Video in healthcare doesn’t need to be restricted to the provider-patient interaction. With the cost of online video services decreasing, the entire office can leverage video communications as part of the customer service offering, including the front desk, nursing staff, and coding and billing areas. Solutions currently in the market support a technology referred to as co-browsing which allows participants to share a website and interact together on a page to fill out forms, review instructions, or simply to help navigate to an area on the website. Signatures can be obtained using touchscreens on mobile devices and touch enabled laptops which can make registration and consent processes much more efficient. Another benefit of solutions designed for a broader utilization of video infrastructure is that they allow conversations to be shared and passed from one office staff member to another, which is a feature that dedicated video systems typically don’t support. Some solutions offer virtual waiting rooms, the ability to queue incoming requests, and to put individuals on hold. Many other industries are finding success and improved customer service with these approaches to online communication.
WebRTC and similar technologies introduced in the past several years have lowered the bar to incorporate web-based video through a browser to the point that the adoption of websites supporting video, audio, and texting directly with the company has seen significant growth. The terminology is still a bit fluid, but this technology is often referred to as web-based chat, instant messaging, or video chat. These applications are found in many online retail websites. For example, as you are browsing a web page, you might see a “May we help you?” box open from a sales person wanting to help you along in the process.
Instant messaging and more modern Messaging applications independent of the web page have been around for a while, such as texting back and forth on a smart phone with the content of the conversation scrolling up with each new entry. More recently, these dialog areas in both independent apps and those that function within a website have been enhanced to allow pictures, forms, and other content to be delivered. They also carry audio, voice, and video, allowing for a full comprehensive experience by the user.
There are several companies with these types of applications that are marketing their products with HIPAA and other healthcare regulatory requirements in mind. It will be interesting to see how these solutions will be adopted in the healthcare space.
Interacting with customers directly from the company webpage
In the past, a website typically would have a “contact us” page or a “locations” area with the main telephone numbers, addresses, maps, and other traditional information allowing for the customer to contact an organization. Most mobile and laptop devices sold today are capable of processing video, and current internet browsers are capable of both audio and video communication.
Most health systems, including clinics, incorporate some type of on-site or outsourced answering service to handle after-hours phone calls from patients. Traditionally these call centers are set up to only handle regular phone calls. There are an increasing number of products in the market that can handle text, audio, and video for a call center service, which would allow customers to engage with either the clinic or the call center after-hours directly from the webpage. Routing customers in this manner also provides data about how customers utilized the webpage and navigate through the website as they look for information and answers.
Proactive Chat
An increasing number of websites send back an alert to the company when a customer loads the webpage. This alert triggers an instant message like window, usually in the lower corner, where the customer can ask a question directly to an agent of the company. If the company wants to, it can send a message through the web page to the customer and attempt to engage the customer “proactively”. A common approach is to simply ask the question “May I help you?”. If the assumption is that consumers go to the company website to get answers to their questions, this proactive approach has been viewed as successful by industries that track conversations and .
Co-browsing
Like proactive chat, the ability for a company agent to “co-browse” with the customer is a feature that is increasingly common. For complex websites that require numerous clicks to get to the correct information, co-browsing allows the company agent to launch a web browser on the customer’s computer and browse for them much more quickly.
A key feature of some co-browsing solutions is the ability to get online forms filled out and signed. Health care has no shortage of forms and documents that need to be filled and signed and with this ; those can be done online with the support a company agent.
Private messaging
If your company or system uses any of the messaging services for internal efficiency, then consider how useful a patient would find using a similar approach to interact with a health system. A messaging service keeps the entire conversation in a single window and allows agents of the company to enter and leave the conversation as needed while retaining the information for those in the conversation to see. More of these messaging solutions are being offered with HIPAA appropriate security in addition to meeting other compliance regulations.