Running A Business From Your Phone - Smartphone and Healthcare

Thanks to rapid technological developments, it is now increasingly commonplace for businesses to be run from the convenience of your pocket. When it comes to healthcare, this is no exception, with smartphones providing practitioners and healthcare professionals the ability to manage finances and patient data, as well as enabling better communication. Mobile features provide a faster and easier way to oversee healthcare information, and a more integrated workflow to serve as the foundation of operations.

With over 120 million US users shifting towards mobile healthcare in the last year, there is a multitude of benefits that the service has to offer. Patients can manage and book appointments in an optimized system, as well as pay online, access healthcare resources, and meet with doctors and practitioners from the comfort of their own homes. Healthcare professionals can utilize these options, in addition to storing clinical documents and medical records and providing appointment reminders and consultation services in a HIPAA compliant format. Running a business has never been easier with the streamlined features of mobiles.

There are numerous ways in which healthcare practitioners can use phone systems to run their businesses, with smartphone health apps especially providing significant support. 

With smartphone healthcare, healthcare professionals can more closely monitor the health of patients by receiving notifications of any change in condition. Wearable devices that track blood glucose levels, physical activity, weight, and sleeping patterns can transmit data through apps for practitioners to view and respond to. Using this data, practitioners can work towards more effective treatment plans to provide a higher level of care. The continuous real-time updates mean that treatment can be more accurate and tailored to any fluctuations in health that may occur.

Phone systems are a great way to run a business, as they can also be used as separate phone extensions to the appointment desk, prescription services, nurse lines, and voicemails. In some cases, there could also be an after-hours service in place for emergency contacts. As a result, you can free up time that would be spent on the phone talking to clients and use it for other important business processes.

Phone systems are also great for enabling the management of multiple different features all at once. From just your mobile, you can access appointment scheduling features, video conferencing, and messaging communication forms, as well as the composition and storage of clinical and medical documents and notes. Mobile services offer an excellent streamlined way to keep up with business processes from any place, as well as across different healthcare practices.

Smartphones are powerful devices that can easily support numerous healthcare business processes, and by 2023, it is expected that 7.3 billion people will be using mobile devices. Almost all of the world’s population will be using smartphones, and capitalizing on this is likely to prove highly beneficial for healthcare practices. To highlight such benefits, we have collated the top reasons why you should use smartphones as medical devices for point-of-care.

• User-friendly - Mobile devices are designed with the intention for anyone to use them, regardless of their technological skills. With portable sizes that conveniently fit in your pocket, as well as responsive touch screens and water-resistance, they can be effectively used anywhere. Because they also last multiple days with charge, they are perfect for consulting patients throughout the day and from any remote location.
• Excellent connection - Smartphones are the perfect way to connect with others through video calling and messaging features that work on both Wi-Fi networks and data. This makes communication between practitioners and patients incredibly easy and allows you to consult on any private matters at any place and time. They can also be used as GPS systems to monitor the whereabouts of patients if needed, which is particularly good for those who are high-risk.
• High-quality camera - One of the best features of smartphones is their video and picture qualities that have excellent autofocus features and high definition lenses. This can be helpful for fluorescence detection, as well as other microscopic material for lab testing, and is also useful for examining patient conditions. 
• HD display - High definition displays are great for screens and information to be viewed regardless of the environment they are in. They can support up to 4K resolution, and ensure that all critical details can be clearly seen.
• Integrated sensors - Fingerprint readers, light, gyroscopic, temperature, and proximity sensors all work to produce high-level health reports within smartphone health apps. They make an excellent monitoring service to measure patient vital signs such as pulse, breathing, and oxygen levels, which can facilitate more effective treatment.‍
• Software applications - Software applications allow for a variety of medical diagnostics and tools, as well as giving practitioners access to numerous data storage and conferencing applications. The possibilities are endless when it comes to software and its developments, and taking advantage of their abilities can enable faster business processes.

For effective smartphone use in healthcare, your device and its applications must comply with HIPAA regulations to ensure the privacy of patients and preservation of sensitive data. Mobile devices can be highly secure devices, however, there is always the potential for data to be jeopardized. Once a smartphone has been compromised under your network, the risk of losing sensitive information increases significantly. To avoid this, there are some things you must consider. 

• Have good password management - Ensure that your passwords are difficult to guess, with a mix of upper and lower case, numbers, and special characters. They should never be shared, and multi-factor authentication processes may be needed as an additional security layer.
• Educate your staff - Your staff must be knowledgeable about the security protocol in place, and they need to understand why it's important. Patient data can contain highly sensitive information, and your staff need to be trained on how to handle this safely. This includes training on how to recognize malicious links, as well as how to only use encrypted connections, and comply with security policies. 
• Conduct risk assessments - Within your company or through outsourcing, you must identify any potential risks to maintain confidentiality and the privacy of your business data. Regularly checking and securing any potential holes in your firewalls or encryption software can reduce the chances of information being leaked. 
• Ensure software is up-to-date - Having regularly updated software can ensure that you are protected from any data hacks, by putting the right resources in place to defend your information. Outdated software allows outside sources to more easily hack and extract information. 

Future of smartphones in healthcare

There is a clear trend towards mobile adoption within the healthcare space, with each year bringing in around 20-30% more mobile users. Currently, over 51% of healthcare professionals use devices to access medical information, indicating that there is a strong inclination towards using devices as a way to communicate and diagnose within the health community. 

With both out-clinic and in-clinic use for medical records, client documentation, payments, booking systems, and monitoring and consulting services, there are limitless possibilities for what mobile devices can do. Taking the opportunity of their growing use will prove highly beneficial for your practice, as you will be  able to integrate more streamlined workflow processes into your clinic that also prioritize the needs of your clients. 

Further reading:

• Protect and secure health information when using a mobile device
• Mobile Phone Usage & HIPAA Regulations