Building Trust in Virtual Care: Privacy, HIPAA & Why It Matters

Building Trust in Virtual Care: Privacy, HIPAA & Why It Matters

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All right. So guys, welcome to CareSmartz360 On Air, a Home Care Podcast. I’m Dennis Gill, Senior Sales Consultant at Caresmartz. Today I am excited to welcome Traci Lamb, International Business Development Specialist at OdessaConnect to this podcast. Welcome Traci. >> Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Oh, we are really glad you were able to take up the time for our audience. So, I’ll just uh let our audience know about you Traci a little bit that firstly about OdessaConnect

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turns the TV into a safe, simple two-way communication hub. No apps, no downloads or passwords needed. It’s HIPPA compliant for secure telehealth. Lets you video call your loved ones and displays photos from anywhere in the world. So join us today as Traci dives into the building trust in virtual care privacy HIPPA and why it matters. So let’s jump in. So Traci, I’ll straight away shoot my first question for you. So what basic security safeguards should a home care agency insist on

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before adopting a virtual care system according to you? Uh well, you know, I know a lot of families don’t like to have cameras. You know, they don’t like to be , they feel it’s intrusive. One of the great things about Odessa is that the camera and the microphone are built into the box that goes on the TV and they stay closed until the patient actually accepts a video call from someone they know that is calling in whether it’s a doctor or family or friends and then those go off when they’re turned uh when

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The video call is over. So, it does keep the patient safe. I do think that the family does need to have some kind of um check-in system. So, one of the reasons why I loved Odessa when I used it with my mom was that I could check in with her on a regular basis and I could visually see her through the TV and see that she was doing okay and see everything around her as well. So, I think that’s important. >> Yeah, that is definitely important keeping a virtual eye. So, that really does help.

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>> Yes, for sure. How should an agency verify that the vendor is legally responsible for protecting patient health data? >> Uh, to keep their data um import uh yeah they need to be able to make sure that whatever they’re using for telehealth is HIPPA compliant. Um, we are HIPPA compliant. That makes sure that the data stays secure. A lot of um companies say that they can do telehealth visits but unfortunately they’re not HIPPA compliant and so that does not keep that data secure. So health health

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agencies no matter what they’re using they do need to make sure that that data is staying secure by using a HIPPA compliant product of some kind. I need to make sure because I’ve been in healthcare a long time. That’s really important. Yep. So >> So how long have you been into healthcare? I’ve been in healthcare for almost 20 years now. I started with hospice for about 13 years and then I owned my own company for about five years and then now I’m with Odessa Connect. So yeah, it’s been a long time.

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>> Long time. Yeah, definitely. Great experience in that thing. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I worked with patients and patient healthcare privacy is really really important. People don’t want it shared. >> Oh yeah, definitely. because I also been into this industry for close to seven years with gas marks. I’ve seen that people do ask that the privacy thing that’s their main priority anytime agencies also and obviously the family do it but the agencies also that’s their

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primary goal. >> Yes. Yes. Odessa has a healthcare dashboard on the back end that the home health agency can see on and we can see everything on an individual patient. They can see it on multiple patients but it is all kept private to the home health agency and then that information is given to the caregiver as well. >> Oh okay great. And how can agencies keep virtual care easy for seniors or non- tech users specifically without compromising privacy? >> How can they keep uh what I didn’t

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understand? agencies. How can agencies keep virtual care easy for seniors? Like if you’re not >> Yes. Yes. Yeah. They definitely need it to be easy, you know, when they use um a tablet or phone um passwords, uh apps, all of those things can be very very difficult for seniors. Um, my mom was 84. She had started to have cognitive issues. One of the great things about Odessa is there are no apps downloading. There are no passwords to remember. You know, it makes it easy and simple. We have a

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A remote that’s very easy and simple becomes a receiver. I mean a universal remote and so it’s very easy for the patient to use and so it basically creates the TV into a giant iPad for all intents and purposes. Um but they can get into it very simply. They can use it very simply and they don’t have to have all that other stuff that they normally have to learn to use a tablet or an iPad. >> Yeah, definitely. for the agent people, the non- tech users, that definitely does help. >> Yeah, for sure.

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>> And what common privacy or security flaws do agencies often overlook when using telly health? >> I think that one of the main ones, like I say, is that, you know, there are companies out there that they say they can do telehealth, but they’re not HIPPA compliant. And unfortunately doctors know that they have to be uh HIPPA compliant. So doctors won’t even do telehealth. So the company will say advertise okay yes we can do telehealth visits but when push comes to shove most doctors aren’t going to necessarily use

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that service because they’re not going to put their um license in jeopardy by using a service that’s not hipaa compliant and not going to keep the patients data secure. So, it is really important to be able to always have that. Um, and we’re not only HIPPA compliant, but we’re also what’s called Sock 2 certified. That’s one of the things that insurance companies like to have because we’re actually working with insurance companies now. Um, and working with their providers as well. And so,

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we’re like doubly certified with security. Security is a big thing for us. >> Yes. Security does this in this industry. I’ve seen security is one of the prim primary thing that everybody looks for. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. >> And in addition to this, my next question would be what internal policies or staff training should an agency have to protect client data properly. Yeah, I think one of the main things they do need to do is be make sure that whatever um platforms they’re using is

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make sure that they’re getting the data and that nobody else is able to get into the data. You know, like I say, like we have a healthcare dashboard on the back end >> and we have all kinds of firewalls and everything to make sure that nobody can hack into that healthcare dashboard or anything like that. Um, and even as far as people calling on to the TV, um, the only people that can call onto the TV to get in touch with the patient are people that actually get an individual, um, invite through the caregiver app.

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So, there’s no fishing, no scamming, nothing like that is going to ever come through the TV um, through Odessa. So, I think it’s really important when they’re looking at products um to be able to help their patients at home that they make sure that those kinds of things are in place. >> Wow. Definitely. And finally, the how should agencies communicate data handling and privacy practices to clients, families to build trust in addition to whatever you have told about the other things

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till now. any addition to that >> is about um we do remote patient monitoring so we can actually take vitals through the TV so we do that through Bluetooth enabled devices so the patient doesn’t have to be able to read um the like if they shoot their temperature they don’t have to be able to read it goes straight to the um the box and then it goes to the caregiver app and it also goes to the healthcare dashboard so the caregiver sees it and so does the uh home health agency. Um the great thing about that is that it’s

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able to keep the caregiver um and the agency informed. So if the patient is having high blood pressure issues and they take their blood pressure and then that comes up as like a red mark and so the caregiver is immediately notified, the home health agency’s immediately notified, okay, this person’s blood pressure is really high today. Um so all of those things are going to actually help keep um the patient um healthier because the people are going to be more cognizant of what’s

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going on. you know the pro a lot of the problems that we found out even in co is that there wasn’t enough virtual touches you know to patients you know people are just left you know and so Odessa basically crosses that barrier and makes it to where you know if something’s wrong you can immediately reach out and touch that person and see them and say hey go ahead and take your blood pressure again it looked like you just took it and it was pretty high and you can have your I did that actually with

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my mom I had her take the blood pressure and I would call her doctor and say, “Hey, can you do a virtual visit with her? Looks like her blood pressure is really high today.” And so they would do that. And so that really does make it come full circle. Gives a caregiver a piece of mind, but it also lets the home health agency know what’s going on. >> Yeah, that really does help. Uh I am really enlightened by all these things. I was not pretty much sure about this telly health part because I’ve been into

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the home care agency side uh the sales side. So I mostly take care of that part. So yeah, it’s really good and I think it’s really good for our listeners too. Uh they’ll be aware about these things and uh they could really use it with their own families and even if they’re caregivers, they can keep a track of those things. >> Yeah. >> Good. Thank you, Traci. Thank you. Thank you today. And I really thank you today for sharing your expertise today and uh to our lovely audience today, thank you

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for tuning in. Until next time, I’m Dennis Gill signing off. Thanks again, Traci. Thank you, Dennis. Have a great day. >> You, too. Thank you.