Knowledge Driven Health

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1 Knowledge Driven Health Unified Communications for Caregiver Collaboration Situation Increasingly mobile and geographically distributed care teams need more effective ways to collaborate and address competing priorities. These include: providing quality care, coordinating with colleagues, managing administrative tasks, keeping up-to-date with research, and maintaining full compliance with data security and patient privacy mandates. New technologies are an important facet of this industry-wide transformation, and they are providing the tools that care teams need to address these challenges. Caregiver Collaboration Solutions that include Microsoft unified communications technologies allow healthcare delivery teams to improve patient outcomes, while managing costs and privacy across the entire continuum of care. These technologies provide caregivers with real-time access to each other and patient information when, where and how they need it. Microsoft unified communications for caregiver collaboration enhance: Care Team Collaboration Medical Training and Education Caregiver-to-Patient Communication Outpatient Scheduling and Follow-up Communication-Enabled Health Portals Microsoft Unified Communications Technologies Overview Microsoft unified communications technologies break down traditional communication silos by combining , calendar items, instant messaging, voice mail, the Web, and audio and video conferencing into a single, familiar interface. This provides mobile caregivers with more access to patient information and to each other on a variety of systems and devices such as PCs, mobile phones or Tablet PCs. Microsoft unified communications technologies are also capable of leveraging an organization s existing communications investments. These include private branch exchange (PBX) and private networks, as well as public-switched telephone systems, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), corporate and public instant messaging systems, and personal computers. And, because the solution is based on open standards, connectivity and interoperability to all of these communications platforms are readily available.

2 Caregiver Scenarios The following five scenarios highlight the variety of ways that unified communications technologies can address the challenges faced by caregivers in the rapidly evolving health industry. Care Team Collaboration Reaching team members who are distributed in many different locations Increased medical errors and unnecessary procedures due to lack of access to key information and personnel Time-consuming face-to-face consultations among generalists and specialists Poorly coordinated care plans that frustrate both caregivers and patients Unified communications technologies support caregivers, including doctors, specialists, nurses, therapists, and other clinicians, with cost-effective communication tools that allow them to create, access, and share information in real time across geographical and infrastructural boundaries. Caregivers can collaborate more effectively when they can find and communicate with each other when, where and how it s most convenient. Presence icons color-coded dots show availability and make mobile team members available to each other on a click-to-communicate basis. Web and video conferencing provide an added dimension to caregiver collaboration. Web, audio, and video conferencing with Microsoft Office Live Meeting make it possible for caregivers in different locations to share test results, x-rays, and patient images in real time. These intuitive solutions are easy to learn and use since they use a single user interface of Office Communicator and are integrated with Outlook and other familiar Microsoft Office applications. Like this? Improved quality of medical care, diagnoses, and consultations Reduced travel time and costs for outreach activities and consultations Reduced medical errors and improved patient safety unicator Office Communicator Dr. Craig Dewar In the hospital today Recent Contacts Dr. Lisa Andrews Do Not Disturb Care Team Dr. Renee Lo Available David Wright Be Right Back Dr. Deepak Anand In Surgery on rounds Presence icons color-coded dots appear next to caregiver names to let colleagues know which individuals are available and if so, how best to reach them. This gives care team members the ability to find each other quickly and then conveniently click-to-communicate. Robert Lyon, RN With a Patient Dr. Kate Taneyhill Available Dr. Eva Corets On Call Other Contacts To add contacts, drag from another group or from search...

3 The RoundTable collaboration and conferencing device delivers an engaging audiovisual experience for all meeting participants, regardless of location. Its camera provides a 360-degree view of all the participants in the room. Built-in microphones detect and project the active speaker onto the speaker video pane. Medical Training and Education The expense of training and educating staff, and leading teams from remote locations Need for standard procedures to improve the operating model Inefficient collaboration for clinical and research meetings Required accreditation and regulatory compliance to avoid liability events Unified communication technologies support medical training and education efforts with Microsoft Office Live Meeting and the RoundTable conferencing device. Caregivers in various geographical locations to participate in interactive meetings and training sessions in real time or can view recorded meetings and training sessions later with on-demand viewing. Meeting participants in different locations can converse and share information as if they were physically in the same room. Using Live Meeting and a simple webcam or the new Roundtable video conferencing devices, presenters and attendees can see and talk with each other via streaming video and audio. Participants can share medical images and presentations, take polls and tests, use white boards, take notes and conduct Q&A. The intuitive design and plug-and-play functionality makes setup simple. Both presenters and attendees can participate from their desks or conference rooms using their PCs, with without the cost or need for special conferencing rooms or equipment. Transform meetings into rich organizational assets by recording them and posting them on a portal or Web site for on-demand viewing. Improved caregiver skill level, expertise, and reputation Improved productivity on medical care, diagnoses, and consultations Improved compliance with professional training requirements and privacy regulations

4 Outpatient Scheduling and Follow-up The high cost of in-person post-treatment follow-ups with manual reminders and tracking Required office visits for consultations Lack of tracking of patients well-being and preventive maintenance Unified communications technologies support outpatient scheduling and follow-up with a cost-effective and easy-to-use automated system to help patients schedule and keep appointments and to follow post-treatment care regimes. Healthcare teams can schedule appointments, plan follow-ups, and set up alerts using Microsoft Exchange Server and Office Communications Server s VoIP capabilities. Patients can follow post-treatment care regimes, communicate with care teams, schedule and keep appointments using an online portal. Office SharePoint Server 2007 delivers an automated system that is cost-effective and easy to administer. Improved post-treatment care and reduced acute care costs Long-term patient relationship satisfaction and retention Increased revenue channels and referrals to other patients Caregiver-to-Patient Communication Consumers expectation for secure and convenient electronic communications with healthcare providers Desire to reduce informational-only office visits and referrals Increased costs of unnecessary in-person and critical care visits Unified communications technologies deliver caregiver-to-patient communications with a security-enhanced communications platform. Remote delivery of patient education, post-treatment counseling, and virtual group sessions can be handled with Office Live Meeting. Patients and caregivers can communicate more efficiently before, after, and between office visits. Improved care management decisions based on real-time communication between providers, care teams, and patients. Office Communications Server and Office Live Meeting can also be used to help patients prepare for surgery or review care plans. Security-enhanced data delivery and compliance with HIPAA or other regulations. Exchange Server 2007 uses encryption to help secure and track information exchanged between doctors, family members, family physicians, and government agencies according to regulations. Improved care management decisions Improved regulatory compliance and risk management Improved patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes at lower cost We have a single interface that makes us more effective and is a smarter use of our time. We can definitely say that unified messaging has helped us in working more efficiently. It is a qualitative difference. It is a unified solution and it gives us a better way of working. Mark Gardiner CIO, Eastern Health

5 Communication-enabled Health Portals Cumbersome, inefficient, multi-system communications processes. Time-consuming, manual, and error-prone record-keeping of communications for accuracy and auditing purposes. Information on caregiver selection and current availability is disconnected from information on online portals. Unified communications technologies support communication-enabled health portals by providing caregivers with the ability to find and contact their colleagues from within health and administrative portals, and then automatically documenting these communications to create more accurate and complete records. Caregivers can find and contact colleagues quickly by department or role using the Presence information integrated into clinical and administrative portals. Faster communication and issue resolution are possible when click-to-communicate capabilities are integrated into clinical portals or administrative dashboards. Communications can be captured and documented for regulatory compliance and auditing purposes when they are initiated using the Presence and click-to-communicate functions of Office Communicator 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 embedded into health and administrative portals. Users can have access to inboxes, calendars, and other mail data directly from the health portal when Portal Web Parts are integrated with Exchange Outlook Web Access (OWA). Caregivers can connect with each other at the right time, via the right method, with information that is readily available. Streamlined communication and increased caregiver efficiency. Interoperability with different portal platforms. Improved compliance with privacy and record-keeping regulations, such as HIPAA in the United States. Our new voice response contact system, built with OCS 2007, integrates easily with our patient management and scheduling procedures. With it we ve lowered our cost per contact and more than doubled the number of low-income patients scheduling first-time preventive care visits. Jorge Weingarten, MD Chief Medical Officer, Care1st Health Plan

6 A manager can now send a message to an entire team, ensuring that no one is left out of important communications. This helps to build community spirit and ensures that all employees are up-to-date with current policies and best practices. Ultimately, benefits are passed on to the patients we serve. Dave Oatway Computer Services Manager, United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust Conclusion The health industry currently faces a broad range of challenging issues and has an unprecedented opportunity for transformation. Microsoft embraces the principle that successful, high-quality healthcare is built on an integrated infrastructure of standardsbased tools from Microsoft and its partners. When developing solutions for Caregiver Collaboration, the goal of Microsoft and our partners is to build comprehensive and reliable solutions that integrate applications, information, and processes across geographical and infrastructural boundaries to serve healthcare professionals most effectively. Microsoft Caregiver Collaboration Solutions are already making a positive impact in healthcare organizations around the world. Solution Technologies Solutions for Unified Communications for Caregiver Collaboration are built on these proven Microsoft technologies: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Microsoft Office Live Meeting Microsoft.NET Framework Microsoft Office 2007 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Learn More For more information about Microsoft Caregiver Collaboration Solutions, industry partners, and Microsoft Knowledge Driven Health, please contact your Microsoft representative today or visit Part No Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.