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Enable end-to-end communications and management under a secure and reliable platform

Keeping patient information safe is one of the most important issues in healthcare today, but data breaches show no sign of slowing down. In 2020, healthcare data breaches totaled 599 — up 55.1 percent from 2019 — affecting more than 26 million people. In 2021, more than 40 million patient records were compromised.

While healthcare organizations continue to be overwhelmed by pandemic-related stressors, ransomware attacks are multiplying. Of the 10 most impactful healthcare data breaches reported in 2021, all were instances of hacking/IT, and all but one took place on the organization’s network server.

As cybersecurity experts have come to understand deeply, the question today is no longer if an attack will happen but when.

Consequences of data breaches within the healthcare system cannot be overstated. The nature of the patient details leaked is extremely sensitive and potentially devastating, including such personal information as birth dates, names, addresses, medical treatments, Social Security numbers, and financial information. Beyond this, the attacks can bring crucial healthcare functions to a halt.

It is the responsibility of healthcare organizations to provide privacy, security, and compliance under a trusted platform, designed especially to create lasting, patient-centric communication. While not all data breaches are easy to avoid, there are measures healthcare organizations can take alongside their IT security protocols to limit their vulnerability to attack. Patching together a solution can create seams in the products — and that is a prime location for hackers to take advantage.

By leveraging a platform with a full suite of “security by design” — one that ensures data protection is integrated at every step of the health journey — healthcare organizations position themselves not only to achieve optimal data safety but also trust. These are the foundations of exceptional patient experiences.

Keeping patients protected and connected

Luma Health offers a customizable patient engagement engine to help healthcare providers of all sizes consistently engage with patients — through appointment reminders, waitlist options, easier billing practices, post-appointment feedback gathering, two-way texting, AI-powered chatbots, and more —across the entire healthcare journey.

Luma Health uses all Twilio-powered communication channels, including Programmable Messaging and Programmable Voice. When COVID-19 hit, the company moved quickly to expand their end-to-end care delivery through telehealth. With Twilio’s Programmable Video, Luma Health’s HIPAA-compliant solution was rolled out in just two weeks, enabling patients and providers to connect safely while keeping data protected.

A lock symbolizing secured patient communications.

Revolutionizing secure communication

During the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, the St. Luke’s University health network was working in overdrive as they tried to administer the vaccine to as many eligible individuals as possible.

To support the vaccine registration process, St. Luke’s call-center employees reached out directly to patients who had confirmed their eligibility through an online intake form and let them know when their vaccine would be ready. But even after growing the call center to five times its original size, the team was still left with a daily callback list of 5,000 people — some of whom were elderly or immunocompromised, putting them at risk of missing out on this lifesaving preventive measure.

Realizing the high stakes and the unsustainability of their vaccine communication methods, the health network set up their automated St. Luke’s “Shot-Line,” which allowed patients to self-schedule their appointments over the phone and receive reminders in the channel of their choice. Employing Twilio’s Programmable Messaging and Programmable Voice, St. Luke’s launched its secure solution in two weeks, gaining the ability to reach 60,000 people daily over voice and text. Within six months, they administered 320,000 vaccines and decreased callback time by 99.8 percent.

Developing reliable solutions

As healthcare and community health organizations scale and grow their remote workforces, they also inevitably open themselves up to new threats. And while not every breach is catastrophic, every breach can cause damage to an organization’s reputation for security and the perception of safety associated with it. Account fraud and takeovers, recovery costs, and other cybersecurity failures tax support teams and erode patient trust in ways that can mark healthcare organizations for a long time.

Critical to scaling any technology workflow are protections and capabilities like those that exist in Twilio’s User Authentication & Identity solution. It includes security measures such as two-factor authentication, user-validation API Verify, and the Lookup API that delivers detailed carrier and caller information to help employees make informed decisions about who they contact and how they contact them.

Secured communication via multiple channels.

A user approves of his doctor’s telehealth service.

Conclusion

Even before COVID-19, the quality of digital services mattered to consumers. According to the Accenture 2020 Digital Health Consumer Survey, half of surveyed healthcare consumers agreed that a bad digital experience with a healthcare provider ruins the entire experience with that provider, and 39 percent indicated a good digital interaction has a major influence on the consumer experience.

Today, expectations are even higher. Other industries globally have transformed their digital engagement strategies to serve customer demands, and healthcare institutions are being held to the same standards.

You can reinvent how you engage your communities by bringing together data and communications under one reliable platform. Twilio’s best-in-class global customer engagement platform enables leading healthcare and community health organizations to move beyond disconnected, transactional communications to meaningful, human-centered relationships. Leveraging your existing systems and workflows, deliver modern, connected experiences that engage people in powerful new ways and make it easier to get—and stay—well.

The future of healthcare hinges on these human-centered experiences. Are you ready?

Learn how Twilio can transform your healthcare organization by connecting with one of our healthcare experts.

Learn how Twilio can transform your healthcare organization by connecting with one of our healthcare experts

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