Secure Messaging from a Smartphone to Any Other Device at Your Hospital

It’s an exciting time for Amcom because we’ve just announced the latest release of our Amcom Mobile Connect (AMC) product, which offers some amazing new capabilities for hospitals. The most notable enhancement is that a user can communicate with other individuals or groups via encrypted, traceable messages—right from their smartphone or tablet running AMC. Amcom Mobile Connect runs on Apple®, BlackBerry®, and Android® smartphones and tablets, as well as Cisco® tablets and wireless IP phones.

With full authenticated directory access, clinicians or others can send messages to staff running Amcom Mobile Connect on smartphones/tablets, as well as colleagues using pagers, wireless telephones, and other types of devices. As in previous versions of the product, staff can also send messages from Amcom operator consoles, Web directories, emergency notification, and other solutions.

We’re also keeping security top of mind. Amcom Mobile Connect uses industry standard best practices to ensure the protection of sensitive electronic health information in accordance with guidelines from HIPAA and the HITECH Act. This includes a variety of security features, including encryption, application lock, automated message removal, and password-protected inbox. With version 3.0 administrators can complete a remote device wipe to remove Amcom Mobile Connect messages from a smartphone that has been lost or stolen.

These capabilities contrast sharply with the limitations of text (SMS) messaging, which lacks the message traceability and encryption that could lead to a security breach. In fact, the Joint Commission stated on Nov. 10, “No it is not acceptable for physicians or licensed independent practitioners to text orders for patients to the hospital or other healthcare setting. This method provides no ability to verify the identity of the person sending the text and there is no way to keep the original message as validation of what is entered into the medical record.”

You can learn more about Amcom Mobile Connect on our Web site.

As always, your comments are welcome!

The Missing HL7 Link and Smartphones

HL7—Health Level 7—is the standard format for exchanging patient health information between medical applications (created by the not-for-profit organization of the same name). HL7 is a language healthcare organizations understand very well, and they need communications systems that speak it too. Fluently.

But what can we do with it? Amcom Software’s HL7 Link provides automatic notification of critical information like lab results, alarms, and/or patient status. Alerts can include patient information such as name, medical record number, room number, etc. Staff automatically receive the information they need on the correct device.

The effective use of HL7 data to improve care is a potential area of improvement for hospitals. In fact, the Joint Commission has established a National Patient Safety Goal which specifies the need to send important test results to the appropriate staff member on time. It is also very important for hospitals to be able to evaluate the timeliness of these notifications. Amcom Software can help organizations meet this goal by using HL7 data across several systems in novel ways to improve patient care.

Let’s look at an example:

A patient undergoes testing and her lab results are abnormal. The patient’s physician needs to be notified ASAP. The lab technician enters the results into the lab system. Through HL7 integration, once the lab result is entered, it is automatically passed to the Amcom system. Amcom can send the results to the physician on his smartphone. This is done securely and includes an audit trail. With the lab results in hand, the physician determines the patient needs additional medication. He sends a message about the medication and dosage from his smartphone (again, securely and with an audit trail) to the nurse responsible for the patient’s room on her smartphone. The patient receives the medication quickly.

There are many benefits of this for different groups in this scenario. Doctors get proactive notification of critical lab results, meaning they can treat patients with the right procedures or medicine faster. Lab technicians eliminate the time spent manually calling or locating the right physician. The responsibility of reaching the physician is taken off the lab technician, allowing him or her to return to work faster as well.

There are many additional scenarios where this flow of information among systems and people provides great benefit, such as the admit/discharge process and related downstream events, notification about blood products being ready, the availability of particular reports being available, and more.

Hospitals seek every possible opportunity to improve how information flows for the good of patient care and staff efficiency. A link between critical systems and staff goes a long way toward this.

How are you using HL7 in your organization?