Verizon’s virtual care product BlueJeans Telehealth announced that it had enabled integration with the Apple Health app to allow patients to share data with clinicians during telemedicine visits. Building on the overall patient care experience, the new Televisit Tile and integration with the Apple Health app empower patients to share specific categories of health data like heart rate, sleep, falls, and more with their provider during telehealth appointments for more informed conversations, while providing patients with control over which data they choose to share.
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According to McKinsey and Company, as of July 2021, telehealth utilization has stabilized at levels 38X higher than before the pandemic. The same study found that “between 40 and 60 percent of consumers express interest in a set of broader virtual health solutions, such as a ‘digital front door’ or lower-cost virtual-first health plan.”
By mapping the patient experience more closely to clinical team workflows, BlueJeans Telehealth helps replicate the experience of onsite care encounters and patient interactions, while also providing the flexibility of virtual-first care. BlueJeans Telehealth now features a new Televisit Tile that compiles and displays encounter-specific information collected during the visit. The Tile displays patient-entered symptom data and will support information and document sharing to ensure a seamless communication exchange with healthcare providers. Ideal for group sessions, the new Tile features a patient selector to ensure that user data will only be viewable and secure between the patient and their healthcare provider, reports Verizon.
With these new purpose-built workflows meant to improve the patient’s telehealth experience from anywhere, BlueJeans Telehealth works across mobile and desktop devices and includes single-touch, download-free access to mitigate potential technology challenges. For those joining from an iPhone, integration with the Apple Health app allows patients to share certain categories of their Health app data — including heart rate, ECG, sleep, step count, falls and mobility data — directly into the BlueJeans Telehealth app, so patients and healthcare providers can have more meaningful and tangible health-related conversations that can improve the overall outcome of the visit. Health app users remain in control of which categories of Health app data they choose to share with their provider during each telehealth appointment, and shared data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Using the BlueJeans iOS app, users will be able to select Apple Health app data from within the pre-visit patient landing experience or through the Televisit Tile during the visit. Once synced, the healthcare provider will be able to see and interact with the Apple Health app data patients have chosen to share from the Televisit Tile while in the Provider View. The healthcare provider can expand data to better observe trend lines, as well as screen share the data for use during the televisit.
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“The future of virtual healthcare is dependent on connectivity and the ability to drive real-time insights and deliver care through connected health,” said Krish Ramakrishnan, Chief Innovator and Strategist, BlueJeans by Verizon. “By empowering patients to share this level of contextual information directly into the BlueJeans Telehealth visit, we are enabling patients and healthcare providers to have more meaningful conversations and successful virtual consultations that can lead to better patient outcomes.”
