Today, psychologists are offering their services online, and telehealth is continuously becoming popular. The top advantage of such practice in the mental health field is the availability of specialized services and expertise to patients in remote locations. Furthermore, telehealth enhances the availability of professional medical expertise globally with modern ways of clinical supervision.
In overall, telehealth provides
efficient communication among professionals and their patients globally to
engage each other through various technological means and a considerable supply
of interventions to pick from. With all the benefits that telehealth offers,
there are still many arguments in the mental health industry on whether or not
it can be considered truly safe as well as private to the patients.
Why Telehealth Is Under Debate Over its Safety and Privacy
Furthermore, individuals with means
of producing educational videos, applications, or websites, etc. can come up
with such content easily, posing the risk of a patient obtaining inaccurate
information. Another point of concern for telehealth is associated with its
jurisdictional compliance. License specification typically differs per state or
country. However, the ease with which psychologists can provide their services
globally may ultimately lead to inadvertent legal or ethical malpractice.
HIPAA’s
Security Protocols that Safeguards Patient’s Information
The first question a patient may ask when using
telehealth services or telemedicine software is, “How safe and private is the
service?” sincerely speaking, this is quite a valid concern for the patient and
should be taken with utmost seriousness by the health provider. HIPAA (Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) which was passed in 1996 by
the Congress makes sure that individuals can transfer as well as continue with
their insurance cover even after changing jobs.
Additionally, the act instituted industry-wide
policies on billing and healthcare information, among other processes. Most
importantly, HIPAA ensured implementation and proper protection of patient
information known as PHI (Protected Health Information). These protocols also
apply to patient’s data, such as video visits that are transmitted via the
internet.
Why Individual
Therapists May Not Have Sufficient Security Protocols to Safeguard Your Data
To be safe from stiff penalties and be HIPAA
compliant, medical practitioners are required to use telehealth solutions that
meet HIPAA’s regulations. However, not all healthcare providers meet this test
hence raising concerns. The laws typically apply to covered entities and all
business associates such as organizations, agencies, and large medical firms.
Professionals and therapists
listed here all work with a HIPAA compliant service.
Several reports have indicated that personal
therapists, not working under professional medical bodies, may not be compliant
to HIPAA laws. This means that they are less likely to follow and respect the
patient’s privacy rights and information. Thus, this raises significant
concerns for patients using telehealth services. Choosing to work with a
therapist from a large telehealth company ensures that your data and private
information is safe.
By Carol Amick, manager of health care services, CompliancePoint.
Carol Amick
As healthcare providers continue to search for ways to cut costs and increase efficiency, many are outsourcing selected services. One report indicated that 98 percent of the hospitals surveyed were either actively considering outsourcing or had already done so. [1] Outsourcing is expanding beyond non-core functions to clinical areas, as healthcare providers look for ways to decrease costs and increase quality. While outsourcing can be a cost-effective move, failure to properly assess and manage risks related to protected health information (PHI) can create legal and reputational issues for the organization.
However, outsourcing and relying on vendors to perform activities
that involve access to PHI increases the risk to a covered entity. Over the
past three years, the Health and Human Services Office of Civil Right (OCR) has
issued approximately $6 million in financial penalties where failure to obtain
a signed HIPAA compliant business associate agreement (BAA) from at least one
vendor was either the sole reason for the financial penalty, or contributed the
severity of the penalty.[2]
The HIMSS 2019 Cybersecurity Report noted that 30 percent of the
healthcare vendor respondents had not experienced a significant security
incident in the prior 12 months.[3] This
means that 70 percent had experienced a significant security incident.
HIPAA requires that covered entities have a BAA with vendors that
have access to PHI to perform duties on behalf of the covered entity, or if
electronic PHI (ePHI) passes through their systems. The HITECH omnibus rules
require that business associates comply with the security rule with regards to
ePHI, report breaches of unsecured PHI to the covered entity, comply with
applicable requirements of the privacy rule, and ensure their subcontractors
agree to the same regulations[4].
While a BAA does provide a covered entity with some legal
assurances, a BAA does not necessarily indemnify a covered entity against
financial penalties for a breach if the covered entity failed to obtain
“satisfactory assurances” of the vendors security.[5]
Nor will a BAA won’t protect the entity’s reputation. Quest Diagnostics
recently experienced a breach by one of their vendors of financial data for
approximately 11.9 million patients.[6] While
the breach was the fault of the vendor the media focus and public attention is
on Quest Diagnostics.
It’s important to consider if the data an organization is entrusting to a vendor is protected. What is the organization doing to ensure vendors who access ePHI understand their obligations and expectations?
The steps below should be performed at least annually to help
organizations ensure that their vendors are securing their data. Covered
entities may do this internally or enlist the services of an independent agency
to do the review.
Verify the
Organization Has Required BAAs
Organizations must compare their vendor master file against their
BAA file. Many organizations know they set up processes to obtain BAAs when the
Health Information Technology for
Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, regulations related to business
associates were released in 2013[7]
and accounts payable has been trained not to process a check without a BAA.
However, experience shows that if there is a way around those controls someone
will have figured it out! Vendors can get established without BAA when you
merge or acquire another provider. Vendors can get established without a BAA
when an emergency purchase is made from a vendor. Vendors can change ownership
without providing you with notice that you need an updated BAA.
Reviewing the vendor master file should begin with elimination of
vendors that the organization knows are not BAAs, such as utilities, employee
expense reimbursement, contracted physicians, etc. The organization should then
look at all remaining vendors and determine their use and access to PHI. The
process can be time consuming and painful, but if this basic first step is
never done, an organization will never know if they have identified the vendors
that are putting the organization at risk. At the end of this process, the
organization will have two lists; vendors with BAAs and vendors without BAAs.
Evaluation
of Vendors
Once the organization has a list of vendors that access their PHI,
they need to determine “what are these vendors doing to protect patient PHI.” Some
questions organizations should ask themselves:
Do we do any periodic reviews of vendor
security?
Did we evaluate security before we started
working with the vendor?
Do our vendors have certifications they can
provide to us?
If they advertise HITRUST certification, have
they sent us a current report?
What do we know about what they are doing with
our data?
Are they sending our data off shore?
Do they have security standards that at least
meet HIPAA standards?
Evaluation can be done in a number of ways. If a vendor is audited
annually to maintain their HITRUST certification, or they have a SOC II or
other audit done to validate their security controls, ask for the reports.
Furthermore, they should be reviewed to make sure that the controls the
organization is relied upon to protect ePHI are functioning. If the vendor
doesn’t have an independent review, the organization may need to do their own
review. Reach out to the vendor and talk
to them about their security. Covered entities may find it helpful to survey
their vendors on security.
If a vendor doesn’t want to provide information, or can’t provide
good data, the organization needs to perform a risk assessment to determine if
they are willing to accept the risk presented from the lack of
information.
Update
BAAs
After doing the two steps above, organizations should have
listings of their vendors and their BAAs. For vendors with BAAs, review those
BAAs. Have the agreements been updated to reflect the HITECH Omnibus
requirements? Are the agreements complete with the names of both parties and
the appropriate signatures? Is the contact information correct? If the vendor
doesn’t have a BAA, it’s past time to get a BAA. If the vendor with access to
PHI refuses to sign a BAA, it’s time to terminate that relationship!
Monitoring vendors for PHI security is not a “one time” review. A
vendor who had a great security person who understood HIPAA and the
organizations requirements, can have a financial set back and replace the
experienced Security Director to save money. A vendor who assured an
organization that their data was stored and processed in the US can suddenly outsource
to an offshore location for processing of the account. While this monitoring
can take time and resources, as many have learned in healthcare — a little
prevention can often head off a major issue.
Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing segments of the digital universe, with data volumes expected to grow by 48 percent annually. Healthcare applications will be the principal driver of this data growth, with EHR penetration in the US already reaching more than 80 percent and expected to reach 95 percent by 2020.
In addition, the healthcare space has matured to the point where EHR replacement has become commonplace, and up to 50 percent of health systems are projected to be on second-generation technology by the year 2020.
So why are these data points an important consideration?
Healthcare organizations have been facing
the major challenge of storing and securing patient information. This is not
just the problem with the providers, but for payers and patients too. While
transitioning to complete digitization of practices, healthcare leaders,
specifically CIOs, often find it a daunting task to identify the areas where
they need to scale up their technological approach.
EHRs are likely the necessary evil for
healthcare. No doubt they solved so many problems; however, they opened gates
to other problems. The complications with the legacy systems compel hospitals
to shift to modern technological solutions.
Right now, the story of mergers and acquisitions in the space is also like an adventure movie. According to KLAS Research, the number of EHR vendors dropped from more than 1,000 to around 400 now — the reason being the rise in mergers and acquisitions.
Where does the actual problem lie?
The journey of shifting from legacy systems
to advanced technology is also ripe with its own set of complications. As the
landscape is molded by M&As, consistent EHR replacements are not rare
sights.
In this scenario, organizations face two
major problems:
Legacy systems have
to be maintained so that organizations are able to access the read-only PHI.
The cost of
migrating data from one EHR to another is unreasonably high.
Moreover, since these EHR replacements are directly linked to the retention of the data from the legacy systems for about a decade. Most states require Protected Health Information (PHI) to be retained for about seven to 10 years.
How is data archival the solution we need now?
Transitioning between EHRs require a
holistic approach to keep their data secure, and the best way here is data
archival. Data archival is a simple process of archiving the entire data from
legacy systems into a unified platform so that it can be kept secured for a
long duration. It is the perfect solution to the above-stated two problems: it
is easier and can be done at one-tenth of the price.
For instance, in the case of legacy systems, the EHR vendor can charge up to $10,000 a month for keeping the system running even after the transition. However, in the case of data archival, this entire process is fast, cheap and much more efficient. Also, it eliminates the necessity of keeping the legacy systems running.
The archiving process serves multiple
functions and has the following major advantages over other data-retention
processes:
It allows legal
decommissioning of the legacy systems
It ensures the
integrity of the vital healthcare data
It creates the
opportunity to realize opportunities for immediate Return on Investment (ROI)
It minimizes the
risk of maintaining the historical data
It develops a
centralized repository for all your legacy systems’ data
And many more …
What is the perfect data archival strategy?
The procedure of data archival mainly
consists of two major steps: identifying the need for data archival and
adopting the best archival solution. It is important to analyze the need first
and then take action. It is a complex process and involves complex compliance
requirements to be fulfilled.
So what is needed to be done now? Here is the list of essential prerequisites to be considered and followed religiously before archiving your crucial healthcare data:
Understand your healthcare data
The first step is to understand your EHR and legacy system data. One organization might be focusing on archiving the data from a single EHR while the other might be looking for a solution that can archive the data from multiple data sources. Everyone’s data needs are different and, thus, requires a different data archival approach.
Familiarize yourself with your state regulations
Every state has its own regulations to archive the data. The state of California might need you to archive your data for six years, while the state of Minnesota might have a span of more than 30 years. These regulations need to be considered and understood efficiently before investing in a data archival solution.
Chalk out your technological requirements
The next and
most important step is to identify the extent and the varieties of
technological features your organization might need. Every organization has
different needs which should be analyzed and understood well in advance. Based
on these insights, the final decision can be made about any data archival
solution and its abilities.
The road ahead
The space of healthcare is among the most diverse and ever-changing fields. New mergers, efforts towards making the practice data-driven, empowering providers with access to every single bit of data about their patients, and whatnot; these factors have compelled organizations to keep shifting towards a better option — a better EHR. And in this story, the ultimate goal is to make this transition as smooth as possible. It is important to ensure that organizations get rid of all their legacy system headaches instantly. With data archival, it is finally possible.
Delivery
of care options have evolved quickly over the last decade, as more patients have
become comfortable with remote care and connected health services. And while
it’s often assumed that younger generations are more eager to adapt to the
changing healthcare landscape, services enabled by technology are being adopted
by all generations – but often for different reasons.
The Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers
It’s
estimated that by 2020, roughly 40
percent of the U.S. population will be over 50.
Those
in the older generations are typically associated with an aversion to
technology, assumed to value in-office engagements with medical providers and
clinging to antiquated methods of treatment.
Although
older generations grew up in a face-to-face generation where doctors regularly
made house calls, that doesn’t mean they balk at connected health services. In
fact, Baby Boomers and the Greatest Generation (those that grew up in the
Depression era) are more digitally connected than ever and benefit from remote
visits too. Many don’t realize that Boomers have been using technology since
PCs were introduced in the workplace the early 1990’s, long before the launch
of today’s iPhones and Androids. And while modern technology may be relatively
new to the Greatest Generation, the group has shown to be the fastest-growing
adopters of smart phones.
While
neither group is digitally native, many welcome alternative care options such
as connected health. For one, a large portion of the nation’s $2.7 trillion in
annual healthcare expenditures are related to chronic disease, which afflicts
older patients more than younger ones. Plus, connected health options are less
expensive than in-office visits. However, cost isn’t the only factor they
consider.
Most
Boomers are still in the workforce and looking to balance the end of their
careers with caring of aging parents. Connected health can save money and time associated
with office visits. And those in the 75-85 age group – the Greatest Generation
– prefer not to travel to see a doctor post-surgery if they could use two-way video
or a phone call. This is coupled with the fact that transportation is the
biggest impediment to seeing doctors or following up post-surgery for extended
care for chronic illness.
Transportation
challenges or disrupted routines are just a few of the barriers to getting a
patient proper care – and it’s costly. Of roughly 1.3
million hospital transfers from nursing homes each year, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate that 45 percent are
unnecessary. The introduction of remote care could be paramount, offering
patients a minimally disruptive alternative to receive necessary care that
would decrease long term issues.
Millennials and Generation Zers
Millennials
currently make up a quarter of the country, and Gen Zers are coming up quickly
behind them. While the younger set may be less dependent on the healthcare
system now than their Baby Boomer and Greatest Generation precedents, it’s
becoming more apparent just how much influence they have on the industry.
Having
spent their lives plugged into technology, millennials and Gen Zers are widely
referred to as the on-demand generations. They want immediate results in all
aspects of life and are driving huge strides in technological healthcare
advancements, including self-service options and remote delivery.
So,
it should be no surprise that they often prefer
quick service retail clinics and acute care facilities and
are largely interested in connected health alternatives. For these generations,
it’s all about online access, immediate results and keeping costs low. Many of
them prefer urgent cares to primarily care physicians and see doctors most
often for acute issues or maternity care. In fact, a majority of millennial
respondents in a recent
Patient-Provider Relationship Study cited that making a visit
to the doctor’s office is a last resort.
Consumers of all ages increasingly
embrace technology-enabled healthcare options
In
short, today’s patient, regardless of age, is more engaged in their health care
and not just relying on their doctors’ orders. Nearly everyone takes to the
internet to try and figure out their ailments via search engine before heading
to a doctor’s office.
And while
millennial and Gen Z patients may be leading the charge as connected health
patients, it’s possible that elder generations aren’t – and shouldn’t – be too
far behind. Based on their vast adoption of modern technologies, remote care
can be a useful tool in reducing unnecessary visits to a physician’s office and
may curb an emergency trip to the hospital as well. While it is still important
for patients to have some face time with their doctors, technology is creating
easily accessible and positive alternatives for all ages.
By Navaneeth Nair, vice president of product, Infinx.
Navaneeth Nair
Recently, major U.S. health
insurance companies have begun implementing prior authorization processes.
These insurers do not possess the specialized knowledge needed to determine
medical necessity, so they have to shift the responsibility to providers in
order to minimize instances of fraud and abuse.
However, shifting prior
authorization responsibility back to the practitioners can be troublesome. Many
providers do not have the necessary staff headcount needed to handle the
seemingly endless number of phone calls needed to obtain manual insurance
verifications.
That may lead providers to seek
completely automated solutions as a solution, but—despite all the advances in
artificial intelligence (AI)—machines simply cannot do everything. The true
purpose of AI is to help people make better decisions rather than
completely automate tasks and remove the human element.
Decision-making in the healthcare
industry absolutely requires the intelligence and empathy that can only come
from people and not machines. As a result, it is more accurate for providers to
look to “augmented intelligence,” which is the enhanced capabilities of human
clinical decision-making coupled with AI’s computational methods and systems as
defined by the American Medical Association.
Make no mistake—AI is absolutely
necessary in healthcare because the industry is either swimming or drowning in
data, depending upon whom you ask. As a result, the value proposition with the
most potential is to implement a tool that can input the data, make sense of
it, and present it back to the provider in a way that allows people to use
their knowledge and empathy to make the best possible decisions.
The AI component is designed to
continuously learn and improve from all data and interactions to provide
prescriptive insights for decision making while providing an increasing
transparency into the process. Ultimately, the AI’s job is to enable
intelligent decisions by applying machine learning, natural language processing
and understanding. When decision making is more deductive based on a learning
system, it improves outcomes.
Predictive models are inherently
simple to build, but difficult to maintain, because none of our healthcare
processes remain stable enough to utilize the data and patterns that are
produced. Those aspects are always changing, so practices need a solution that
seamlessly integrates the process and constantly accesses the latest and most
relevant data.
AI should be prescriptive and not
just predictive since predicting the outcome without explain ability (black box
AI) is limiting, particularly in healthcare where we need to better understand
machine rationale before applying it.
Lastly, the human component is
required to make the decisions that robotic automation and AI cannot. Only
people with empathy and knowledge of each unique situation can tailor the
patient experience to their individual context and needs.
Simply put, prior authorization
needs to be a product of human determination with as much assistance as AI can
provide. The best possible outcomes are the result of good intelligence and
great execution.
The most significant value
proposition for AI is the ability to take mundane administrative processes like
prior authorization or revenue cycle management off the task list of staff
members who have more important things to focus on without letting machines
make critical healthcare decisions. The most valuable automation systems will
continuously learn from the data gathered from previous experiences in order to
help people make better decisions.
This “digital workforce” will not
replace human workers, but instead will accelerate employee expertise, augment
decision making, reduce manual processing costs and risk, increase consistency
of output, and develop continuous self-learning processes. These best-in-class
platforms will allow providers to manage prior authorization, coding, and
billing needs through a combination of AI and specialists.
Providers should avoid completely
automated solutions for prior authorizations and instead look to a solution
that does not remove the deep knowledge and expertise factor gained from
specialists. Many general-purpose AI solutions are nothing more than spot
analytics solutions branded as AI, which require significant investments and
deliver uncertain results.
While AI may one day evolve to the
point of completely automating the prior authorization process, providers today
should remain committed to incorporating the human factor for better decision
making and outcomes.
Vyne, a market leader in secure health information exchange and electronic healthcare communication management, announced today it has been acquired by The Jordan Company, L.P., a middle-market-focused private equity firm with original capital commitments in excess of $11 billion. This new investment supports Vyne’s commitment of providing market-leading healthcare technology and support to thousands of dental practices, hospitals and major health systems across the United States.
The acquisition of Vyne from private equity firm Accel-KKR, comes after five years of consistent top and bottom-line growth as well as a strategic acquisition to expand its product offerings. With the backing of The Jordan Company, Vyne will further expand upon its already robust technology platforms that facilitate the electronic capture, storage and submission of healthcare data in any form – voice, document, image, data, fax or electronic interface — to provide business intelligence throughout any care organization. Vyne’s proven solutions connect disconnected data to close gaps in documentation,delivering improved financial strength, operational performance and patient experience for medical and dental providers, partners and payers.
Lindy Benton
“This acquisition provides Vyne with an amazing opportunity to serve more healthcare organizations and we’re looking forward to working with The Jordan Company to continue expanding our capabilities for serving the medical and dental markets,” said Lindy Benton, Vyne President and CEO. “Vyne clients and partners will benefit from this strategic move as we grow our portfolio of solutions that help position their healthcare organizations for the future.”
“Vyne has a long and successful track record of providing software products that deliver true value to healthcare organizations.,” said Dan Williams, Partner of The Jordan Company. “We are excited to partner with Lindy Benton and the Vyne management team to use our resources to support their mission of connecting disconnected data.”
Vyne serves the dental market through its NEA Powered by Vyne business, which continues to lead the dental market with its FastAttach® solution for compliant electronic attachments, serving more than 73,000 dental practice offices nationwide.
Vyne Medical servesthe healthcare industry with the robust healthcare content management capabilities of Trace™ and secure electronic information exchange solutions in use by more than 800 hospital and health system clients nationwide.
Clinician-to-patient communications are typically anchored
by in-person, at-home visits. Home health agencies may struggle with understanding
the benefits of technology adoption and how it will “work with” traditional
check-ins. The downside of not
implementing a communication platform unfortunately weakens an agency’s
positioning and performance amongst patients, family caregivers, and referral
sources. Without being able to safely communicate with patients via
HIPAA-compliant messaging, home health agencies may negatively impact their ability to:
Address patients’ questions and issues in a timelier
manner
Drive deeper patient engagement on a day-to-day
basis
Motivate adherence to the treatment plan and lower
the risk of rehospitalization
Earn recognition as being an innovative and
patient-centric partner in their community
Increase referrals from hospitals, SNFs, and
physicians
Introducing technology into the communications between home
health agency staff and patients may be seen as a potential interference to
building and sustaining meaningful clinician-patient relationships. However,
the use of technology – specifically a communications platform – allows nurses
to more effectively perform their clinical responsibilities and more
efficiently keep patients engaged in their own care. The benefits of using technology to strengthen
communications are many.
Engaged patients
are more invested in their outcomes:
Patients who are engaged in their care are more aware of their
day-to-day changes in their condition and more likely to ask their clinician
questions if there are emerging concerns and issues. Using a communication
platform to reach out to a home health clinician can mitigate trips to the ER
and keep a patient on track with the appropriate steps in their care.
Engaged patients
are more satisfied with their care. With easy access to their clinicians
before/after scheduled appointments, patients are more satisfied as they are
less anxious about accessing care if/when there is an immediate need. Family
caregivers also appreciate the access to expert care afterhours and on the
weekends. As a result, the family member and/or the patient is more apt to
first contact their home health clinician team instead of immediately (and
almost instinctively) heading to the ER.
Engaged
patients are boosting your bottom line.
As the PDGM model is realized in 2020, agencies are more concerned with
delivering care that is patient-centric yet cost-contained. To minimize
penalties and maximize outcomes, referral sources are prioritizing home health
agencies which can show how they are engaging patients, increasing satisfaction
scores, and lowering readmission rates especially within the initial 30 days
post-hospital discharge. With a communication platform and engagement strategy
in place, agencies are aligning themselves with these referral sources as they
share a like-minded objective – healthier and happier patients.
A communication platform can help optimize the experience for the patient and the home health agency as all stakeholders can stay in better and more frequent communication during the episode of care. Administrators can schedule and send out timely messages suited to the patient’s condition and care. Ongoing communications include appointment reminders, adherence triggers, and diet/exercise recommendations.
Patients can also safely use the platform’s HIPAA-compliant email, text, SMS, and secure message to reach their home health clinicians regarding questions or issues. The essence of the in-person clinician-patient relationship remains intact during the video-based virtual check-ins. The patient’s family members can also be included in the virtual visits to drive better understanding of the patient’s progress and next steps.
Data is key to allowing administrator the ability to assess
each patient’s level of interaction with each communication and the cadence of
touchpoints. As needed, the administrator has the flexibility to adjust the
compliance messaging to better engage (or re-engage) the patient. If there are
concerns about non-compliance, the home health agency can decide if a more
immediate intervention (e.g., call, in-home visit, or transfer to the ED is necessary.
Using a combination of messaging and video touchpoints, a
communication platform can help a home health agency increase satisfaction and
outcomes for the patient while actively reducing the number, length, and
related costs/penalties of hospital stays. The coordinated plan to engage
patients throughout the episode of care helps agencies minimize any “what if”
scenario for the future of their agency, their reputation, their staff and most
importantly, the agency’s impact in their region and community.
Vyne Medical announces an agreement with INTEGRIS Health for implementation of its Trace communication management platform. Oklahoma’s largest not-for-profit health system will implement Trace solutions across the system’s eight acute care hospitals and centralized access center.
The Trace platform encompasses voice recording, electronic faxing and image capture to automate and manage communication surrounding patient care. Data is digitized, indexed to the patient record and centralized for enterprise access and exchange. INTEGRIS will use Trace solutions to standardize and monitor key patient communication events and support its consumer financial engagement strategy.
“Trace solutions will help ensure the quality of our patient interactions prior to admission, while capturing valuable consumer insights contained in phone calls, emails, faxes and other revenue cycle communications,” said Susan Garcia, vice president of revenue cycle at INTEGRIS. “A digital audit trail of these interactions will support our goal of providing seamless service across all INTEGRIS facilities. It provides the objective data we were missing to better manage the entire patient encounter.”
Patient access team members will use Trace software to support daily activities at INTEGRIS hospitals and its centralized access center. Associates will record scheduling, preregistration and patient financial counseling phone calls with patients. Face-to-face recording will be implemented to record in-person patient encounters in registration, financial counseling and discharge planning. The Trace Quality Assurance solution will be used to review and score recordings.
Lindy Benton
“Forward-thinking health systems are investing to optimize patient encounters and identify new opportunities to improve consumer engagement,” said Lindy Benton, Vyne CEO and president. “We are excited to partner with INTEGRIS to reduce the cost of operations and improve KPIs by automating and leveraging data from these exchanges.”
With admitting physicians, INTEGRIS plans to automate delivery of faxed physician orders to eliminate paper and manual processes involved with faxing. Trace voice solutions will also be used to record pre-admission phone calls with physician offices. To improve communication with payers, INTEGRIS will document pre-authorization inquiries via payer portals and record payer voicemails granting approval for services. Medical records faxed to health plans will also be captured, along with the date and time stamp of delivery. Proof of these exchanges will help INTEGRIS reduce claim denials and improve reimbursement.
