Continuing to See Cisco Momentum in Hospitals

We’re continuing to hear from hospitals of all sizes that they want to leverage their Cisco platforms as the foundation for other mission-critical messaging and communications such as Amcom. Case in point, Rockingham Memorial Hospital (RMH) has a Cisco wireless VoIP foundation and is working with us to address the needs of its mobile staff. This 238-bed hospital in Harrisonburg, Va., is implementing Amcom's encrypted smartphone messaging, Web-based directory / on-call scheduling, and emergency notification solutions. The hospital contact center will also use Amcom's call recording solution to improve call center quality, monitor compliance, and evaluate operator training needs. RMH chose Amcom in part due to its Cisco integration strategy and for its breadth of products that provide the ability to create a succinct communications flow throughout the hospital.

You can read the press release we issued this week to learn more.

Any comments or thoughts on how you’re seeing Cisco used for advanced messaging or workflows today?

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!

Amcom and Cisco in Healthcare

Amcom continues to focus on enabling messages to be sent to an ever-broader array of devices to support the diversity of communications tools different staff members use in today’s hospitals. In fact, our Amcom Mobile Connect smartphone/tablet messaging solution now enables hospitals to send staff encrypted critical communications on Cisco wireless IP phones and Cius tablets. Read more.

In addition to our support for Cisco devices, Amcom has been a member of the Cisco Developer Community since 2003. This means we maintain certifications on a number of products which integrate with Cisco Unified Communications applications and devices. We’re pleased to announce that the latest versions of our operator console applications have successfully completed interoperability testing with Cisco UCCX 8.5, UCM 8.5, and UCCE 8.5. For customers who have Cisco phone systems or plan to migrate to them, this means they’ll have a proven technology backbone supporting their mission-critical communications. Read more.

Curious to hear more about Amcom and Cisco in healthcare? Drop us a note below!

Supporting an Aged Care Facility with Mobile Communications

While we talk a lot about hospitals staff’s needs for mobile communications, there’s another facet of healthcare that has similar requirements: aged/senior care. Many of these organizations offer residents a range of care options from self-sufficient apartments to round-the-clock medical assistance. The ability to send notifications from in-room nurse call and other facility-wide monitoring systems (door alarms, building management) directly to caregiver’s mobile devices is growing in popularity. This speed of communication improves response time to a variety of situations, some of which are life-threatening. It also helps staff work more efficiently by knowing the exact location and nature of the alarm.

Case in point, we just issued a story about Queensland, Australia-based aged care provider Bethany Christian Care. This progressive organization has improved their responsiveness to resident calls for assistance by using Amcom middleware. The solution works with Bethany Christian Care’s nurse call system to escalate requests for resident assistance directly to staff on their Cisco Wi-Fi phones. This enables staff to tend to residents’ needs more quickly, complying with both industry regulations and its own mission for quick response times.

Read more in the press release.