As the country’s population ages, more people look to independent living and retirement communities to simplify their lives and focus on wellness, or assisted living facilities to receive around the clock care. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, 14.5 percent of the population is 65 years of age or older. By 2033, this population will outnumber people younger than 18 for the first time in U.S. history. For this growing age group that often depends on patient care teams, efficient communication between healthcare providers in hospitals, at home and in care facilities must exist in order to ensure the best level of care.
As text messaging is the preferred form of communication today – whether via native SMS text or through texting applications – many healthcare professionals rely on it to collaborate for faster clinical decisions. For long term care providers who deal with sensitive patient information while mobile, it’s critical to utilize apps that provide features that maintain privacy and confidentiality, while achieving HIPAA compliance. To help manage patient health while ensuring patient privacy, care teams are turning to enterprise-strength texting applications such as Vaporstream.
Vaporstream ensures patient privacy by enabling secure, ephemeral messaging between all members of the patient care team. Content expiration is set based on your organization’s policies while a single copy of all messages are retained in a client-specified, secure repository of record. This enables care teams to have a complete patient record and meet HIPAA compliance standards without the risks commonly associated with mobile device use and third-party control.
Read more about how enterprise messaging apps such as Vaporstream enable quick and secure communication, and high quality efficient care no matter where the patient or the care team members are located, in McKnight’s Senior Living’s latest article on Streamlining Communication for Optimal Care Provision.
For more information on how Vaporstream is used to help streamline communication for improved patient care for long term and home health care agencies, contact us.