When it comes to the impact of mobility on healthcare, the numbers speak volumes. As we just heard from CDW’s Neal Campbell at HIMSS13 (slides), 80% percent of doctors now use mobile devices — frequently their own personal ones — and nearly 80% of consumers want their doctors to use mobile solutions. There are currently more than 13,000 mobile health apps available, with additional products entering the market at a rapidly accelerating pace.
Increasingly, healthcare organizations are counting on mobility’s promise to improve care and increase productivity. Yet they also recognize mobility poses daunting challenges when it comes to protecting sensitive patient data and ensuring HIPAA compliance. In his presentation, Campbell made a strong case for investing in a comprehensive mobility strategy that ties technology to business revenue, expense and risk objectives, rather than simply implementing system patches to support mobile devices. With this approach, organizations can best position themselves to safely and securely take full advantage of the opportunities mobility offers.
Campbell said the first step involves assessing the current environment and developing mobile policies that identify the individuals and organizations that will be covered, the capabilities to be delivered and where, expected outcomes, and the mix of products, services and staff required. A foundational component of any mobility strategy is a robust infrastructure that supports dramatically increased network usage, manages data traffic and network access, and optimizes technology capacity through techniques such as deduplication, compression, protocol spoofing and caching.
When it comes to selecting mobile devices, Campbell emphasized that it’s important to keep in mind three key factors: personalization, ease of use and standardization. A mobile staff comfortable accessing EMR, CPOE and PACS systems on devices of their choice improves workplace efficiencies. This, in turn, increases quality of care, response time and patient satisfaction.
While Campbell observed that the popularity of BYOD can help reduce costs and speed adoption, he cautioned organizations cannot afford to ignore the additional security risks the trend introduces. A CDW Healthcare survey found that:
- 71% of healthcare mobile device users received no security training
- 42% used a personal device without the I.T. department’s knowledge
- 16% worked without employer-required security measures
Given that the cost of a data breach can easily climb into the millions of dollars, Campbell said a mobile device management (MDM) solution is critical to protect patient information and comply with HIPAA requirements. MDM drastically reduces the risk of a data breach through a number of strategies that include encrypting data in transit and at rest; configuring and centrally managing mobile devices; detecting and remotely wiping clean compromised, lost or stolen devices; and applying dynamic policy controls.
Managing content delivery also plays a key role in safeguarding personal health information (PHI) while supporting caregivers’ ability to access data vital to providing quality care. This involves determining who gets access to patient health data, which applications they can access, and how content will be secured. Smart policies include requiring all mobile devices on the network — no matter who owns them — to be scanned and inventoried, ensuring every user authenticates and agrees to mobile policies and refusing to allow any data to reside on mobile devices.
Last but not least, Campbell recommended that organizations select the mobile integration approach — including in-house, hybrid, turnkey or cloud — that best meets their particular needs. Working with a knowledgeable I.T. partner experienced in addressing HIPAA compliance and other healthcare-specific issues can help organizations develop and implement an effective mobile strategy that empowers caregivers — and patients — to reap the many benefits of mobility.
Neal Campbell is Chief Marketing Officer at CDW. His HIMSS13 presentation focused on how and why healthcare organizations should develop and implement comprehensive mobility strategies. To learn more, visit CDW.com/communIT.
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