Reasons to Use Zoom for Medical Distant Assistants

Technological advancements in healthcare can be daunting but telecommunication has slowly become part of the day-to-day operations of some organizations. Take for example a Phoenix-based hospital that has utilized Zoom to expedite their systems and processes. With its proven functionality and integrity, you would want to explore the possibility of applying Zoom for medical distant assistants in your practice.

Zoom is a multifunctional cloud-based teleconference platform that you can use to meet with your MVA for morning huddles, individual patient encounters, and even post-clinic debriefings. It allows one-on-one and group meetings, instant messages (IM) and webinars. Its security features also ensure the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI).

Zoom on Security

In a white paper published in 2016, Zoom detailed the many security features of this platform. Some of these include:

• Infrastructure. Zoom boasts of firewall compatibility. This means that the Zoom client determines the best methods and ports of communication.
• Client Application. Role-based security gives the host control over permissions for a participant’s entry into a Zoom Room. Users also have access to selective meeting invitation options via IMs, email, and even SMS. In addition, end-to-end chat encryption helps keep IMs private and exclusive to intended recipients.
• Meeting Security. Different in-meeting capabilities are also available to the host. Examples include the expulsion of participants, locking or ending of meetings and muting or unmuting of participants. Host and client authentication and password protection also make Zoom Rooms more secure for both hosts and participants.
• Encryption. Zoom also offers the option to encrypt end-to-end meetings, communication tunnels, and presentation content.

Zoom’s HIPAA Compliance

Any platform incorporated into medical practice must offer robust patient health information protection. These platforms need to enter into a contract with any HIPAA-covered entity prior to use for electronic PHI (ePHI).

Zoom is a HIPAA-compliant platform prepared to sign a business associate agreement (BAA) with organizations looking to use it for their operations. This agreement signifies that Zoom is aware of its responsibilities in safeguarding ePHI. Its many security features outlined above also meet HIPAA standards, making it ideal for your practice operations.

A New Era for Telehealth

In true spirit of improving telecommunication within the healthcare system, Zoom launched Zoom for Telehealth in 2017. This service features integration with the electronic health record system Epic.

It includes all the classic security features of the platform. Epic will also incorporate Zoom into its records and workflows. This enables a more secure, efficient system for distant communication and data protection.

These recent upgrades to its services make for very compelling reasons to use Zoom for medical distant assistants. Not only does Zoom simplify communication with your distant staff. It also offers many other systemic options that you can introduce into your systems and processes.