According to our sister site mHealthWatch, the folks at MDLIVE, a provider of integrated telehealth services, announced ahead of the weekend that its platform will integrate with the new Microsoft Skype for Business client application, released with Microsoft Office 2016.
The end result? MDLIVE will be able to provide mobile access and “unprecedented collaboration between” healthcare professionals, doctors, therapists and consumers.
“Instead of wasting hours scheduling a doctor’s visit, driving to their office, dealing with parking, and finally waiting to be seen, we get patients typically diagnosed within ten minutes,” said Randy Parker, president and CEO of MDLIVE. With our integration to new Office 2016 applications, consumers can use Skype for Business, which provides HIPAA compliant secure chat and video conferencing with their preferred doctor of choice on the nationwide MDLIVE platform. Doctors also are able to prescribe prescriptions if needed as well as communicate with the patient’s primary care doctor and health plan to achieve a simplified user experience.”
A recent nationwide survey of more than 2,000 primary care physicians found that 57 percent of doctors are willing to conduct video consultations with their patients, and 69 percent indicated that video is superior to phone or email communication.*
“This integration gives healthcare professionals an important tool so they can work more efficiently and spend additional time with patients,” said Neil Jordan, General Manager of Worldwide Health, Microsoft Corp. “Office 2016 and Skype for Business will allow healthcare professionals to experience greater collaboration, data security, and mobility, which translates into higher quality care. Now that Skype for Business is integrated with the MDLIVE platform, consumers can still use the Microsoft tools they are familiar with and reach their doctors when and where they need them more quickly.”
