The Santa Monica, CA-based healthcare collaboration and communication platform provider TigerConnect has launched new features for its platform to help hospitals deal with the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The HHS’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has extended coverage for telehealth services to all Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries for the duration of the public health emergency, rather than only patients in remote areas. The change allows clinicians to bill for telehealth services rather than only in-person visits, while ensuring patients can be kept safe by receiving medical services in their home rather than having to make a trip to a doctor’s office or hospital.
The TigerTouch solution is a user-friendly smartphone app that can be used by healthcare professionals to provide telehealth services to patients during the pandemic and beyond. TigerTouch is the first mobile-centric healthcare communication platform that can be used by physicians, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals to communicate with patients in a secure, HIPAA-compliant way.
Rather than requiring patients to login to a portal, TigerTouch can be used on a standard mobile phone using an app that is downloaded onto healthcare providers’ devices. Communication can then take place using a patient’s SMS cell phone number
TigerConnect is an enterprise-grade app with consumer-grade simplicity, which makes it easy to use. TigerTouch can be used by clinicians for 1-on-1 conversations via text, audio, and video for collaboration with other clinicians or communicating with patients. The platform also supports group text, audio, and video conversations to engage patients throughout their journey, from diagnosis to hospitalization and follow ups during recovery. The platform can also be used for sending and receiving patients’ protected health information, including medical images and test result and is interoperable with EHRs.
The platform is fully compliant with HIPAA and TigerConnect is happy to sign business associate agreements with HIPAA-covered entities.
“Patients today expect a fast and easy direct line of communication with their healthcare provider, yet it’s easier to text my pizza delivery guy than to text my doctor,” said TigerConnect co-founder and CEO Brad Brooks. “COVID-19 has driven home how important it is to get treatment anywhere remotely to protect both patients and doctors. “We designed TigerTouch to deliver a powerful telehealth solution at a fraction of the cost of more complicated solutions. This is a vital advance that enables health systems to deepen patient support right when they need it most.”