Scarborough Health Network (SHN) is improving patient outcomes through its successful use of “A Touch Away” technology, aimed at providing patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and congestive heart failure (CHF) with remote healthcare from the comfort of home.
How “A Touch Away” works:
This easy-to-use application can be installed on a computer, tablet or smartphone, and dramatically improves patient outcomes by enabling: virtual communication between patients and physicians; remote patient monitoring; care plan management; and clinical workflows.
What does this mean for COPD and CHF patients?
- Seamless communication between the patient, their caregivers, care team members, and anyone else in the circle of care, through a secure private health information platform supporting video conferencing, messages, and group chat.
- Two-way video calls for the patient and physician, with the ability to add a third person. Patients can initiate a video call with one simple touch.
- Secure text messages between circle of care members or group chats. Conversations are encrypted to safeguard patients’ health information.
- Patients and physicians can send and receive images, videos, and documents as attachments in text messages or group chats. Files are stored temporarily and expire after 72 hours to protect confidentiality.