As on ongoing feature for our audience, Mobile Healthcare Today presents a series of short-form Q&As with executives, developers and other influential figures in the mobile healthcare sector, called 6 Questions. Intended to provide a broad overview of emerging trends and technology in the field, 6 Questions presents an exclusive, concise view of the thinking of key thinkers and innovators.
Today’s 6 Questions is with Fiberlink Communications’ vice president of marketing, Neil Florio. Florio joined Fiberlink from QlikTech where he served as director of marketing. Neil holds an MBA degree from Drexel University and a Bachelor of Science degree from La Salle University.
Mobile Healthcare Today: Can you talk about how the recent efforts to create some form of unique digital identifier for healthcare will affect security strategies and policies going forward?
Neil Florio: The purpose of the identifier is to improve the quality of care and reduce administrative costs of healthcare delivery. However, the main controversy over the adoption of a standard for the unique digital identifier for healthcare is focused on privacy concerns. Since patient data is accessed from mobile devices and transferred between healthcare systems, there is an increasingly important need to adopt more stringent security standards to safeguard health information. To ensure the integrity of the information and protect against unauthorized uses and disclosures, healthcare IT organizations will need to ensure that these mobile devices at a minimum have the appropriate passcode policies, strong encryption keys, remote lock and wipe capabilities and proactive monitoring to ensure total compliance of security standards.
MHCT: What technological advances do you see on the horizon that will affect the mobile healthcare sector?
NF: Wireless technologies have already transformed healthcare around the world, but their future potential is even greater. The continued advancements in the speed and reliability of broadband wireless networks and powerful new mobile devices, coupled with cloud computing, will reduce the costs associated with providing high-quality care. An increasing number of healthcare organizations will move to cloud-based solutions because of the cost advantages and flexibility that cloud computing offers, especially as they invest to meet the federal government's financial incentive programs for the meaningful use of IT. This will also help enable new forms of delivery such as network-based health monitoring and low-cost remote consultation and intervention, expanding access to care, particularly in rural areas, and help shift patient care from the hospital to the home.
MHCT: How do you view the guidelines for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use of EMRs? Do you think that healthcare organizations will have the information and resources necessary to take advantage of the Meaningful Use funding?
NF: The guidelines for Stage 2 have not yet been fully defined and there is talk about delaying the timeline by one year, until 2014, to allow vendors and healthcare providers more time to update and roll out the technology. The industry has been preparing for this and most healthcare organizations have the information and resources to achieve the meaningful use criteria for Stage 1 and receive their funding. Since the delay would give providers more time to qualify for Stage 1 incentives, it could potentially encourage more providers to participate. Smaller physician practices may struggle but solutions exist that scale down for their needs and cloud-based models will help them as well.
MHCT: What role do you see mobile and wireless technology playing in the growth and success of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)?
NF: For networks of doctors and hospitals that share responsibility for providing care to patients, the use of mobile and wireless technologies will certainly play a key role in helping ACOs operate more efficiently and expedite access to and sharing of critical patient information. Providing more immediate access to consolidated diagnostic information will reduce opportunities for medical errors. The combination of mobile technologies, EMRs and next-generation decision-support systems gives healthcare physicians and supporting medical staff in ACOs the capabilities to simplify compliance reporting, streamline patient administration, and improve patient safety.
MHCT: Can you describe the additional security challenges brought on by the spread of mobile and wireless technology among healthcare organizations?
NF: The recording, sharing and storing of medical records on tablets, laptops and smartphones provides many benefits that allow for effective healthcare delivery. However, from a security and regulatory perspective, the challenge of protecting sensitive patient information is magnified by the proliferation of mobile computing devices, which are especially vulnerable to loss and theft.
Many of the more popular mobile devices originate from consumer technologies and are not designed to support stringent healthcare standards for data protection and security. New regulations emphasize the security of protected health information, creating new challenges for the IT manager who must balance the competing needs of support for these devices and high security standards. HIPAA and HITECH legislation requirements require vigilance in implementing and managing mobile devices.
Fiberlink’s cloud-based mobile device management platform – MaaS360 - provides healthcare IT organizations with seamless policy management and secure access control. With MaaS360, healthcare IT executives can rest assured that mobile devices will be used to improve the quality of care without increasing risk.
MHCT: How do you see the market landscape, in terms of mergers & acquisitions, IPOs, new startups, and so on, for mobile healthcare evolving over the rest of 2011?
NF: In the broader mobile device management (MDM) market, Gartner Group has identified over 60 vendors globally that claim some level of capabilities. Some vendors evolved from other adjacent markets and there are many new startups, all vying for a piece of this market. The healthcare vertical is especially attractive for MDM vendors as there is rapidly growing use of smartphones and tablets for clinical and administrative functions and a strong requirement for regulatory compliance. Given that this is a high growth market and a large number of vendors with similar solutions, there will most likely be a wave of consolidation.
