This ensures patients continue to get the care they require from comfort of their homes without putting their health at risk
Individuals undergoing cancer treatments are considered among the groups with increased risk of developing more serious complications from COVID-19. Due to a compromised immune system and no vaccine in place, the only way to stay safe is to avoid getting exposed to the virus.
So far, Indian medical laws mandated doctors to only do in-person consultations with their patients. However, with COVID-19 related restrictions, they have now allowed virtual consultations to ensure the safety of both frontline health workers and patients.
With the amendment in place, HCG has adopted a new feature Microsoft Teams, called Teams Virtual Consult, to ensure its patients continue to get the care they require from the comfort of their homes without putting their health at risk.
“I’ve always felt we should minimise hospital visits for patients. With technology we can guide them on what is the right thing to do remotely and ensure they come to the hospital at the right time than unnecessarily make trips to the hospital,” says Dr BS Ajai Kumar, CEO and Chairman, HealthCare Global (HCG).
When the lockdown due to COVID-19 was announced, Dr Kumar and his team saw it as an opportunity to move quickly to virtual consultations to care for his patients, many of whom were in the vulnerable group.
“Last year, we moved to Office 365 enterprise-wide and were already using Teams as a single collaborative platform internally. We were looking for opportunities to take the experience externally and the lockdown situation accelerated the need for us,” says Madhavi Kanumoory, Chief Information Officer, HCG.
“One of the primary reasons we went with Office 365 and Teams was the HIPAA compliance and security that comes with it,” she explains. “The integration of Office 365 with Teams makes it very seamless as a platform. And finally, we had a lot of experience working on Teams since the last one year.”
With the lockdown in place, HCG rapidly moved to Virtual Consults feature in Teams, that allows healthcare providers to schedule, manage, and conduct virtual visits with patients. Once a visit is scheduled within Teams, the patient receives a customised email with appointment details and a link where they can join the virtual appointment from their web browser or Teams mobile app.
“Teams has been a big winner because it came with inbuilt features for the doctor’s view, the patient’s view, and what can be shown to the doctor without having to bombard the patient with the same information. The email templates were easy to customise,” add Kanumoory.
“Not having to come to a hospital is a big thing for patients, we are able to review the patients’ case history, go through their imaging and pathology reports, and give a definitive opinion to the patient and their families. I’d like to compliment Microsoft on how they have made it as easy as clicking a button for a common person,” Dr Kumar says.
“We might have accelerated the process due to the macro-environment, but this is a big game changer for HCG,” says Dr Kumar. “Think about our patients from Kenya, Iraq, or Vietnam. Why should they come here and stay for regular follow-ups if they can do virtual consultations? They should come to the hospital only when they are absolutely needed.”
With Teams, Dr Kumar feels that his vision of a virtual hospital is closer to reality.
“I’ve always had this concept of a virtual hospital—one where the parking lots are empty, but the hospital is still doing good. That’s what we should create,” Dr Kumar exclaims.