Made exclusively for patient engagement, the Virtual Practice is a safe and secure platform for providers to communicate with patients.

Virtual Practice vs Social Media/Messaging Platforms

Patients are used to calling their doctors or sending a text message when in doubt about a symptom or their health condition. Health providers also respond to patient queries online, on social media, instant messaging platforms and emails in the interest of addressing worried patient concerns. While these platforms may be useful for networking and communicating, they are not made for healthcare communication. The reasons being-

a) They are not secure and data shared on these platforms can be used for commercial purposes (like online ads, targetted messaging etc)

b) It is tedious to retrieve or reference previous communication that was had between patient and provider. Going through your email inbox or text messages to see what was last discussed is time-consuming or even futile

c) Images of scans and reports are difficult to include, owing to their large size. Images of the same may not convey complete information.

d) All communication and data shared by a patient isn’t filed together in one place, making it cumbersome for the provider (or patient) to easily access the information again

e) Sharing of health data between patient and provider requires that it carried out in a secure environment, compliant with data security regulations to ensure confidentiality of patient identity and data. Health providers are held responsible for any safety indiscretion and are liable to lose their medical license if found to be violating these security norms.

While it is understandable that patients are likely to have concerns, health providers must be sure to direct all communication through channels that protect their patients and their health data.

Security and accessibility of data on the Virtual Practice

The Virtual Practice is designed to support meaningful engagement while ensuring privacy and confidentiality of data. Hosted on the Amazon Web Service (AWS), a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based platform, to store health data.

Besides being safe, the Virtual Practice’s Personal Health Records (PHR) and engagement capabilities ensures that all data and communication is saved against each patient, for future reference. This allows providers to gain a comprehensive understanding of their patients’ health history, which is available to them at any time, from anywhere, in one secure location.