Follow These 3 Steps to Provide Secure Telehealth Services
Telehealth is no longer an afterthought. It hasn't been for years. Cobbled-together solutions, which saw so many organizations through the last few years, are inadequate. Full integration is the path forward. As a provider, you need a comprehensive digital strategy to meet growing patient preferences for a secure, convenient, and personalized telehealth experience.
Digital technology has helped make this a reality. If you have the right system in place, patients can receive high-quality, secure telehealth care wherever they are. Deployed correctly, telehealth can help close care gaps, improve access to care services, and address health equity concerns. It enables healthcare organizations to provide quality care to otherwise underserved populations, regardless of location
Take diabetes, for example. Telehealth can keep vulnerable people with diabetes connected to their care team, improving outcomes and reducing disparities, according to research published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. This 2024 study focused on community health centers, which typically serve lower-income communities. A 2024 literature review published in Cureus included several other examples of how telehealth, including remote patient management, improved HbA1c levels in people with diabetes.
That said, accessibility should never compromise patient privacy. Both are essential. With solutions like healthcare application programming interfaces (APIs), you can securely extend your reach, ensuring every patient receives the care they need.
Beyond Accessible: Secure and Compliant
Providing secure, HIPAA-compliant healthcare services is critical, but it's not always easy. As telehealth becomes increasingly popular, ensuring security becomes more complicated. Here are a few reasons why:
- Growing cybersecurity threats: Healthcare data breaches hit record highs in 2023, per The HIPAA Journal.
- Evolving regulations: HIPAA and other healthcare laws are always changing.
- Exponential growth in health data: Healthcare organizations, from small provider groups to major health systems, are dealing with more data from more sources than ever before, all of which needs to be protected, and that data volume will only continue to grow going forward.
Compounding this is the fact that many communications tools clinicians commonly use aren't set up to enable HIPAA compliance. Typically, unsecure communication tools include SMS, free messaging services, and email — they're not secure because copies of messages are left on service providers´ servers, as the editor of The HIPAA Journal explained in late 2023.
Why it matters:
- Patient trust: Protecting patient data fosters confidence.
- Protection from financial and reputational risk: Non-compliance can result in severe penalties and a tarnished public image.
- Improved care quality: Secure, integrated systems can enable better care coordination and patient outcomes. You can focus on patients without fretting over potential security lapses.
By leveraging communications APIs that enable HIPAA compliance and integrated telehealth solutions, providers can meet patient expectations for secure, convenient, and personalized care. And as The HIPAA Journal report noted, the right technology can enable a healthcare organization to comply with all HIPAA requirements.
Communications APIs Power More Secure, Accessible Healthcare
Meeting the needs of your patients today demands a hybrid care model that seamlessly blends digital tools with traditional in-person care. This approach requires integrated end-to-end processes, which APIs can provide.
APIs can help make telehealth both secure and accessible by allowing healthcare systems to exchange data seamlessly. They provide a controlled, standardized way for external applications to access data, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access. Such APIs support seamless platforms for patient interactions while protecting patient data across integrated systems and applications. This, in turn, makes it possible to deliver high-quality care to patients anywhere on almost any device.
The systems are sophisticated, but neither the clinician nor the patient sees what's behind the curtain.
Vonage Communications APIs offer the tools you need to deliver comprehensive telehealth services to your patients. Here are three steps you and your healthcare organization can take to provide secure telehealth services that enable HIPAA security compliance.
Step 1. Personalize virtual care: Implement an advanced video API
Start with a robust video solution. Vonage Video API enables providers to deliver personalized virtual care and remote patient monitoring. This technology simplifies the process for both providers and patients:
- High-quality video consultations allow clear communication between your physicians and your patients.
- Seamless integration into existing healthcare applications means that video capabilities are embedded directly into your system — no switching between platforms.
- Flexible virtual care enables providers to offer everything from routine check-ups to more specialized consultations remotely.
Video visits simplify care delivery, particularly in primary care. Parents can consult with pediatricians about non-urgent concerns, reducing the stress and avoiding the hassle of driving to the doctor's office every time their child has an earache.
In specialties like dermatology, where visual assessments are essential, a provider can identify potential problems quickly without the patient having to wait for an on-site appointment. In behavioral health, secure video visits are invaluable. Many people who seek mental health services may wish to do so privately, so the ability to receive care from their home removes a significant barrier to care, making it easier for them to access the support they need.
Step 2. Engage your patients: Deploy AI-powered voice solutions
AI-powered voice solutions, including virtual agents, can streamline patient interactions and automate routine tasks. This can make accessing care easier for patients and less cumbersome for you and your staff. Vonage Voice API and voice-enabled virtual agents provide an array of services, including:
- Appointment scheduling and reminders, which can help reduce the risk of no-shows and increase patient adherence to treatment plans.
- Automated results delivery, which can provide timely updates on lab results, imaging, etc.
- Urgent behavioral health triage from AI virtual assistants, which can help provide 24/7 support to address urgent health concerns, allowing for immediate intervention when necessary.
All this is customized for each patient, because no one wants to communicate with a generic bot. A 2023 literature review published in PEC Innovation emphasizes the importance of personalization in digital healthcare. Automation alone is not enough — tailoring interactions to individual patients matters and increases patient engagement.
The right telehealth system supports continuity of care across the healthcare journey. Each patient can receive consistent, comprehensive, and customized management of their specific condition. Moreover, by creating the opportunity for regular and convenient interactions between patients and their care team, telehealth can reduce no-show rates, further ensuring continuity of care, according to the 2024 Cureus review.
Step 3. Make it seamless: Integrate messaging and verification APIs
Video and voice are essential, but a complete communication ecosystem includes messaging. Vonage offers messaging APIs to support multichannel communication, delivering updates via SMS.
- Notifications and reminders allow patients to receive important information through their preferred communication channels.
- User verification with Vonage Verify API can enhance security by authenticating users through phone number verification, ensuring only authorized individuals can access telehealth services.
Having multiple communications channels can improve access, but it can be complicated. That's why integration is so important. APIs can provide secure platforms for patient interactions while ensuring patient data remains protected across integrated systems and applications. Fully integrated communications features set up to enable HIPAA compliance can also help avoid compliance violations.
Ensure security with HIPAA-compliant telehealth services
For telehealth services to work effectively, robust security measures must be in place to protect patient data and ensure HIPAA compliance.
Patients worry about security. A 2024 study published in the American Journal of Managed Care identified two key patient concerns in this area: finding (and being able to use) secure HIPAA-compliant devices and software, and ensuring privacy when there's no private clinical space for the visit. Moreover, privacy concerns can inhibit patients from using digital technologies, according to the 2023 literature review in PEC Innovation.
With Vonage, providers can remain HIPAA security-compliant while maintaining high standards of patient data protection. Comprehensive, end-to-end fraud protection safeguards patient data throughout the entire telehealth process. Secure patient communications, including branded calling features, can also bolster patient confidence.
Accessible, comprehensive, and secure telehealth
With the Vonage suite of communications APIs for healthcare, any organization can create a secure, HIPAA security-compliant telehealth platform that will meet patients' growing demands for hassle-free secure telehealth. It enables you to integrate advanced video consultations, AI-driven voice solutions, seamless messaging, and other features that can help your organization deliver accessible, HIPAA-compliant care to all patients.
A robust telehealth system can help make healthcare services more accessible, comprehensive, and secure. To get started, explore Vonage APIs for Healthcare.
