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October 25, 2013

bblock

Don’t Get Caught Looking the Other Way on Secure Texting

When it comes to selecting secure texting and email services, our industry has been highly focused on fear of security and privacy violations. Meeting HIPAA requirements is critically important, but it is just the baseline in selecting the right secure communication and collaboration tools for clinical environments.
Hospitals, follow-on care enterprises, and medical practices can significantly improve care team collaboration and care transition through secure collaboration tools like Backline®:

  • Increasing the speed and precision of one-to-one communication
  • Establishing more efficient group and departmental communication
  • Enabling stronger, more productive coordination for patient care teams

Consider that 66% of all sentinel events occur due to breakdowns in communication between healthcare professionals, according to the Joint Commission. Taking a bite out of that statistic alone would make a huge impact in improving clinical outcomes. Our industry must view secure communication and collaboration tools in light of functionality that makes care team coordination faster and more precise, increases staff productivity, reduces hospital admissions, and, ultimately, drives better health outcomes for patients.
Please download our whitepaper on this subject, “A View on Collaborative Communication Technology in the Clinical Environment.” It illustrates how a shared platform for secure collaboration can prevent communication breakdowns among clinical staff and drive productivity gains throughout the healthcare community.
We invite and encourage your feedback on this important issue. Please add your opinions and commentary to the dialogue below.


About bblock

As the general manager of the Hospital Business Unit within DrFirst, Mr. Block oversees a wide spectrum of products and services that serve the hospital space. Mr. Block joined DrFirst in early 2013 with over 25 years of experience in the healthcare sector. His diverse background includes playing key roles in the provider setting as CIO, practice leader, and sales executive, and in the vendor setting as a vice president. As an active participant in the healthcare technology realm, serving on advisory boards and as faculty in healthcare related conferences across the nation, Mr. Block has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Prior to joining DrFirst, he served as the VP of consulting services at NextGen Healthcare Information Systems for close to 3 years, and was also the chief information officer for Doylestown Hospital for 11 years.