Commercial Integrator August 2022 - 36

MARKETS: HEALTHCARE
Integrators are Helping
to Drive a New Era in Healthcare
Technology professionals are racing to outfit healthcare clients with telehealth technology.
By Alyssa Borelli
THE PANDEMIC has spurred a new evolution
of space and innovation within the
healthcare industry, and integrators play a
key role in shaping the patient experience
through technology. Many healthcare
facilities are operating " digital front doors, "
where patients can receive care when they
need it. " Digital front doors are a new foundation
for customer experiences in and out
of the workplace, " says Michelle Thomas,
customer relations specialist at Louisville,
Ky.-based integration firm Trinity Dynamics.
" Large corporations are adding designated
rooms within places of business for the purpose
of virtual-care services. This provides
the now care, without waiting or the need
for making an appointment, " Thomas adds.
At least 40% of patients expect to continue
using telehealth going forward, according
to research from McKinsey & Company.
To meet that expectation, healthcare
providers must make telehealth appointments
available to patients via high-quality
videoconferencing systems. And those
systems must be easy for both physicians
and patients to use.
Telehealth/Telemedicine
" We have seen an adaptability and acceptance
of telehealth services, " Thomas continues.
" Now, it's become a common practice. "
Brian Houdek, sales design consultant
with Maryland Heights, Mo.-based Conference
Technologies, Inc. (CTI), agrees. He
notes that virtual doctor visits are becoming
more prevalent. Clients are relying more on
web-enabled and desktop-type conferencing
applications than ever before.
Small huddle spaces or presentation
rooms, which clients weren't as concerned
about earlier, must now all have video. " The
biggest challenge as we looked at initiatives
of making video-enabled spaces was
the back-to-work strategy, " Houdek says.
He notes that stakeholders are trying to
leverage legacy equipment to deliver new
36
capabilities. The challenge for integrators
like Houdek is to enable these nextgeneration
healtcare services without having
to start from scratch. " It's not just a bill of
materials and what we're looking to do, " he
says. " It's site visits; looking at the current
state and the equipment in these spaces. "
He adds, " It's having to go in and make sure
all the firmware on the hardware is up to
date. " [Essentially,] it's creating an end-user
experience that brings all points together. "
Network Security
At the start of the pandemic, many healthcare
providers had to make quick decisions.
That meant they couldn't vet new technologies
like they normally would. Summarizing
clients' thought processes at the time,
Houdek says, " What should we do? What
can we use? What's the best technology out
there? What works best in our current ecosystem
and our current workflow in office? "
Normally, healthcare clients would go
through multiple iterations, with robust
testing process for new technologies. " The
healthcare industry wants to dot their " i " s,
cross their " t " s and mitigate any risks before
they put it out there, " Houdek says. " It takes a
lot of buy in [from healthcare clients because]
they're not making a decision for three
spaces; [instead,] they're usually making a
decision for the whole hospital system. "
" When they're adopting any new technology,
they want to eliminate error rate, "
Houdek explains. " The only way to do so,
and understand if the technology is going to
work, is a trial first. " He adds that, then, the
client continues to use the technology and,
finally, " ...makes the decision on whether it's
a good fit for them. "
Given the pandemic's emergency nature,
healthcare clients faced time pressures
that, at times, trumped security. " Security
and compliance seem to have taken a back
seat [to] necessity, " Thomas remarks. " Our
challenge is to ensure that security and comCommercial
Integrator AUGUST 2022
Every person should be able to
benefit from telehealth and other
revolutions in healthcare services.
pliance remain a top priority. Through the
right AV setups, we can set customers up for
success using the latest technologies. "
Connectivity & Access
Another consideration is technology access.
Development, Thomas notes, is surpassing
access. " Most seem to have a smartphone -
or access to one - but not everyone does, "
she explains. There's also the devices' capability
level with respect to updates. " Then,
there's the question of connectivity, " Thomas
continues. " Does everyone have the quality
of connectivity within their home, whether
rural or not, to connect over strong, secure
connections? Rural health is the segment
that faces the biggest hurdles when it comes
to connectivity and access. "
Concluding, Thomas articulates a mission
that the entire AV integration channel should
have: " Overall, " she says, " we must find
ways to support and build the infrastructure
and equipment that can provide better access. "
Because every person, regardless of
location and organizational policies, should
be able to benefit from telehealth and other
revolutions in healthcare services.
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Commercial Integrator August 2022

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