Skype for Business in Healthcare - Continuant
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Unified Communications can drastically impact the healthcare industry. Here are examples of the challenges many roles in the healthcare industry face along with the of the benefits of unified communications on healthcare roles.
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Skype for Business in Healthcare - Continuant
- 2. 1.3 billion number of people around the world who do not have sufficient access to healthcare services 1.13 number of doctors per 1,000 people in countries with critical healthcare worker shortages estimated shortage of global healthcare workers 4.3 million 70% percent of sentinel events caused by communication failures
- 4. Reach more patients across all geographies Manage healthcare provider shortages Improve population health with virtual care
- 5. Reduce medical errors Increase patient throughput Improve care transitions
- 6. Increase revenue by transferring out fewer patients Add new revenue from new lines of care Reduce travel, classroom costs associated with on-site training
- 8. Challenges: • Reaching more patients across all geographies to improve population health • Reducing medical errors • Increasing patient throughput and care transitions
- 9. Expand patient care to remote locations; hire specialists to deliver on-site healthcare from afar Clinicians can… • Extend healthcare throughout the region with virtual care. • Increase productivity with more service offerings and reduced travel time. • Reduce patient waiting lists and serve more patients. • Help reduce the costs associated with in- store pharmacists. A licensed pharmacist supports several small pharmacies from a central location in a major city. He connects with a pharmaceutical technician at a rural pharmacy by video. The pharmacist uses IM to send his written approval for prescriptions being filled by the technician. After the prescriptions are filled, the pharmacist gives instructions by video to the patients receiving the medications
- 10. Collaborate as a virtual team to deliver first-class patient care Clinicians can… • Accelerate decision-making with immediate access to colleagues and information. • Improve patient care with increased access to best practices. • Improve communications with access across platforms (Windows, iOS, Android). • Engage with clinicians in highly visual and interactive ways. Rural surgeons connect to their counterparts at the main hospital using Surface Hub to discuss upcoming operations. Using the Surface Hub’s interactive whiteboard, the rural surgeons pull up X-rays and other patient images to share with their counterparts. Together, the surgeons draw surgical procedures on the images and discuss best practices for the upcoming operations. One of the surgeries is for a brain tumor. The surgeons use presence to find an available neurologist at a third location, who highlights potential problem areas on the related patient image with a whiteboard marker.
- 11. Seek specialist advice to help determine the best treatment plans for patients Clinicians can… • Improve effectiveness of referrals for patients with easier just-in-time guidance. • Improve professional relationships with specialists. • Deliver better primary care to patients thanks to expert knowledge from specialists. A primary care physician notices an unusually shaped mole on one of her patients during his annual check-up. The physician uses presence to find an available and trusted dermatologist. The dermatologist uses video to diagnose the patient and provide instructions for monitoring the mole.
- 12. Leverage advanced call features, such as team calling and automatic routing, from almost any device Clinicians can… • Use team calling to reduce the time to dial individual numbers and resolve patient issues faster. • Automatically route incoming calls to both work and personal devices. • Delegate call handling to administrative staff, who can screen for priority. A traveling clinician uses Enterprise Voice in Skype for Business to easily connect with colleagues from anywhere. The clinician uses Enterprise Voice to call a designated team of specialists regarding a specific patient issue. Several specialists see the incoming call, but only one is available to take the call. The clinician also uses Enterprise Voice to route calls to her personal devices when she’s on-call at home. She can escalate these calls from voice to video when needed.
- 13. Extend the care experience to patients around the world, regardless of language Clinicians can… • Serve more patients, regardless of their native language. • Extend care services to regions that were once off limits. • Reduce patient waiting lists. • Reduce medical errors due to miscommunication from language barriers. A U.S.-based surgeon performs advanced procedures at sister hospitals around the world. He uses the Skype for Business Translator* to conduct follow-up visits with patients from his home country. He also uses Translator to give patient-specific instructions to overseas nursing staff. *IM translation in H1 of 2015. Multilingual voice translation and automated transcription in the future.
- 14. Connect with offsite clinicians to double-check patient treatments Clinicians can… • Reduce medical errors. • Increase outpatient throughput with immediate access to overseeing physicians. • Quickly complete compliance checklists and continue on with other to-dos. A nurse is administering chemotherapy to several patients. All the on-site physicians who are responsible for double-checking the settings on the ambulatory infusion pumps (AIP) are busy. The nurse uses Skype for Business to connect with an offsite physician by video. The physician verifies the AIP settings for all patients, and the nurse continues her other duties.
- 15. Virtually monitor clinical trials and maintain a record of all participant communications Clinicians can… • Increase access to trial volunteers with always-on connectivity. • Improve productivity and efficiency with reduced travel to on-site trial locations. The lead investigator for a new clinical trial has only met the trial participants in person once; she has conducted all follow-up monitoring via Skype for Business. By connecting with trial participants by IM and video, she can keep a record of her IM and video conversations for future reference.
- 16. Collaborate with off-site clinicians to resolve patient problems in real time Clinicians can… • Accelerate decision-making and improve patient care with immediate access to colleagues, regardless of their location. • Improve communication between remote and on-site clinicians. A resident physician cares for her attending physician's patients while she is away from the hospital. One of the physician’s patients is experiencing complex post- surgery problems. The resident sends an IM to the attending physician to ask questions. Unable to resolve the issue, the resident elevates her conversation with the attending physician to video. The physician can remotely diagnose the problem and instruct the resident on further care.
- 17. Connect with healthcare experts in real time from almost any device Clinicians can… • Improve productivity with immediate access to experts from any device. • Accelerate decision-making and improve patient care with instant access to experts, regardless of their location. A registered nurse supervises several patients who recently underwent heart surgery. One of her patients is experiencing unusual cardiovascular problems. Unsure how to handle the situation, the nurses uses Skype for Business presence to find an available heart surgeon, who happens to be off-site. The nurse elevates the conversation to a video conferences to show the surgeon live heart readings and to allow him to ask the patient questions.
- 18. Enable real-time, face-to-face coaching between experts/ superiors and subordinate providers Clinicians can… • Improve patient care with immediate access to experts and superiors. • Increase knowledge with better access to best practices, new techniques, etc. • Increase efficiency due to reduced travel. A doctor gives real-time, patient-specific coaching to other providers using IM, video, and voice. He also uses video to coach outgoing and in-home patients for continued care, as well as to provide advice to patient family members for proper ongoing care.
- 19. Extend on-site meetings to remote clinical staff, who can attend virtually from any device Clinicians can… • Improve their productivity and efficiency with reduced travel to faraway meetings. • Improve patient care with increased access to the most current medical information. Doctors receive an invite for an all-hands best- practices meeting at their hospital’s primary location. Some doctors are working from remote locations and cannot attend the meeting in person. These doctors attend the meeting virtually using any browser from any device without a required plug-in.
- 20. Expedite the discharge process with better coordination between nurses and physicians Clinicians can… • Reduce ER division with efficient bed turnover. • Reduce patients’ length of stay. • Improve the patient care experience with more efficient discharge. A registered nurse has several patients who are ready to be discharged. She uses presence to find which of the patients’ physicians are available to complete the required paperwork.
- 21. Engage the right clinician at the right time with highly secure and compliant communications Clinicians can… • Improve patient care with accelerated decision-making and clinician response. • Provide faster patient throughput. • Increase efficiency by engaging the right clinicians as soon as they are available. • Leverage enhanced security and compliance features. A registered nurse reviews her patient and attending physician lists at the beginning of her shift. She tags physicians in Skype for Business to receive alerts when they are available online. One of the nurse’s patients is ready for discharge. She sends an IM to patient’s available physician to obtain discharge orders. The physician authorizes the discharge by sending a highly secure IM, which is then archived.
- 22. Benefits of a Skype for Business solution: • Extend the care experience to more patients across all geographies • Reduce medical errors and patient readmissions • Increase patient satisfaction with better throughput and greater access to specialists
- 23. CustomerEvidence “Using Office 365 [and Lync] to improve communications and collaboration is strengthening our corporate culture and will help us to ultimately deliver better patient care at a better price.” — Charles Wardrip, VP of Information Technology and Infrastructure Services, Kindred Healthcare
- 24. CustomerEvidence “Lync’s videoconferencing and presence features mean that staff will potentially travel less and therefore use their time more efficiently.” — Phil Collins, Head of IM&T, West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust
- 25. CustomerEvidence “The e-clinics service was not intended to replace face-to-face sessions with clinicians, but instead to extend patient choice and decrease the need for both patients and counsellors to travel for appointments.” — Niall Finn, Information Systems Development Manager, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust
- 26. CustomerEvidence “Where traditionally a patient would need to be physically in the room to get benefits from these specialists, now with Lync Online, we’ve enabled them to share their knowledge regionally and even globally.” — Stephen Cracknell, Managing Partner, US Medical IT
- 27. Challenges: • Adding new revenue from new lines of care • Managing clinician shortages • Increasing revenue by transferring out fewer patients
- 28. Connect clinicians and healthcare executives to share information, develop culture, and build engagement Executives can… • Establish virtual meetings with doctors, nurses, etc., so that all attendees can join regardless of location. • Strengthen the hospital’s culture, increase physician engagement and identify issues within the care team community. • Reduce on-site meeting costs (e.g., travel) and save time spent on in-person meetings. Executives of a large hospital host a videoconference each week with head clinicians. Offsite clinicians attend using Skype for Business on various devices. During these meetings, executives share hospital news, progress on future lines of care, and updates on strategic objectives. 46% 46% of 7,288 surveyed physicians have at least one symptom of burnout. Mayo Clinic, “Burnout and Satisfaction…,” 2012
- 29. Reduce PBX costs and provide healthcare staff additional options for communications Executives can… • Help save costs by reducing PBX system maintenance, telephony charges and office movies (with on-premises solutions). • Add additional communication methods and remote access to all healthcare workers. The IT director led the effort to replace his hospital’s aging PBX system with Skype for Business Voice to save costs. Now, the director can choose whether calls route to voice mail, a mobile phone, or another number so he can work from anywhere.
- 30. Maintain contact with healthcare headquarters while traveling using mobile voice, video, and chat Clinicians can… • Connect with colleagues, clinicians, administrative staff, and so on, regardless of location. • Reduce costs associated with in-person meetings. • Resolve issues faster than with traditional email exchanges. Executives of a large healthcare system travel around the region to visit the system’s various hospitals and affiliate facilities. They use Skype for Business Mobile to connect with headquarters and conduct administrative meetings while away.
- 31. Benefits of a Skype for Business solution: • Boost revenue with new virtual lines of care • Gain access to more clinicians without increasing overhead • Increase revenue with greater access to specialists, resulting in fewer patient transfers
- 32. CustomerEvidence “We have improved how staff members communicate with one another by consolidating messaging streams and providing instant messaging, presence, and data communications. …Now all staff can communicate quickly no matter where they are.” — Paul Duffy, Chief Information Officer, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
- 33. Challenges: • Enabling more personalized care for patients • Helping clinicians see more patients, regardless of location • Reducing patient wait times with more efficient scheduling
- 34. Match the best-fit provider to specific patients for virtual consultations Administrative staff can… • Increase access to patients in remote locations. • Improve the productivity of clinicians, who can see more patients in less time. • Improve patient care with accelerated response to patient needs. A schedule coordinator helps manage her hospital’s online survey program, in which patients answer symptom-specific questions to help determine their ailments. After receiving a completed survey, the coordinator finds the best-fit doctor using presence and schedules a virtual visit between him and the patient. The doctor connects with the patients on video and prescribes the appropriate medication.
- 35. Enable patients to connect with administrative staff faster using out-of-the-box Skype buttons Administrative staff can… • Enable modern communication options for patients from the healthcare organization’s website. • Engage with patients with video or chat to schedule appointments, discuss billing questions, etc. • Boost ratings and patient retention with personalized service. A patient wants to schedule her annual check-up. She navigates to her clinician’s website and clicks the “Contact via Skype” button. She is immediately connected face-to-face with the clinician’s scheduling administrator, who works with the patient to schedule the check-up. CHAT 24/7 ###-###-#### CONTACT VIA SKYPE
- 36. Benefits of a Skype for Business solution: • Increase personalized care with greater patient access to administrative staff • Increase patient satisfaction with more enhanced scheduling options
- 37. Sheryl in her home office at Contoso (Denver, CO, USA) John at his office at Contoso, (London, UK) Fabian, partner (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Lync federation #1 Microsoft leads the UC market 90 of the Fortune 100 companies have Lync or Skype for Business Anne, small supplier (Singapore) Casey, customer (Tucson, AZ, USA) 300M Connected users Skype connectivity v2
- 38. Users own accounts and settings User-controlled privacy settings Communication modes are controlled by the user AE256 for signaling, Chat and media Personal archiving only Consumer application Enterprise design, interoperability and controls Accounts and licenses belong to business Allow federation per user, group Control communication modes and domains by user, group Data-retention policies set per user, group Authentication Access Control Authorization Encryption and NAT Transversal Compliance Supports industry- standard encryption and NAT Traversal: TLS Signaling, sRTP Media (AES128), STUN, TURN, ICE Skype connectivity v2 Extending your Business-to-Consumer scenarios more securely
Editor's Notes
- 1.3 billion people around the world do not have access to sufficient healthcare services. Source: http://www.who.int/providingforhealth/about/whatis_p4h/en/index.html 1.13 is the number of doctors per 1,000 people in countries the WHO has identified as having a critical healthcare worker shortage. Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/11/countries_without_doctors. Article cites, “Human Resources for Health — Overcoming the crisis.” World Health Organization. 2006. Nearly 70% of sentinel events are caused by communication failures. Source: http://www.jcrinc.com/Products-and-Services/Conferences-and-Seminars/Robert-Wood-Johnson-Foundation-Communication/ 4.3 million was the global estimated shortage of healthcare workers (doctors, midwives, nurses and support workers) in 2006. Source: “The World Health Report 2006 — working together for health.” World Health Organization. 2006. http://www.who.int/whr/2006/en/ Additional U.S. statistics (see appendix for full slide) $312 is the minimum surveyed savings per patient, per quarter due to telehealth programs. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21900660. Referenced by, “Changing patient behavior: the next frontier in healthcare value.” McKinsey & Company. 2012. 21% of patients report satisfactory communication with their doctors. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096184/ 130,000 is the estimated physician shortage by 2025. Source: “Physician Shortages Worsen Without Increase in Residency Training.” Association of American Medical Colleges. 2010. Additional information here: https://www.aamc.org/advocacy/campaigns_and_coalitions/fixdocshortage/ 4.8% of primary care graduates practice in rural areas. Source: http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Citation/2013/09000/Toward_Graduate_Medical_Education__GME_.31.aspx 21% of nursing time is spent in communications for care coordination. Source: “The Business Value of Mobile Unified Communications in Healthcare,” by Lynne A. Dunbrack. IDC Health Insights. March 2013.
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- Additional/detailed benefits Extend access/reach of services to more patients across all demographics and geographies Improve population health by virtually caring for and engaging patients in the context of their digital lifestyles and workstyles Reduce travel time/distance between affiliated organizations Manage aging population and more complex case-mix patients
- Additional/detailed benefits Improve care team productivity and expertise Increase real-time care team communications and collaboration to improve capacity and increase patient throughput Promote provider education to stay current with advancements in medicine and meet continuing medical education requirements Eliminate communication silos to accelerate decision-making
- Additional/detailed benefits Reduce travel, training and education costs and delays Increase revenue by improving clinician productivity Overcome limited financial resources and reduce inefficiencies
- Key message Clinicians strive to deliver better care for individuals and better health for populations. This means extending/standardizing the care experience across geographies, reducing medical errors, standardizing, increasing patient throughput and transitions, and working with colleagues to gather expert knowledge. Microsoft and Skype for Business gives clinicians the communication tools needed to reach remote patients/populations and collaborate with internal and external healthcare providers. Key responsibility Delivering high-quality, standardized care to individuals and better health to populations. Challenges Reaching more patients across all geographies to improve populations health. Extending the care experiences for all. Reducing medical errors. Increasing patient throughput and care transitions. Teaming with internal and external healthcare providers. Helping ensure patient privacy and organizational compliance. Current needs for capabilities Virtual patient care. Collaboration with other providers. Communication with colleagues from afar. Compliant technologies.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A licenses pharmacist supports several small pharmacies from a central location in a major city. (2) He connects with a pharmaceutical technician at a rural pharmacy via Skype for Business. The technician shows the pharmacist several prescriptions she is preparing to fill. The pharmacist sends his written approval for those prescriptions via IM. (3) Once the prescriptions are filled, the pharmacist gives instructions by video to the patients receiving the medications. Telepharmacy addresses the shortage of certified pharmacists. It also allows high-cost pharmacists to serve low-income areas that could not otherwise support a traditional pharmacy. Telehealth The word “telehealth” is the overarching term that encompasses telemedicine (this slide and Slide 20) and e-visits (Slide 23), which are specifically defined by the interaction between patients and providers. Telemedicine is defined as the use of telecommunications and information technologies to provide clinical health care at a distance. Telemedicine addresses complex patient problems in which clinical care is required. E-visits, on the other hand, use telecommunications and information technologies to provide less-complex medical care at a distance. With e-visits, patients generally do not require treatment beyond readily available prescriptions or blood tests. Supporting telemedicine case studies US Medical IT (Microsoft partner): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev-e74xeyq4 Lynden Aged Cared: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGuYU4m8azM Additional scenarios Telestroke: (1) Rose is a neurologist at a large, urban hospital. Her hospital has partnered with several smaller, rural hospital on a subscription-basis to provide telestroke services. (2) Rose is alerted via Skype for Business IM that a patient at one of these rural hospitals experienced stroke-like symptoms earlier in the day. (3) Rose uses Skype for Business video to evaluate the patient’s motor skills, view a CT scan completed by the rural hospital, make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment. Telestroke services are often delivered on a subscription-basis in which a larger urban facility offers its services to a group of smaller hospitals and private physician offices. Typically, the larger facility provides 24-hour neurology consultation and remote treatment of stroke patients, including follow-up care. Time is of the essence when dealing with stroke patients: A victim who is treated within three hours of a stroke has a significantly lower risk of permanent brain damage or death than one who waits for treatment. Telestroke services can enable the quick patient care required of stroke victims. Telepsychiatry: (1) Da-Yung is a licensed psychologist, and owns his own practice in a major city. His practice has partnered with several rural primary care facilities to provide psychology services. Da-Yung uses Skype for Business to connect with rural patients face-to-face while they are seeing their primary care provider. (2) Da-Yung then prescribes his patients medication, and gives them instructions for better at-home care. Telepsychiatry can serve numerous patient groups and a variety of purposes. Mental health providers can conduct virtual consultants for individual and group therapy and patient diagnosis and assessment. Telepsychiatry also boasts a host of benefits, including extending health services to rural and underserved areas; reducing travel time and costs; and, improving communications and collaboration with patients and their families and local providers. Teledermatology: (1) Tamra is a licensed dermatologist. She works for a major healthcare network at the main hospital in the city. (2) Tamra’s healthcare network includes several smaller hospitals and clinics in remote locations. Because of this, they do not have on-site dermatologists. Tamra uses Skype for Business from her home hospital to see patients at these locations once a week. Teledermatology has been described as being just as reliable and accurate as traditional clinic-based dermatology. In fact, patients may see a doctor quicker with teledermatology. Home health e-visits: The Barans are new parents, and are taking their first vacation since giving birth to their seven-month-old son. While away, the Barans receive a phone call from their nanny saying their son has developed an unusual cough. In response, the Barans organize a three-way video call between themselves, their family doctor and the nanny. With video, the doctor can see the child, hear his cough and simultaneously ask the Barans and their nanny about any recent ailments the child has been experiencing. The doctor diagnoses the cough, prescribes readily available medication, and gives the nanny short-term care instructions until the Barans return from their vacation. Store-and-forward: Robert is a family doctor who uses Skype for Business to conduct patient consultations. Recently, one of Robert’s female patients showed him a new skin lesion on her shoulder. With the patient’s consent, Robert records the video conversation and stores it on a secure server. Later that day, Robert sends the video conversation and specific screen shots of the lesion to a dermatologist. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) and telehealth ACOs are clinician-led organizations that are collectively accountable for the quality and per capita costs of patient care. Such organizations use sophisticated metrics to help reduce the overall cost of healthcare. Skype for Business can help enable ACOs with telehealth capabilities that connect patients to the most appropriate clinician, whether that clinician is a pharmacist, dermatologist or primary physician. Using video, voice and chat to connect practices and patients, ACOs can better achieve their goal of providing quality healthcare at a lower cost. Enterprise Voice Skype for Business Enterprise Voice gives clinicians a slew of connectivity features that help them increase efficiency, save time and resolve patient issues faster. Some of these features include team calling, which enables clinicians to dial an entire team of colleagues with a single number; automatic routing, which can transform personal smartphones, tablets and laptops into productive work devices; and, call delegation, in which clinicians can assign an administrative staff member to screen incoming calls in order to prioritize the most important. Enterprise Voice also boasts the same video and chat capabilities of Skype for Business, enabling clinicians to easily switch from audio to video/chat when needed. Telemedicine and health plans Health insurers have begun partnering with telehealth providers in an effort to drive cost savings and increase network access to improve member satisfaction. By including telehealth in their plans, insurers reduce avoidable hospital visits among their members by managing chronic diseases. Telehealth also gives patients access to a wider network of healthcare providers: Patients can remain in-network even if they “see” an out-of-state doctor. (There are two hurdles here: First, many states have been slow to allow residents to visit providers not licensed in their state; second, only 19 states have any kind of mandate requiring private insurers to cover telehealth costs.) In addition, because patients are becoming increasingly amenable to telehealth, these insurer-telehealth provider partnerships are improving member satisfaction. “We believe telemedicine can play a critical role in improving health and managing chronic disease, while increasing member satisfaction. …Telemedicine can also significantly reduce costs by reducing non-medically necessary ER visits and readmissions as members use virtual options for after-hours care and provider instruction.” — Ethan Slavin, Spokesman, Aetna Source: http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/private-payers-pave-way-telemedicine?single-page=true
- Key messages The Microsoft Surface Hub is a large-screen interactive whiteboard with a multi-touch and multi-pen touchscreen that reimagines the clinician collaboration experience. As a perceptive pixel touchscreen, the Surface Hub can help clinicians work together in a way that feels completely natural. Skype for Business Room System helps elevate the Surface Hub experience by integrating HD video with the interactive whiteboard. Participants can also see multiple video streams at the same time so people can join from more than two locations. Additional information on the Skype for Business Room System is below. Skype for Business Meeting Room is a console that enables Skype for Business meeting participants, using designated Skype for Business Room System, to connect to a video room system while maintaining a consistent and familiar experience. The Skype for Business Room System makes managing a video conference as intuitive as a desktop video session. Common complaints about videoconferencing systems: It takes too long to get the meeting started: Inevitably, it takes 8-10 minutes to get video going. The equipment is underutilized: It’s easier to use a conference room speakerphone, so videoconferencing systems get ignored. Remote attendees feel isolated: Since videos typically show content, remote attendees are not visible. Meeting are hard to manage: Changing presenters, showing attendees, muting participants, etc., are seldom intuitive. More information: http://blogs.technet.com/b/lync/archive/2013/02/19/the-lync-room-system-lrs.aspx Interoperation with third-party systems Skype for Business conferencing has improved interoperability with existing video conferencing systems like Tandberg and Cisco. This will reduce costs and the need to replace legacy video conferencing hardware. Additional scenario (1) An anesthesiologist receives a Skype for Business IM from one of her colleagues at another hospital. Her colleague just received a young patient with a critical gunshot wound, and needs to know which anesthesia is appropriate. (2) The anesthesiologist escalates the IM to video so she can see the wound. She uses Skype for Business presence to find another anesthesiologist and pulls him into the conversation. (3) The anesthesiologist and her two colleagues, who connected with each other via Skype for Business in seconds, collectively decide on the appropriate anesthesia for the patient. Many time nurses are unaware when a doctor, with whom they need to speak, arrives on a floor. Lack of communication among treatment team members is common due to this general lack of awareness and turnaround time in contacting them. By “tagging” attending physicians in Skype for Business, Skype for Business presence alerts nurses to the arrival of physicians on the floor and enables them to immediately start a conversation, decreasing cycle time for communication among care team and length of stay for patients. Improved communication among team members and between care teams at hand-off points can help mitigate adverse medical events; achieve workflow and process improvements; improve staff utilization and productivity; and, reduce patient length of stay and costs through efficiency gains. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) and virtual care team huddles ACOs are clinician-led organizations that are collectively accountable for the quality and per capita costs of patient care. Such organizations use sophisticated metrics to help reduce the overall cost of healthcare. Skype for Business can help enable ACOs with virtual care team capabilities that connect practices to solve patient issues. ACO clinicians can collaborate in real time using voice, video and chat to harness their collective knowledge of patients in order to deliver personalized care. Enterprise Voice Skype for Business Enterprise Voice gives clinicians a slew of connectivity features that help them increase efficiency, save time and resolve patient issues faster. Some of these features include team calling, which enables clinicians to dial an entire team of colleagues with a single number; automatic routing, which can transform personal smartphones, tablets and laptops into productive work devices; and, call delegation, in which clinicians can assign an administrative staff member to screen incoming calls in order to prioritize the most important. Enterprise Voice also boasts the same video and chat capabilities of Skype for Business, enabling clinicians to easily switch from audio to video/chat when needed. Health pain points and needs Unable to reach clinicians or specialists on the first attempt. Provide seamless access to mobile team members. Deliver accurate and timely communications between patient care team members. Reduce the time it takes to make clinical decisions with input from colleagues. With Microsoft Skype for Business Stay in touch from virtually anywhere. Skype for Business enables users to communicate with robust security anywhere they have network connectivity and automatically adapts to network conditions. Discover the availability of clinicians and physicians with presence indicators, based on their devices activity, Integrated calendar, mobile status, and call or Skype for Business Meeting status. Hold virtual conferences or ad-hoc conversations with interactive video. Team member and specialist consultations can now occur spontaneously and without the costs associated with travel. Plus, Skype for Business uses open standards, including H.264 SVC to enable video compression, with adapts to bandwidth for a high-quality experience for everyone. Connect and collaborate with colleagues or specialists outside your organization without sacrificing control or enterprise-grade features of Skype for Business. Manage all real-time communications, including voice and video calls, multimedia conferencing, and instant messaging, with a single unified client for scheduled and spontaneous, multi-party care team conversations or meetings. Accelerate communication cycles by enabling instant messaging, voice and video calling, and spontaneous Skype for Business Meeting directly from within Outlook, SharePoint, and other business applications. Escalate communications from IM to voice to video with a single click. Skype for Business is designed to meet the workflow needs of mobile and geographically distributed care teams, providing team members with access to patient information and each other on a variety of systems and devices, including Windows 7 and Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS, and Android smartphones.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A primary care physician sees one of her regular patients for his annual check-up, and notices an unusually shaped mole on his back. (2) She uses Skype for Business presence to find an available and trusted dermatologist. She then connects with the dermatologist using Skype for Business video, and shows him the mole. The conversation is informal and free to the patient. (3) The dermatologist makes his diagnosis in less than five minutes, and gives the patient instructions on how to continue to monitor the mole. Informal consultations, or "curbside" consults, are common practice between clinicians, and are often used to seek advice from a specialist about appropriate diagnostic tests to perform, treatment plans to implement or whether a more formal consultation is required. For example, a patient’s condition changes and the hospitalist wants to discuss the case with a consultant (e.g., cardiologist, infectious disease, etc.). Without mobile universal communications, it’s difficult to locate that consultant without first contacting the unit clerk who, in turn, places a call to the consultant’s office to page them. As such, treatment delays, phone tag, voice mail, and interruptions are common and costly. Clinicians can use Skype for Business’s contact or skills directory and presence to identify available specialists and the fastest and best method to reach them. The curbside consult begins in Skype for Business by posing a quick question via IM. If more information is required, the conversation can quickly move from IM to voice or video call with a single click or tap. If the specialist isn't immediately available for a curbside consultation, or a formal consultation is deemed more appropriate, a mutually agreeable time can be quickly arranged via a short IM or call. Curbside or formal consultations can be scheduled in Outlook (or other calendaring systems) and later convened using Skype for Business's voice-, video-, and/or web-conferencing capabilities, which enable clinicians to share views and control of EHR screen displays with each other in real-time. Skype for Business can also alert users when a colleague's status has gone from red (busy or not available) to green (available for consults). Accountable care organizations (ACOs) and curbside clinician-to-clinician consultations ACOs are clinician-led organizations that are collectively accountable for the quality and per capita costs of patient care. Such organizations use sophisticated metrics to help reduce the overall cost of healthcare. Skype for Business can help enable ACOs with curbside clinician-to-clinician consultations. Whether a patient is visiting his primary physician or a specialists, clinicians within the ACO can provide expert and personalized advice in real time using video, voice or chat. By virtually coordinating among practices, clinicians can deliver on their ACO’s promise to increase the quality of care while decreasing costs. Enterprise Voice Skype for Business Enterprise Voice gives clinicians a slew of connectivity features that help them increase efficiency, save time and resolve patient issues faster. Some of these features include team calling, which enables clinicians to dial an entire team of colleagues with a single number; automatic routing, which can transform personal smartphones, tablets and laptops into productive work devices; and, call delegation, in which clinicians can assign an administrative staff member to screen incoming calls in order to prioritize the most important. Enterprise Voice also boasts the same video and chat capabilities of Skype for Business, enabling clinicians to easily switch from audio to video/chat when needed.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A clinician travels to her patients homes on a regular basis. She uses Skype for Business Enterprise Voice to easily connect with colleagues when she’s on the road. (2) One of the Enterprise Voice features the clinician uses most often is team calling. She has several teams designated on her devices, from clinician colleagues to specialists (both within the organization and affiliated partners), that she can dial with a single number. During one of her recent patient visits, the clinician used team calling to dial her designated group of specialists for a complicated patient issue. The call rang the entire team of specialists; however, just one was available to pick up. The clinician saved significant time, and was able to resolve her patient’s issue faster, by dialing one number to connect with multiple specialists. (3) The clinician also uses Enterprise Voice to route incoming calls to her personal devices when she’s on-call at home. She can easily switch these audio calls to chat or video when needed. Enterprise Voice Skype for Business Enterprise Voice gives clinicians a slew of connectivity features that help them increase efficiency, save time and resolve patient issues faster. Some of these features include team calling, which enables clinicians to dial an entire team of colleagues with a single number; automatic routing, which can transform personal smartphones, tablets and laptops into productive work devices; and, call delegation, in which clinicians can assign an administrative staff member to screen incoming calls in order to prioritize the most important. Enterprise Voice also boasts the same video and chat capabilities of Skype for Business, enabling clinicians to easily switch from audio to video/chat when needed.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A U.S.-based surgeon works for a hospital that operations sister campuses around the world. The surgeon is highly skilled and often performs advanced procedures in other countries. (2) Recently, he performed a surgery at the hospital’s Spanish campus. After flying back to the U.S., he uses Skype for Business to connect with his Spanish patient over video. The surgeon uses Skype for Business Translator to communicate with his patient during the virtual follow-up visit. Neither the surgeon nor his patient speak the other’s language. (3) After his conversation with the patient, the surgeon connects with one of the nurses at the Spanish hospital using Skype for Business. Since he and the nurse speak different languages, the surgeon uses Skype for Business Translator to provide an update and give patient care instructions. Hospitals can extend their services to locations that were once off-limits due to language barriers with Skype for Business Translator. Skype for Business Translator enables clinical staff and administrators to speak or IM in their native tongue and have their words translated to the recipient’s language in real time. Note: Skype for Business IM translation will be available H1 2015; voice translation will be available shortly thereafter. As of December 2014, Skype for Business Translator only supported Spanish and English, with additional languages scheduled for the coming months.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A nurse is administering chemotherapy to several cancer patients. As part of her checklist, the nurse has to have an overseeing physician double-check the settings on all ambulatory infusion pumps (AIPs before treatment can begin. Currently, all certified, on-site physicians are in surgery or otherwise busy. (2) Instead of waiting for one of the on-site physicians to become available, the nurse uses Skype for Business to connect with an offsite physician by video. The physician verifies the AIP settings, and the nurse continues on with her other duties. Double-checking certain patient-oriented processes, such as cancer treatment, can help reduce medical errors. Unfortunately, as healthcare organizations cope with an shrinking clinical staff, finding a certified clinician to verify these processes can be difficult, which in turn inhibits the inquiring clinician from performing other duties. Skype for Business can ease this burden with video verification. Inquiring clinicians can connect with the first-available double-checker by video, quickly gain verification, and then move on to other pressing to-dos. Video verification also helps drive standardization throughout the healthcare organization.
- Detailed scenario: (1) The lead investigator has only met the trial participants in-person once; all follow-up monitoring is being conducted via Skype for Business. She uses Skype for Business to connect with the trial participants by IM and video, and is able to keep a record of those conversations with IM and video record. Clinical trials are conducted to research the biomedical and/or behavioral effects on humans of certain interventions, like new vaccines, drugs or treatments. Additional scenario Trial participant recruiting: Investigators use Skype for Business to recruit and interview clinical trial participants from around the world. Additional benefits Investigators: Increased access to the best-fit volunteers for specific clinical trials. Trial participants: Reduced travel to central interview location.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A resident physician works under an attending physician, and cares for that physician’s patients while she is away from the hospital (e.g., at home, at another location, etc.). The attending physician is currently at home but on-call. (2) One of the patients under the resident’s care is experiencing complex post-surgery problems that he cannot diagnose. He uses Skype for Business to IM the attending physician and ask questions. The attending physician is using Skype on a Windows PC. (3) Unable to resolve the problem by IM, the resident elevates his conversation with the attending physician to video. From there, the physician interacts with the patient face-to-face, and is able to remotely diagnose the problem and instruct the resident on further care. Not all employees work within the "four walls" of the healthcare organization. Using Skype for Business, healthcare providers working remotely can communicate easily with their colleagues using IM, audio and video. With a single click or tap, they can schedule a meeting to set up an audio or videoconference call. Presence enables these communications to happen on-demand with colleagues who are available for collaboration. Thus, remote professionals are readily integrated into the on-premises healthcare environment. Enterprise Voice Skype for Business Enterprise Voice gives clinicians a slew of connectivity features that help them increase efficiency, save time and resolve patient issues faster. Some of these features include team calling, which enables clinicians to dial an entire team of colleagues with a single number; automatic routing, which can transform personal smartphones, tablets and laptops into productive work devices; and, call delegation, in which clinicians can assign an administrative staff member to screen incoming calls in order to prioritize the most important. Enterprise Voice also boasts the same video and chat capabilities of Skype for Business, enabling clinicians to easily switch from audio to video/chat when needed.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A registered nurse works in the post-surgery ward of a hospital. She is usually assigned patients who are recovering from heart surgery. (2) One of her patients is experiencing unusual cardiovascular problems. Unsure how to handle the situation, the nurse uses Skype for Business presence to find an available heart surgeon. The only available surgeon is at another location in the hospital network. The nurse sends the surgeon an urgent IM explaining the situation. (3) She elevates the chat to a video conference to show the surgeon live heart readings, and to allow the surgeon to ask the patient questions. In large healthcare organizations, especially those with multiple locations, it can be difficult to quickly identify who can respond to a given issue. Using Skype for Business’s skills-based search feature, or its IM an Expert download, users can identify people that possess certain expertise, even if they do not know them by name. For example, clinician areas of expertise could be recorded in the skills directory to help clinicians locate the appropriate specialist to request a consultation or refer a patient. Enterprise Voice Skype for Business Enterprise Voice gives clinicians a slew of connectivity features that help them increase efficiency, save time and resolve patient issues faster. Some of these features include team calling, which enables clinicians to dial an entire team of colleagues with a single number; automatic routing, which can transform personal smartphones, tablets and laptops into productive work devices; and, call delegation, in which clinicians can assign an administrative staff member to screen incoming calls in order to prioritize the most important. Enterprise Voice also boasts the same video and chat capabilities of Skype for Business, enabling clinicians to easily switch from audio to video/chat when needed.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A doctor for a large hospital network uses Skype for Business to provide coaching to registered nurses, junior doctors and other subordinate staff. Skype for Business IM, audio and video enable the doctor to give immediate guidance when colleagues need real-time advice about patients. (2) The doctor also uses Skype for Business to give recently discharged patients advice (who can connect via Skype from their home) on how to continue to care for themselves once they return home. He continues coaching these patients throughout their at-home recovery, and gives additional instructions to family regarding proper treatment and disconcerting symptoms. Virtual coaching can vastly improve patient care and provider productivity. Expert healthcare providers can give real-time, face-to-face coaching to subordinate staff at the moment they need it. Using Skype for Business video, these coaches can see patients first-hand, and give advice to colleagues based on the symptoms they actually see. Additionally, healthcare provides can coach recently discharged patients and their families before and after they return home. Skype for Business enables both parties to interact without either traveling to and from the hospital or the patients’ homes. What’s more, healthcare help is immediately available for patients, regardless of their location.
- Detailed scenario: (1) Doctors who work for a large hospital network are invited to an all-hands best-practices meeting. Doctors from independent practices are also invited. The meeting is being held at the primary hospital location. Many of the doctors are at locations several hours from the meeting location. (2) Instead of attending the meeting in-person, remote doctors on the hospital network use any browser to attend the meeting virtually. Thousands of other doctors can also attend using just a browser. The meeting is also recorded with Skype for Business and posted to the hospital’s Intranet site, where doctors who were not able to attend the live session can view the meeting at a later time. Auditorium-style meetings A new capability for Microsoft is auditorium-style virtual meetings, which is being delivered with Skype for Business in H of 2015. It provides the flexibility to hold training or other large meetings virtually. Meeting presenters can use the Skype for Business client, while attendees can participate from any location using any browser, on any device, with no plug-in required. Attendees have the ability to view in real-time, or recording with pause and other playback controls. Additional scenarios Continuing medical education (CME): Doctors at a rural hospital are registered for a continuing medical education (CME) seminar. Instead of traveling to the seminar, which is being held in a faraway city, the doctors attend via Skype for Business. Using video, the doctors watch the seminar live, view presentation materials and ask questions. Medical education for patients: Brian is a family doctor, and one of his young patients has asthma. Brian teaches his patient how to use her new inhaler in-person, and then follows-up with her via Skype for Business to ensure she is continuing to use it correctly. Plus, core competency courses; professional develop courses; and, teaching hospitals and centers of excellence. Supporting case studies Merck and ProtonMedia: http://www.protonmedia.com/portfolio-item/discover-how-merck-lowered-training-costs-while-improving-quality/?utm_content=hepatel%40microsoft.com&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=case%20study%20video&utm_campaign=Microsoft%20Lync%20case%20study%20shows%20use%20of%203D%20can%20improve%20collaborationcontent Healthcare pain points and needs for clinician training and education Stay current with advancements in medicine. Meet CME requirements. Provide access to education for rural/remote clinicians and care team members. Improve internal core competency training for employees. With Microsoft Skype for Business Reduce training time for dispersed clinicians and other workers. Record each Skype for Business communication and enable staff who can’t attend the live session the ability to view it at their convenience. Join a Skype for Business Meeting with a single click or touch from an Outlook meeting reminder. Clinicians on-the-go no longer need to write down or remember dial-in numbers and passcodes. View, share, and discuss training materials with colleagues in just a couple clicks, right from within SharePoint sites. Share presentations with high PowerPoint content fidelity, including audio and video to deliver a better meeting/training experience by integrating Office Web App Server with Skype for Business Share key business insights using Excel Services in SharePoint and seamless integration with Skype for Business for team collaboration.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A registered nurse is assigned to several patients in a large hospital. Some of her patients are ready to be discharged, but must first wait for their physician to complete the discharge paperwork. The nurse uses Skype for Business presence to find which of the patients’ physicians are available. (2) She then sends an IM to the available physicians requesting that they complete the appropriate discharge paperwork. Careful discharge planning plays a critical role in coordinating care after the patient has been discharged, ensuring patient compliance with care treatment plans, and avoiding preventable readmissions. Additionally, efficient bed turnover helps avoid ER diversion and the subsequent loss in revenue when patients are sent to competing hospitals. Presence identifies which of the patient's physicians are available to process the discharge paperwork, and communication via Skype for Business's IM, voice, or video capabilities can be initiated with a click or tap, streamlining the discharge process considerably. In addition, delays in moving patients from one place to another — for diagnostic tests, procedures, or even to be discharged — can result in inefficient use of expensive resources, ER diversions because slow bed turnover, and low patient satisfaction scores, all of which in turn adversely impact revenue. Available transporters can be identified using presence and contacted via Skype for Business's IM, secure text, or voice call capabilities. Additional scenario Outpatient discharge efficiency: (1) A surgeon performs minor outpatient surgery on an elderly patient. (2) The patient has some questions about the medication she was prescribed. The surgeon and patient connect with an affiliated pharmacist over video to discuss her questions. Clinicians have instant access to experts, specialists, etc., through Skype for Business. Being able to answer patient questions fast, or receive specialist advice on the fly, helps increase patient satisfaction, and reduce the time patients spend at care centers.
- Note: In this case, text messaging isn’t limited to SMS in this example, as it can be accomplished via a smartphone, feature phone, pager, proprietary phone, or instant messaging. Skype for Business does not handle SMS. The fact that most text messaging in the health industry is non-compliant and places these organizations at risk for data breaches and federal fines makes it a well understood pain to the most healthcare organizations. Detailed scenario: (1) A registered nurse at a large hospital reviews her patient and attending physician lists at the beginning of each shift. (2) She then tags each of the attending physicians in Skype for Business. By doing this, the nurse will receive an alert on Skype for Business notifying her when one of the attending physicians is available online. (3) One of the nurse’s patients is ready to be discharged. Before this can happen, the nurse must obtain an order from the patient’s attending physician to remove the patient’s IV and educate him about his condition, which will reduce the chance of him being remitted. She sends the attending physician an IM requesting the discharge order. Almost instantly, the physician responds and authorizes the discharge via secure IM, which is processed immediately as an authenticated order and archived in accordance with regulatory requirements. Compliant text/instant messaging Native mobile phone text messaging is fraught with potential security, documentation, and patient safety issues if used to communicate about patient care. Because native text messages are sent and stored as clear text to cell phones that may not be password protected, or remotely erased in the event of reported loss or theft, personally identifiable health information may be visible to anyone who picks up or steals the device. To avoid violating privacy and security policies, some clinicians will try to communicate about a patient without divulging identifiers. This may lead to possible miscommunication between healthcare providers and the potential for patient safety issues, such as misidentifying the patient being discussed and administering the wrong medication or dosage. Skype for Business obviates the need for standalone, third-party secure text messaging solutions. Care teams use real-time communications on mobile devices to replace cellular text messaging. Skype for Business serves as the backbone platform with an interface layer that provides an experience to the clinician that is similar to SMS text messaging on their iOS, Android and WP8 mobile devices. Clinical alerting Clinical alerting also helps alleviate communication inefficiencies in the hospital. Clinical alerts delivered via text are good, but not good enough. If alerts can be delivered with the informational context pulled from databases, such as the admission-discharge-transfer (ADT), electronic health record (EHR), laboratory (LIS), radiology (RIS), or pharmacy system (Rx), then the receiving clinicians gain greater insight into the relevance of the alert. Effectiveness gained through definitive workflow resolution is also an important aspect of clinical alerting. To truly have a positive impact, alerts cannot simply be released into the hospital stratosphere. Instead, the entire care team needs to know if the alert produced the requisite action. For example, if a patient has requested ice chips, the delivery of the ice chips needs to be noted. As such, the communication system can continually provide an escalating series of alerts, ensuring that proper action is ultimately taken.
- Kindred Healthcare chose Lync to improve communications and collaboration among its 76,000 employees, many of who work remotely at hundreds of different locations across the United States. Benefits Improved communications between therapists and corporate Greater collaboration among therapists for sharing best practices and exchanging useful information Better access to the right person at the right time with skill search and presence https://customers.microsoft.com/Pages/CustomerStory.aspx?recid=2250
- West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust chose Lync to connect its approximately 4,000 employees who serve 5.3 million people across 5,000 square miles. Benefits Increased efficiency for staffers with access to colleagues anywhere on any device Increased productivity with reduced travel, allowing staffers to use their time more effectively Simplified IT management with single unified communications solution http://www.microsoft.com/health/en-gb/articles/Pages/ambulance-service-deploys-office-365.aspx
- Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust is piloting the first-ever NHS-built e-clinic for adult mental health counseling in the UK with Lync. The Trust chose Lync to give patients anywhere access to therapy sessions, instead of visiting a clinic. Benefits Patients save time and reduce travel with anytime, anywhere access to therapy sessions Increased patient and staff satisfaction with flexible scheduling Opportunity to increase revenue by offering telehealth service to other healthcare organizations https://customers.microsoft.com/Pages/CustomerStory.aspx?recid=9559
- Dallas Neurosurgical & Spine implemented Lync as a telemedicine solution in order to offer virtual follow-up care to its patients, and provide a platform for its physicians to collaborate among each other and with specialists. Benefits Reduced the time it takes for patients to access specialists Improved patient outcomes with collaboration between primary physicians and specialists Reduced patient costs https://customers.microsoft.com/Pages/CustomerStory.aspx?recid=16124
- Key message Executives strive to reduce costs and add new sources of revenue in order to create financial stability. This means doing more with less, leveraging new technologies to streamline processes, and extending the care experience to new populations, lines of care, etc. Microsoft and Skype for Business give executives the means to reduce costs and eliminate redundant technologies/processing, as well as extend virtual care to untapped populations. Key responsibilities Driving profitability throughout the organizations by adding new lines of revenue and eliminating costs. Doing more with less, especially when it comes to healthcare providers. Also, keeping clinicians engaged and motivated. Helping ensure organizational and clinician compliance. Challenges Managing healthcare provider shortages. Increasing revenue by transferring out fewer patients. Adding new revenue from new lines of care. Creating accountability among clinicians to reduce penalties and realize awards. Complying with government regulations. Current needs for capabilities Virtual care technologies. Streamlined communications.
- Detailed scenario: (1) Executives of a large hospital network host a weekly video conference with head clinicians. Clinicians who are onsite can attend the meeting in-person, while those offsite can attend from various devices, which helps them feel more connected to the organization while on-the-road. (2) During these meetings, executives share hospital news, progress on future lines of care, and updates on strategic objectives. Likewise, clinicians share medical breakthroughs and problems they’re seeing among their staff, such as diminishing morale and fatigue. After the meeting, the executives devise a plan to help prevent burnout and increase satisfaction among the hospital’s clinical staff. This scenario is enabled with auditorium-style virtual meetings, which is being delivered with Skype for Business in H2 of CY2015. It provides the flexibility to hold large virtual meetings. Meeting presenters can use the Skype for Business client, while attendees can participate from any location using any browser, on any device, with no plug-in required. Attendees have the ability to view in real-time, or as a recording with pause and other playback controls. Clinicians can… Connect with their healthcare organization more frequently, regardless of location. Relay their concerns, opinions, etc., directly to decision-makers. Auditorium-style meetings Executives can also engage with clinicians using one of Microsoft’s new capabilities: auditorium-style meetings, which is being delivered with Skype for Business in H2 of CY2015. It provides the flexibility to hold large meetings virtually. Meeting presenters can use the Skype for Business client, while attendees can participate from any location using any browser, on any device, with no plug-in required. Attendees have the ability to view in real-time, or recording with pause and other playback controls. Skype for Business Room System Skype for Business Meeting Room is a console that enables Skype for Business meeting participants, using designated Skype for Business Room System, to connect to a video room system while maintaining a consistent and familiar experience. The Skype for Business Room System makes managing a video conference as intuitive as a desktop video session. Common complaints about videoconferencing systems: It takes too long to get the meeting started: Inevitably, it takes 8-10 minutes to get video going. The equipment is underutilized: It’s easier to use a conference room speakerphone, so videoconferencing systems get ignored. Remote attendees feel isolated: Since videos typically show content, remote attendees are not visible. Meeting are hard to manage: Changing presenters, showing attendees, muting participants, etc., are seldom intuitive. More information: http://blogs.technet.com/b/lync/archive/2013/02/19/the-lync-room-system-lrs.aspx Interoperation with third-party systems Skype for Business conferencing has improved interoperability with existing video conferencing systems like Tandberg and Cisco. This will reduce costs and the need to replace legacy video conferencing hardware. Statistic source “Burnout and Satisfaction With Work-Life Balance Among US Physicians Relative to the General US Population.” Mayo Clinic. October 2012. http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1351351
- Detailed scenario: The IT director led the effort to replace his hospital’s aging PBX system with Skype for Business Voice in order to save costs. Now, the director can choose whether calls route to voice mail, a mobile phone, or another number so he can work from anywhere. Skype for Business VoIP capabilities can be used to add to or replace existing PBX equipment. Cost savings are achieved through: Simplified Maintenance — no longer are expensive maintenance contracts and dedicated PBX specialists required SIP Trunking — long distance telephony charges can be reduced with SIP Trunking. Larger companies can also take advantage of least cost routing Moves, Adds, and Changes — now changes are done in software rather than changing wiring. Office moves don’t require any changes when with a soft phone. Skype for Business provides enterprise voice capabilities through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that can enhance or replace traditional private bank exchange (PBX) systems. These capabilities include common calling features such as answer, forward, transfer, hold, divert, release, and park, along with Enhanced 9-1-1 calling (E911) for North America, and support for analog devices and a broad range of both IP and USB user devices from partners. Users can access these features over the Internet without using a VPN connection. Features include: Voice calls — place voice calls using the Skype for Business client, Skype for Business Phone Edition, Skype for Business Attendant Console, or the Skype for Business mobile client. Anywhere access — use Skype for Business calling features from a desktop, laptop, or mobile device all without requiring a VPN. Call handling — answer a call or have it forwarded to voice mail, a mobile phone, another public switched telephone network (PSTN) number, or to a delegate assigned to answer calls. Device switching — switch devices, for example a headset to speakerphone, without interrupting a current call or without placing a call on hold. Visual Voicemail — when Skype for Business is integrated with Exchange Server or Exchange Online, users can receive an email that has a preview of the voice mail. The user can view the voice mail preview in Microsoft Outlook. Call delegation — users can delegate call handling to one or more assistants who can perform a number of tasks on behalf of the user, such as screening person-to-person calls, placing calls, and initiating conferences. Team calling — simultaneously ring any number of users that a user designates as members of a team. Infrastructure interoperability — Skype for Business uses industry standards and published interfaces to interoperate with existing infrastructure. In addition to the complete telephony capabilities of an IP PBX, enterprise voice is integrated with rich presence, IM, collaboration, and meetings. Personalized speed dialing keys are replaced by contacts lists, and automatic intercom is replaced with IM. Enterprise voice supports high availability through call admission control (CAC), branch office survivability, and extended options for data resiliency. Skype for Business has a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based call control architecture and it can interconnect with any standards-based SIP system. In the event that connecting telecom equipment does not support SIP natively, a qualified media gateway may be deployed for protocol translation. Microsoft recommends that third-party telecom systems connecting to Skype for Business should be OIP certified to avoid any support related issues. Although Skype for Business is fully capable of replacing an entire voice network, it can also co-exist with an existing PBX environment to form a unified dialing domain that is transparent to end users. Unlike the traditional dial-tone based approach of trunk-to-trunk transfer, Skype for Business 2013 has a unified routing mechanism to deliver diverse communications and collaboration media streams under a single session between two or more endpoints. Skype for Business not only offers these capabilities to its registered users or endpoints but it also provides interoperability with legacy voice/PBX environments.
- Key message Skype for Business Mobile makes all the features of Skype for Business — video, voice and chat — available on smartphones, tablets and other devices. With Skype for Business Mobile, executives can maintain contact across healthcare facilities while on the road, helping maintain smooth operations despite hectic travel schedules.
- Belfast Health and Social Care Trust chose Lync to replace its aging PBX and VoIP system, enable staff to communicate more effectively, regardless of location, and improve overall communications with presence, IM and data communications. Benefits Savings of approximately $1.5 million over the duration of the contract Improved and faster decision-making Increased efficiency and flexibility, especially with scheduling meetings https://customers.microsoft.com/Pages/CustomerStory.aspx?recid=1359
- Key message Administrative staff strive to support executives and clinicians in their quest to deliver cost-efficient, revenue-generating, high-quality patient and population care. The means harnessing technology to support the introduction of new lines of care and delivering personalized patient experiencing. Microsoft and Skype for Business give administrative staff the means to support the organization with intuitive collaboration capabilities and can be used to communicate with executives, clinicians and patients. Key responsibility Supporting executives and clinicians to help provide high-quality, personalized care to patients and populations. Challenges Enabling more personalized care for patients. Helping clinicians see more patients, regardless of location. Reducing patient wait times with more efficient scheduling. Delivering technology solutions that enable executive/clinician strategies and agendas. Providing personalized patient experiences. Current needs for capabilities Intuitive communications.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A schedule coordinator for a large healthcare network helps manage a new program whereby patients complete an online survey specific to certain symptoms. Those patients receive a response from the network within 24 hours. Today, the coordinator receives a survey from a patient showing signs of the flu. (2) Using Skype for Business skill search, she finds the most appropriate doctor based on the patient’s symptoms. She then checks the doctor’s availability and schedules a virtual appointment between him and the patient. (3) The doctor connects with the patient at the schedule time via Skype for Business video, diagnoses the patient’s illness, and writes the patient a prescription, which he sends via IM. Hospitals, insurers and health systems allow patients to make an appointment online or consult a physician by video chat (e.g., a virtual doctor consultation for non-emergency situation, like allergies and sinus infections). Patients complete an online survey specific to certain conditions, such as a sore throat or headache, and an administrative assistant or doctor responds within 24 hours. Physicians can attend to the electronic visits in between seeing other patients in the office. Clinic e-visits typically cost $35 in copay. Additionally, about 10% of health plans now cover such visits.
- Detailed scenario: (1) A patient wants to schedule her annual check-up. On her home computer she navigates to her healthcare provider’s website and clicks on the “Contact via Skype” button. She could have also used the chat or audio buttons to connect with her clinician. (2) She is immediately connected face-to-face with her clinician’s scheduling administrator. Together, the patient and the administrator find the best time to schedule the appointment. Skype buttons, which can be embedded on an organizations website, enable patients to connect with administrative staff on their terms. Healthcare organizations can cater to patient preferences by giving them a variety of communication choices from which to choose (i.e., chat, audio or video), and then deliver personalized service with immediate connectivity to administrative staff.
- Slide Objective: Explain how Lync federation and Skype connectivity gives Skype for Business customers the best of both worlds. It is an integral part of realizing the vision #1 in Enterprise - Voice Microsoft leading in UC market, now shipping more enterprise voice lines than any other technology company. Microsoft offers a real-time communication software product, specifically designed for businesses: Skype for Business Businesses deploying real time communications tools are looking for solutions that deliver flexibility (e.g., in the cloud, on-prem, hybrid), enable Information Workers to be more productive, and provide IT with control and management capabilities to support their individual requirements. Skype for Business provides all of this and more. Skype for Business is an enterprise-ready universal communications platform. Skype for Business empowers IT administration flexibility and control via Active Directory and archiving and compliance tools, it is an extensible platform with application programming interfaces based on industry-standard technology, and interoperates with other systems and devices. Skype for Business offers the resiliency, scalability, and critical features necessary to enhance or replace traditional PBX systems. Skype for Business enables professional online meetings scaling to hundreds of participants. Skype for Business supports everyday productivity with deep integration with Microsoft Office, Exchange, and SharePoint. Skype for Business has the option of running as a hosted service or as an on-premises deployment and has many options for customized support, including Microsoft Services Premier Support and a large and growing partner community. We’ve continued to see tremendous growth with communications, and Skype for Business accelerates the path. With Skype and Skype for Business, new possibilities open up for extending universal communications scenarios to hundreds of millions of people, making rich experiences universal for business communications. Connect Skype for Business and Skype and get the best of both Skype connectivity v2 gives Skype for Business customers the ability use the global reach of Skype to connect and collaborate with suppliers, customers, and partners while still relying on the enterprise richness of Skype for Business. Microsoft stands alone in being able to deliver such a combination. We will continue to invest in Skype for Business to deliver the controls, manageability, and other enterprise-grade features our customers need
- Lync (more information at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn342829.aspx) Planning and design tools: Two tools, Topology Planning Tool and Topology Builder, to facilitate planning and design, and to reduce the chance of misconfiguration. Topology Planning Tool automates much of the topology design process. You can export the results from the Planning Tool to Topology Builder, which is the tool that is required to install each server running Skype for Business. More information at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36823 Topology Builder stores all configuration information in the Central Management store. More information at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg398339.aspx Server-to-server authentication: In Skype for Business, authentication can be configured between servers by using the Open Authorization (OAuth) protocol. More information at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj204817.aspx Role-based access control: Enables you to delegate administrative tasks while maintaining high standards for security. More information at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg425917.aspx Simplified certificates: The Deployment Wizard can automatically populate subject names (SNs) and subject alternative names (SANs), reducing the possibility of including unnecessary and potentially unsecure entries (see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn342829.aspx). Trustworthy SDL: Skype for Business is designed and developed in compliance with the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). More information about SDL at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms995349.aspx. More information about Lync SDL at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn342829.aspx Additional information about Skype for Business administrative tools: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg195756.aspx Skype consumer version (more information at http://www.skype.com/en/security) Robust privacy settings: Skype’s privacy settings let you control who can contact you on Skype, and help you manage your conversation history. You can change your privacy settings to prevent nuisance calls or spam messages, as well as block and report any nuisance contacts. More information at https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA140/how-do-i-manage-my-privacy-settings-in-skype-for-windows-desktop User profiles: When you create a Skype account, you can provide as much or as little information as you like. Some of the information you provide is displayed to your contacts. Your e-mail address is never displayed. More information at https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA390/who-can-see-my-profile-information-in-skype-for-windows-desktop Digital certificates: A digital certificate is an electronic credential that can be used to establish the identity of a Skype user, wherever that user may be located. Just like a physical identity document, such as a driving license, a digital certificate must have certain properties in order to be used as a form of identification. More information at http://www.skype.com/en/security/#digital User authentication: As each Skype user possesses a digital credential, it is possible for any Skype user to verify the identity of any other Skype user. Authentication is a critical step in ensuring secure communications. More information at http://www.skype.com/en/security/#digital and http://www.skype.com/en/security/#identity Additional information about TLS and SRTP protocols: https://support.skype.com/resources/sites/SKYPE/content/live/DOCUMENTS/0/DO14/en_US/skype-connect-technical-datasheet.pdf