The reality of life today, from business to personal, is mobility. We’re untethered in a way we could never have even imagined just ten years ago. Imagine someone telling you that you need to visit a bank to transfer funds between accounts. Or that you have to go into a store to buy a new pair of shoes. Or that you’d better stick around the house just to wait for a call from a friend.
If someone did say those things, you’d probably roll your eyes, make a face, and prepare to pull up your smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Because the era of mobility really means the era of “bring your own device.” It’s already transformed all the industries mentioned above – banking, shopping, telecommunications – and it’s on the rampage in plenty of new ones. Healthcare is a good example.
Healthcare has been notably slow in adopting new approaches to care delivery, whether technology-enabled or not. And given the incredible need for security of health data, technology has been viewed with a skeptical eye. But BYOD isn’t going away, and when done correctly, it has the potential to streamline the entire care experience while cutting down on costs, since specialized equipment will no longer be required.
I believe that healthcare and senior care must embrace the BYOD movement with enthusiasm, but they must also make a demand of technology providers: put security at the center of the system.
Let’s take a recent example of this. Last week, Intel-GE Care Innovations™ unveiled a new care platform called the Care Innovations™ Connect Care Delivery Architecture, built on Intel-driven standards of security. The platform, which uses the highest level of applicable industry standards for data integrity, is the base for two new solutions:
Care Innovations™ Connect RCM is an FDA-cleared remote care management solution, which lets health and senior care organizations deliver telehealth to patients on their own devices. Since the care portal is accessible via web browser, instead of relying on a specific “box” or device that has to be delivered into the home, deployment costs may be reduced by up to 50%. Providers are happy because they are paying less while knowing the data is secure; patients are happy because they finally get the device flexibility they’ve always wanted and they’re able to involve their family and friends, too.
Care Innovations™ Connect Caregiver is an easy-to-use suite of tools that helps family caregivers work together to confidently manage a loved one’s care at home. Patients receiving care via Connect RCM can invite their loved ones into a care circle through this application, or individual family caregivers can just sign up themselves. Either way, the informal caregiver gets that same level of data security.
BYOD is not just the future – BYOD is today. It means flexibility, lower costs, and happier end users. Remember that face you would have made if someone told you to head to the bank? That’s the same face your patients, your residents, or your members will make when you tell them to come to your institution and just be happy about it.
Shannon McIntyre Hooper is the corporate communications director for Intel-GE Care Innovations.
