Healthcare Services Use BlueJeans by Verizon to Accelerate Telehealth Initiatives and Improve Patient Outcomes

Rhea-AI Summary

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Oct. 01, 2020 – BlueJeans by Verizon has gained traction in the healthcare sector, with institutions like the University of Louisville adopting its video conferencing platform. This growth aligns with a projected 64.3% surge in telehealth demand in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. BlueJeans enables secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth services, facilitating remote consultations and internal collaborations. System integrations with Epic enhance user experience, while healthcare entities report improved patient outcomes and operational efficiency.

Positive

• Increased adoption of BlueJeans by major healthcare organizations.
• Projected 64.3% growth in telehealth demand in 2020, expanding market potential.
• Secure, HIPAA-compliant video conferencing enhances patient safety.
• Integration with Epic improves user experience and expands functionality.

Negative

• None.

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Oct. 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlueJeans by Verizon today announced that customers including the University of Louisville, Amicus Therapeutics, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust are deploying BlueJeans to drive healthcare transformation. Using BlueJeans video conferencing for telehealth services, patient-to-family communication, internal collaboration, education and patient advisory boards, hospitals, healthcare and life sciences organizations are able to help improve patient outcomes through providing care remotely in a manner that helps support adherence to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or similar patient privacy requirements.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the “demand for telehealth will soar by 64.3% in the US in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts the practice of medicine and the delivery of healthcare.” In an effort to keep practitioners and patients safe during this global public health crisis without sacrificing quality of care, healthcare organizations are having to rethink traditional service models and critically assess modern technology to improve patient health remotely—with the need for secure, enterprise-grade telemedicine solutions becoming a priority. The BlueJeans platform can transform the way hospitals and health systems operate, innovate, and deliver care to patients as we look toward the future of healthcare.

Opened as the Louisville Medical Institute in 1837, the University of Louisville School of Medicine is one of the oldest medical schools in North America and the 9th oldest in the United States. According to Tim Bickel, Certified TeleHealth Program Manager and Certified Medical Manager of the University of Louisville, “The transition to telehealth at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was not as difficult for us as it could have been thanks to our existing relationship with BlueJeans. While some of our clinics were up and running performing telehealth before the pandemic even hit, BlueJeans allowed us to make remote consultations widespread to better protect the safety of our patients, providers and staff. Furthermore, we’ve been able to continue live streaming surgical procedures straight from the operating room to our medical students who are now learning virtually at home instead of in the classroom.”

Epic Integration for Secure Telehealth

In direct response to customer demand, BlueJeans worked with Epic APIs to engineer a BlueJeans integration with Epic. Now in the Epic App Orchard, the BlueJeans integration with Epic seamlessly connects healthcare providers and patients into a secure video session, launched directly from MyChart or MyChart Mobile. The use of high-definition video and Dolby Voice audio improves the clarity of visual and spoken communications. In addition, with enhanced privacy measures such as meeting passwords, locked meetings, and enterprise-grade encryption, BlueJeans helps provide peace of mind for patients and providers. Initiated through Epic's Context-Aware Link (CAL) workflows, where available, this engineered method supports a variety of endpoint experiences to allow healthcare providers and patients to readily meet in a unique and secure telehealth visit over the internet—from virtually any device, time and location.

Amicus Therapeutics is a global, patient-centric biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and delivering novel high-quality medicines for people living with rare metabolic diseases. By conducting virtual patient advisory boards over BlueJeans, they’ve been able to pursue their cutting-edge medicines without putting patients through the risks of travel. From an IT standpoint, “BlueJeans’ ability to interoperate with different platforms and devices, either in conference rooms, computers or mobile devices—such as being able to connect Microsoft Teams with Poly conference room systems using the BlueJeans Gateway—will be an essential aspect to potential hybrid work models as we think through our strategy for safely returning people to the office,” said Gary LaSasso, Director, Collaboration Experiences & Technologies at Amicus Therapeutics.

Providing a full range of hospital and specialist services for patients including cancer, cardiovascular, women's and children's services, kidney care and orthopedics, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust uses BlueJeans to facilitate Multidisciplinary Team (MDTs) Meetings with the goal of providing the best treatment option for patients. According to Justin Rock, Senior Digital Media Services Technician at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, “With BlueJeans we’re able to essentially ‘crowdsource’ the best minds in medicine by meeting with specialists from different clinical disciplines to determine patient treatments without having to physically get together. Furthermore, by reducing patient travel time, freeing up of hospital resources, and helping to increase the overall safety of our patients, BlueJeans is considered a win by all.”

HIPAA Ready Video Conferencing

With healthcare entities seeking to maintain the privacy and security of patients’ protected health information, BlueJeans has implemented a HIPAA program and is positioned to sign HIPAA business associate agreements with its customers that address regulatory requirements regarding privacy and security.

Through its convenient, secure high-quality experience, the BlueJeans video conferencing platform enables researchers, clinicians, and hospital staff to:

• Virtualize treatment by providing the mechanism for meetings to facilitate medical advice to remote patients with secure, one-touch video visits.
• Enhance convenience through delivering consultations to patients from any smart device or browser.
• Educate residents and medical students via video grand rounds, remote observation of operating room procedures and other distance learning programs in multiple locations.
• Alleviate IT burden by giving helpdesk staff a single resource for understanding online meeting utilization, solving problems and making informed decisions.

"Video conferencing has become essential for improving patient care and experiences during the pandemic and beyond," said Sampath Sowmyanarayan, President, Global Enterprise, Verizon Business. "As we look to the future of healthcare and the impact that 5G will have on a wide range of telemedicine initiatives, BlueJeans will be a transformative part of how healthcare providers seamlessly connect with and treat patients from afar.”

Additional hospitals and health systems that use BlueJeans for Healthcare include the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Penn Medicine and Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Resources

• To stay up to date on the latest BlueJeans healthcare features, visit: https://www.bluejeans.com/use-cases/healthcare
• BlueJeans now supports authenticated encryption for real-time media using AES-256 GCM on desktop apps for macOS and Windows and mobile clients on Android and iOS. BlueJeans on web browsers will support AES-256 GCM in Fall 2020. To learn more about how BlueJeans manages Security and Privacy, visit the BlueJeans Trust Center.
• For additional updates, follow @BlueJeansNet on Twitter
  

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) was formed on June 30, 2000 and is celebrating its 20th year as one of the world’s leading providers of technology, communications, information and entertainment products and services. Headquartered in New York City and with a presence around the world, Verizon generated revenues of $131.9 billion in 2019. The company offers data, video and voice services and solutions on its award winning networks and platforms, delivering on customers’ demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity, security and control.

VERIZON’S ONLINE MEDIA CENTER: News releases, stories, media contacts and other resources are available at https://www.verizon.com/about/media-center. News releases are also available through an RSS feed. To subscribe, visit www.verizon.com/about/rss-feeds/.

Media contact:
Erin Cheever
echeever@bluejeans.com

Lauren Schulz
lauren.schulz@verizon.com

FAQ

What is BlueJeans by Verizon and how is it impacting healthcare?

BlueJeans by Verizon is a video conferencing platform enhancing telehealth services, allowing healthcare providers to conduct secure virtual consultations.

What healthcare organizations are using BlueJeans as of October 2020?

Notable users include the University of Louisville, Amicus Therapeutics, and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

What growth is expected in telehealth due to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Telehealth demand is projected to increase by 64.3% in the US in 2020 as healthcare practices adapt to the pandemic.

How does BlueJeans ensure patient privacy?

BlueJeans implements HIPAA compliance measures and offers secure video conferencing with features like meeting passwords and enterprise-grade encryption.

What are the benefits of BlueJeans integration with Epic?

The integration enables seamless secure video sessions from MyChart, improving healthcare communication and patient interaction.