Health

How Telehealth depends on quality Internet infrastructure


How Telehealth depends on quality Internet infrastructure

Trent S. Anderson

By Trent S. Anderson, chief revenue officer, Bluebird Network.

Virtual services have now become the new normal with telehealth being a prime example. Now, if we want an annual check-up or consultation, we can talk to our doctor from the comfort of our home. But why don’t we always take advantage of this virtual alternative?

Until the pandemic highlighted the need for more digital services and flexibility, the healthcare industry was hesitant to embrace virtual alternatives like telehealth. Traditionally, both patients and physicians have (understandably) preferred face-to-face visits and consultations. Patients believe face-to-face visits are more thorough, personal, and safer, and provide an opportunity to become more comfortable with their doctor.

During the pandemic, doctors and healthcare professionals have worked hard to minimize exposure by avoiding unnecessary contact with others. Sometimes, in-person follow-up appointments are not necessary. Instead of risking unnecessary exposure, doctors and healthcare facilities are starting to embrace telehealth – virtual visits leveraging telecommunications technology.

During this time, patients are also concerned about their ability to access quality healthcare because of fewer and fewer face-to-face visits. This has certainly spurred the development of telehealth as a safe and effective way to address patient concerns without the physical risks. Since then, many doctors have become so committed to telehealth that they refuse to see patients in person. Furthermore, it has created a whole new medical practice with companies like Covenant Health Virtual Care, which currently only uses doctors to provide virtual telemedicine services.

However – as many doctors and patients know – telehealth presents new challenges, and those problems are exacerbated in underserved communities with limited and inadequate Internet infrastructure. trust. These communities tend to be remote (periphery) from large cities, where hospitals and medical facilities (centers) are often located, leading to the need to access healthcare services remotely. reliability is even greater.

Without high-speed Internet and reliable broadband solutions, patients cannot extend their care to telehealth plans where they can communicate with doctors. national excellence. Call interruptions and delayed video connections disrupt patient care, causing frustration and dissatisfaction with the telehealth experience.

Simply put, a major solution to this problem is a reliable, low-latency internet service with the ability to support high-bandwidth, real-time solutions such as streaming and video streaming services. next. To provide reliable Internet, a combination of last-mile and mid-mile transport or dark fiber deployment is required. “Dark fibers” are raw fibers without lighting services – such as the internet – that provide community connectivity with virtually limitless communication hubs. Building medium & even long distance dark links for underserved communities allows for cost-effective scaling opportunities and, when designed effectively, provides routing diversity for an experience stronger connection.

What about HIPAA compliance?

HIPAA law enforces strict practices to protect the privacy of medical documents. The penalties for breaking these laws are very high. And, unfortunately, nearly 10 million medical records were exploited by hackers in a September 2020 cyberattack. Worse yet, the healthcare providers involved didn’t. realized the data breach happened until some time later.

How can smaller vendors with limited IT resources protect themselves from large-scale attacks? By partnering with an industry leading company specializing in healthcare solutions.

HIPAA-compliant data centers are designed to adhere strictly to applicable laws and be flexible enough to adapt as those laws change. They are designed to prevent a breach from happening in the first place, eliminating the need for rollback entirely. While the US Department of Health and Human Services acknowledges that remote communication technologies not necessarily fully HIPAA compliant, patients still have great expectations regarding the use and protection of their data. However, in the event of an attack, they will be there for damage control.

What providers should healthcare facilities look for?

Healthcare facilities must partner with a provider that takes the time to understand their practice, patients, goals, and industry standards to empower their facility with high-quality infrastructure , optimize digital approaches and deliver better care to patients.

Here are some aspects of the infrastructure to consider:

Various routes – This refers to the infrastructure that provides multiple lines of communication. For example, if one line connecting an organization to their provider goes down, the other maintains an active connection. It also means avoiding shared connection points when possible (usually found only at each endpoint).

Target fit – As we discussed, telehealth requires fast, reliable speeds with enough bandwidth to facilitate simultaneous video conferencing and file transfers. Providers should be able to discuss how their plans meet these goals.

Edge Data Center Data centers located outside of major city areas are key to reducing mileage and allowing healthcare applications to reside closer to rural patient communities.

Protection from Disaster – Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters can disrupt business communications. These disruptions can be catastrophic when it comes to healthcare providers. Ideally, the data center provider should be located underground or in arid environments to prevent disruptions caused by natural and man-made disasters.

Healthcare technology professionals should question whether their digital infrastructure is built to support telehealth in the future. As society becomes more and more reliant on digital services, healthcare companies will need to form partnerships with companies that can reliably deliver the solutions they need. Reliable: low-latency transport connections and secure data edge centers. If these problems persist, any health system could be shut down if service concerns go unchecked.

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