based routing
to direct urgent calls
to on-call staff
End-to-end encryption
to ensure secure data
transmissions
Contents:
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3
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5
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Six key capabilities to look out for:
Increase the
of Clinical Workflows
efficiency
Using communications to streamline clinical workflows and automate repetitive tasks improves and accelerates patient diagnosis, treatments, transfers and discharge planning.
Click-to-talk
capabilities from within
clinical applications
Customized
voice and text profiles that
are aligned with clinical workflows
Personalized
voice and text messages that can be
integrated into the clinical information system
Text-to-speech
capabilities that can be integrated
into the mobile messaging platform
Pre-defined
call routes to connect external
agencies with case managers
During evaluation and treatment
Whenever needed, clinicians can spontaneously initiate secure care planning meetings that can be joined by colleagues and experts using any medium on any device from any location.
The ability to communicate and collaborate using multiple channels rather than just voice simplifies complex workflows and accelerates the management of repetitive tasks.
Later, during patient discharge
Reducing workflow delays shortens average discharge times and improves patient perceptions of care and satisfaction.
Five key capabilities to look out for:
Four key capabilities to look out for:
Improve Patient
After Discharge
engagement
Enhancing communication in web portals helps ensure patients follow discharge orders, attend post-discharge appointments and engage in other post-treatment activities. It also helps increase patient satisfaction by reducing wait times and involving them in their own care.
Click-to-chat
and click-to-call
Improve access and response times between patients and healthcare providers – rather than relying on written communications. Patients simply click an icon to initiate a chat session or request a call back.
You can create closer connections by:
Adding click-to-chat and click-to-call capabilities to patient portals
Support automated self-serve prescription refills, bill payments and other patient services. Bill payments are particularly applicable for private care facilities and US organizations.
Implementing integrated voice response (IVR) technology
Web chat
and chatbot
IVR engine
Call routing
based on variable patient identifiers
A look at: digital tools
The right communication tools can drive improved results for discharged patients – helping them to better engage with services and making it faster to connect with nurses and doctors. But what options are out there? From contact centers, AI automation and web chat, to teleworker, mobile collaboration, omnichannel applications and home health solutions – there are unified communication tools for every aspect of healthcare. You can talk to us to find out more.
Look to Digital to
Better Patient Access
With a patient access center, you can proactively engage and support patients with diverse pre- and post-treatment needs – including those who like to self-serve, and those who prefer traditional communication methods.
Customizable
call flows and routing plans
Time-dependent
call handling to manage
Did you know?
An NHS England report found substantial evidence demonstrating that investing in improved clinician communication with patients can make a significant positive difference to patient experience and clinical outcomes, as well as reducing financial demands.
The benefits of a streamlined patient access center enable you to:
Automatically direct patient calls to the right department Mitigate the number of patient no-shows with automated appointment reminders Reduce re-admissions with proactive voice, email and chat to track patient recovery and send prescription notifications Ensure clinical staff can respond to the most critical patient queries – helping to better manage resources and time Increase efficiency with centralized multi-site patient scheduling Gain access to patient call history to improve patient engagement
• • • • • •
heavy call volumes
Automated
outbound dialing for patient notifications
Monitoring
and reporting for call quality
and wait-time analysis
Consider How Your Communications
with the Rest of Your Technology
INTEGRATE
Digital transformation holds plenty of value in healthcare. It offers simplicity, flexibility and cost savings, which is why many providers are accelerating their adoption of digital health. Mitel collaborates and integrates with healthcare apps, smart APIs, and CloudLink cloud platform to create cost-effective and secure end-to-end solutions that enhance interactions between employees and patients.
Whether public, hybrid or private cloud-based, communications should be:
Carrier-class network
with multiple best
24/7/365 monitoring and support
with
stringent service level agreements (SLAs)
User-friendly applications
that require little
For example, during treatment, patients interact with multiple systems from admissions through to discharge, which can be overwhelming. Implementing a seamless communication solution that integrates with healthcare apps to streamline workflows, results in an efficient and improved patient experience.
Always available Easily upgradable Scalable to expanding operations
Funded through operational expense budgets to streamline approval processes Flexibility to build capabilities like voice or SMS into existing applications
• •
practices for maximum security
Secure support
for employee bring your
own device programs
training and comply with regulatory requirements
Scalability and adaptability
to easily evolve
with operations
Interoperability removes the need for clinicians to spend hours tracking down data from past visits and creates a unified patient record that is continuously updated with new information. Valuable information-sharing between points of care isn’t possible if operations aren’t integrated.
Maintain
COMPLIANCE
with Regulatory Requirements
Patient privacy is a critical concern. For every healthcare provider, data must be looked after in line with local legislations, such as the Data Protection Act 2018 in the UK, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) across the EU, and HIPAA in the US.
Choose a secure comms solution to build into your regulatory compliance strategy to:
Fulfil rigid data security regulations
Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your operations
Automate management of surveys and other confidential post-discharge actions
Enable IT Staff to use multi-factor authentication for common IT tasks
To provide the right capabilities to ensure compliant communications, look for solutions that are based on a multi-layer security framework, designed by a dedicated information security team that will continue to monitor and assess its capabilities over the long-term.
Integrations
with Partner Solutions
for payment regulation compliance
Solutions
contributing to compliance
of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
Routine audits
to ensure compliance is
maintained as regulations change
Based on a robust,
multi-layer security
framework
Choose an Experienced and Knowledgeable
The right unified communications specialist can help you select the deployment approach and technology best suited to your patients, staff and operational requirements. Choose one that demonstrates that it understands the many intricacies and regulations in healthcare.
Flexibility
to support on-site, cloud and hybrid
deployments, using a single solution
Consistent user experience
for patients,
staff and healthcare partners
Integrated solutions
that make life easier for IT and
can be customized to work with existing applications
Full suite of communications applications
that
can be adopted as needs evolve
Enterprise-grade telephony
and unified
communications experience
Why Mitel?
To help your teams offer the best patient care, you need to make sure they have the right tools. A unified communications solution can streamline operations, enhance collaboration and ensure patient care is never compromised. Mitel is trusted by organizations worldwide to deliver. Our solutions provide improved communication across all your departments, supporting you to face today’s healthcare challenges.
Adopting a more effective communications solution makes a huge impact on patient and staff experience. Want to know more?
Contact Mitel’s UC experts today
– call 1.844.YES.MITEL
or visit mitel.com
Get Started
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SMB’s top 3 security measures (planned or implemented)
SMBs need more safeguards to protect against cyberthreats
Foreword: Find Your Sense of Direction
Introduction: The Three Characteristics of Future-Ready SMBs
1: Resilience
2: Putting People First
3: Agility
Time to Give your Communications a Technology Upgrade?
What can we do for you?
SMBs frequently mention security as their top technology challenge. The rise of the remote workplace, increased dependence on digital operations and the growing threat landscape amplify these concerns. And for good reason.
In the last twelve months, of SMBs say their company had experienced a data breach and have experienced a ransomware attack.
Larger SMBs have borne the brunt of these strikes. Financial services, life sciences, public sector, IT services, central and local government are the most likely to have reported breaches and ransomware attacks.
While about of SMBs back up their data regularly, have yet to deploy identity and access management or end-point protection solutions.
1. Daily data backups
2. Endpoint protection
3. Identity and access management
However, no business, no matter how small, is immune, and many SMBs need to do more to protect themselves. About of SMBs say they plan to implement end-point protection measures; and about say they plan to deploy identity and access management solutions.
28%
15%
two-thirds
more than half
one-third
a quarter
Agility
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SMB Directions for the Future of Work
The stakes in information security are high: 60% of SMBs ultimately fold after experiencing a major cyberattack.
Maintaining data privacy and protection
Thankfully, there are managed service security providers (MSSPs) and other third-party providers for new threat protection services to help you if your in-house security expertise is limited.
With some managed services vendors offering 99.999% uptime availability SLAs for their communication platforms, you can leave it to them to worry about how they protect your business’ essential communication services.
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Embedded technologies are becoming important in solution selection
As you think about creating a technology platform for the future, it’s worth considering how digital innovations like IoT, voice, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and augmented/virtual reality can add value to your business and your customers. SMBs increasingly understand that these innovative technologies can provide them with a competitive edge – from improving customer experience to minimising risk, and from streamlining operations to providing better data for decision making. But in most cases, SMBs lack the in-house expertise to source, select and integrate new technologies into their existing business and collaboration applications. So, they need their IT vendors to embed these technologies into their applications. This brings digital innovation within reach of every business, no matter the size. Many vendors have already created mobile versions of their applications to provide users with anytime, anywhere, any-device access. Also, embedded Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capabilities are becoming the norm, helping users to spot trends, identify anomalies, tailor actions to specific needs and course-correct across the application spectrum.
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SMB’s top 5 most important technologies for the future
Embedded innovation
Other technologies are in earlier stages but are poised to gain traction.
Edge-based IoT capabilities embedded within retail management solutions that enable retailers to view real-time data to manage inventory more precisely.
As the value of digital innovations becomes more evident, SMBs will seek out vendors that can seamlessly integrate these technologies into their solutions to provide more business value.
1. Mobile-friendly apps
2. IoT and edge computing
5. Robotics and process automation
3. Voice-enabled apps
4. AI and ML
For example:
Augmented reality technologies embedded within customer service applications that allow service staff to see customer issues and assist in repairs without having to make in-person service calls.
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Time to Give
your Communications
a Technology Upgrade?
Today’s digital communication and collaboration platforms are the ideal foundation for hybrid working. By offering a consistent and intuitive user experience across locations and devices, they enable SMBs’ employees to sustain rewarding and productive relationships with both colleagues and customers.
If you’re considering what to do now, based on the research results and ideas you’ve just explored, here are three next steps you can consider taking, depending on where you are in your digital transformation journey.
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1.
2.
3.
Keep security breaches at bay
Refresh your communications platforms
Make life easy: Migrate to the cloud
Services like Mitel Software Assurance protect your business without giving you an extra piece of software to manage. Let the experts at Mitel proactively take care of keeping your software up to date, free from security vulnerabilities and compliant with ongoing standards, while you focus on your business.
Modernise your technology with apps that make it easier to meet customer needs and expectations, and simpler for employees to do their jobs in the ways that work best for them. Mitel now offers subscription licensing for its full portfolio of on-premises solutions, to maximise flexibility and choice for customers. This will help you keep pace with larger competitors, support hybrid work, and keep control of your system without making a big upfront investment.
For many businesses, the easiest way forward is in the cloud. If you’re ready to do it all in one jump, you can choose to deploy your state-of-the-art communication tools in a public cloud and leave all the complex and time-consuming technicalities up to the provider. Or, if your business needs to meet strict industry or national data protection obligations, a private cloud model may be best for you. MiCloud Flex provides the benefits of cloud technology in the security of your own data centre with all the same super-flexible communication tools as the public cloud-based alternative.
