Ulistic Projects Blog

The healthcare industry is currently facing a crisis. Hounded by criticism of insufficient access to providers and poor bedside manner, skepticism abounds on the part of patients and their families. But with administrative tasks and paperwork at an all-time high, how can healthcare teams find the time to give their patients the attention and information they need?

Fortunately, digital communications have evolved in parallel, with new means for patient contact—from email through texts, apps through social media—developing with built-in security standards and measures. This wave of digital communications is smart to the potential risks of protected health information (PHI), and strives to be HIPAA-compliant wherever possible.

Ensure patients have all the content they need.

Today’s digital messaging lends itself to customization. Choose from emails, SMS text messages, designing your own app, using existing messaging apps (WhatsApp and its peers), social media, browser pages, and more.

From all of these potential avenues, the choice as to which is most appropriate will be clear based on the demographics of the patient population being served. While elderly patients might not be all over Snapchat, this group might tend towards a specific operating system and platform—e.g. the Apple iPhone—which could shed some light on the ideal communication platform to employ with them.

Formatting the materials to fit the platform being used while maintaining universal accessibility is another key consideration. But as the adoption of digital communication continues to grow and the number of solutions expands, these problems will be incurred less frequently.

Leverage AI for one-on-one attention—while saving clinical time.

The knowledge of which specific channels are preferred by patient populations being served can be used to build solutions that enhance the patient experience. For example, if 90% of patients access the provider’s website, a desktop-friendly chatbot could be a worthwhile investment.

Via advances in natural language processing (NLP), chatbots have been evolving to respond more appropriately to input than ever before. For patients, they reinforce an environment where it is not only safe, but even advisable for individuals to ask questions. These patients and their loved ones can get the answers they need without costing themselves or providers any additional clinical time.

Chatbot responses can be programmed to answer frequently-asked questions, as well as escalate potentially troubling scenarios. They can help handle feedback surveys and check-ins for patients who are post-op or who have chronic conditions. In fact, Gartner estimates that by 2020, 85% of consumer interactions will be managed using automated platforms like chatbots.

The form these AI interactions takes is not strictly limited to the written word. This flexibility in format allows accommodations to be made for any disability. People who have trouble seeing can use voice-activated platforms akin to Amazon’s Alexa device, so they can then hear the answers to their questions and use their voices to navigate through their options.

Sustain easy, consistent process automation.

Being able to program chatbots or other response-generating platforms to automatically provide content based on contextual cues ensures that information is delivered where it’s needed, and to resolve the questions patients, caregivers, and family members might have. Automation allows this to happen anywhere; patients are not bound to the clinic in order to resolve their queries, but rather can access the information they need anywhere—including in the privacy of their own homes.

Why not use these advances in the healthcare space to drive patient accountability, allow consistent communication, but also free up providers for situations where one-on-one attention is critical and does not lend itself to automation? Freeing up providers to intervene during emergencies or counsel patients emerging issues could drastically increase the rate of positive outcomes. Routine follow-ups and visits could be expedited, reducing their burden on clinical staff.

In fact, the use of digital platforms allows for the seamless integration of all of these solutions into patient administrations systems. This is how to render those systems the de facto central hub for patient communication and record-keeping. Using surveys to interact with patients also allows information and feedback to be gathered and automatically recorded to patient charts; everything from ‘bad days’ through missed appointments can be easily accounted for without any additional time spent by office staff.

This is a snapshot of where digital communications are currently, but it will only continue to evolve as the general public continues to incorporate these channels further into their lives. The most critical fact to keep in mind is that digital communication is what the public wants. For example, a recent Healthcare Communications survey in the UK found that 68% of patients surveyed wanted to be able to manage everything about their appointments online.

This might seem like a no-brainer as the number of digital consumes continues to grow with increased adoption. However, the fact that individuals are not becoming “burned out” on tech and digital communications but instead are seeking further avenues to implement it in their lives is significant. This bodes well for future implementations.

Staying ahead of the trends and making sure practices leverage the latest technology and communication will not only make sure patients’ needs are met, but will boost their morale and increase the likelihood that they will comply with provider recommendations.

More than ever, today’s CFOs are expected to have a degree of tech savviness. Big data and analytics are tools that are just too powerful to ignore in the CFO suite. If you’re not particularly tech savvy, harnessing the power of these tools to the fullest extent will remain out of reach.

Why You Need to Become the Tech Savvy CFO

It’s crucial to understand just how powerful today’s technology tools are for financial leadership. Whatever the nature of your business and industry, technology can empower you and your staff in the following ways.

Forecasting and Risk

Forecasting has always been a part of the CFO’s role. Forecasting today can be much more accurate, thanks to the rich data that’s available. CFOs must have the skills to understand and interpret that data (or they must employ people who can). Use robust data and analytics to reduce the amount of guesswork in your forecasting.

Risk management is another responsibility under your purview as CFO. Forecasting and risk management are interrelated, of course, and both have traditionally involved a fair bit of prediction and uncertainty. If you’re like most CFOs, you’re a fairly risk-averse person. Reduce the risks of prediction and uncertainty by basing your decision-making on data wherever possible.

Advanced Data Visualization Techniques

All this data that companies now have access to can quickly become overwhelming. Today’s tech savvy CEOs harness the power of advanced data visualization techniques to bring the most important information to the surface. These techniques include making dashboards for interacting with the data and scorecards for presenting it to users at all levels.

Predictive Analytics

In the 1960s, business predictions were often made around a conference table in a smoke-filled room. They were based on some amount of data, but hunches, opinions, and interpersonal power dynamics often played an outsized role.

Today, there’s a better way. Predictive analytics are driven by algorithms and data, not by cigars and opinions. Leverage the power of all the data you’ve collected into predictive analytics. While they are neither perfect nor omniscient, predictive analytics remove human biases from forecasting. This powerful tool can enhance your effectiveness as a CFO.

Adjust in Real Time

The CFO that understands how to use these new tools can be agile, adjusting in real time based on the data that’s coming in. Many marketplaces change rapidly, and a 6-month-old report may no longer ring true. Big data and analytics let CFOs make these quick adjustments as they continually monitor data and adjust their predictions.

Drive Growth

Acting on your analysis of data can often spur on innovation and growth. Creating efficiencies aids in growth, and as you do so you’re likely to discover new business opportunities, such as a hole in the market that your company is suited to fill.

How to Become the Tech Savvy CFO

Having a tech savvy CFO brings many advantages to a company. As a result, being a tech savvy CFO makes you a much more valuable asset. If you’re not there yet, here are a few quick tips for how to get there.

Learn Analytics

Yes, this sounds basic, but if you don’t understand how to use analytics to do the things we’ve talked about, you need to learn. If others in your company already know analytics, leverage your rank. You are the CFO, after all—make it part of their job to teach you. If you’re in a smaller firm that has yet to embrace big data and analytics, it may be time to go get a certification in this area.

Meet Regularly with Experts

Your CIO, if your firm has one, should be well versed in the sorts of technology we’ve discussed today. Meet regularly with your CIO and ask questions. Do the same with other experts in your network. They aren’t the finance people, so they may not readily see how big data and analytics can transform your role. As your understanding grows and you learn to them the right questions, you’re likely to discover breakthroughs together.

Read What They Read

Sites like CIO.com are go-to resources for CIOs, but you can benefit there, too. Not every article will apply to what you’re learning, but many will. Reading sites like these will increase your overall tech comfort level.

Leverage the Data

As your understanding of analytics grows, you can start leveraging that data in real, meaningful ways. It’s easy to get overwhelmed in a deluge of data if you don’t have the tools to parse through it. At the same time, it’s possible to parse the data so finely that you miss valuable conclusions. As your comfort level grows, you’ll improve in leveraging data to the fullest extent.

Educate Your Team

Last, you need to educate your team. As you journey to become a tech-savvy CFO, teach your team what you’re learning so that they can help you win using data and analytics.

Business objectives should help determine how technology will be used. The growth planning helps as technology experts determine the plans for support services. Several companies of many sizes are continuing their research of private and public clouds. The question is, “Should we go with a private cloud or public cloud?” The reviews of public and private clouds are lengthy with numerous pros and cons for both. Many businesses are finding success with the appropriate technology. With the debate analysis, the decision-makers have been weighing cost, data control, security and in-house technology staffs. The technology should support how the company will process information and help determine staffing and deployment.

Some preparation steps for going with a private cloud or public cloud are to thoroughly review profitability plans, network solutions, and all other business needs. The planning analysis is helpful, and the report plans are smart to confirm with your in-house technical staff. Communication across the company is smart as everyone understands the company messages, directives, and planning.

Profitability with Management Support

Top providers of public clouds include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud for models that are scalable, secure, provide data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning capabilities. Technology updates with monthly reports are smart options for a company’s impressive success and growth. The time and labor allocations might be considered with choices for information storage, customer IT interfacings, and staff requirements. Profitability reporting may be different between departments, employees in the field, administration, and sales teams. The IT solution should allow for customized reporting. On-premise private cloud and hosted private cloud providers are suggesting to consider security, regulatory compliance issues, and governance. Customization and controlled reporting can also improve with IT tools for data analysis. The flexibility of technology can be very helpful for overall sales and marketing.

What are Some Considerations for Planning and Design

The public cloud is considered to be easy to purchase and deploy which are a few of the reasons for being chosen by businesses. Setting up an in-house infrastructure is a consideration with fast company growth and this is another reason a public cloud may be reviewed as an IT solution. Data collection improvements are smart for profitability reviews and expense management. A completely improved plan that is chosen by the business leaders can be included in any IT rollouts with equipment reviews for business processes and requirements. Starting with the business designs and planning is helpful for many IT professionals that want to understand the business side, industry positioning, and proposed growth plans.

Network Solutions

A public cloud can be helpful because it is constantly updated. The enhanced reporting and functionality may be an attractive reason to select a public cloud, especially with fast company growth. Hosting is important and the plans for staffing are reviewed easily. One way of viewing the public versus private cloud options is to look at responsibility for hosting. It is proposed that the differentiator for a public cloud as a hosting solution to be one management responsibility that would not be needed. The hosting solution as a management plan is important as a reason to consider additional costs for staffing, equipment, IT support, administration, and overall company expenses.

Analysis of Business Planning

A private cloud may be useful for support teams if the company has an experienced managed IT services team that have been supporting data storage and data center infrastructures. The IT consultants can also prepare reports and utilize customized features with any technology experts. This is also an appealing feature for business executives that prefer to analyze sales and profitability data with their IT teams. The choices for technology solutions are important. IT providers should be leveraged and the relationship is helpful for implementations. Security planning is important with analysis of a business and regular reporting covering the following:

• Privacy of Data
• Customization Strengths
• Efficient Record Keeping and Reporting
• Technology Systems and Information Storage

IT Support for Public or Private Cloud Services

The solution must be the best for how a company is making money. Profit potential should be a simple review and the technology solutions for industry-specific businesses should be addressed. In-house technical expertise and company growth plans are two main factors to consider with the decision to go with a public or private cloud.

According to some in the technology industry, criminals use the dark web to buy and sell stolen data. Identity thieves are a must stop with any Internet offerings. The top priority with all of this is forced compliance for Internet data protection, consumer protection, and business information protection.

Internet Structures and Business Use

Understanding a few areas of consideration with the surface web and the dark web makes it easier to know how to best protect your data. Search engines use links to index websites. The links help rank searches and the results of browser requests for information. The results of searches may be related to keywords, inbound links, and relevancy. Many consider browser searches to be referred to as the “surface web”. Some information for certain title searches may not be found if the data structure is not on the surface web. This is a reason why many are hoping for Internet improvements for meaningful results of browser searches. There are two points of technology being reviewed with this topic. How does data provision improve and how do consumers with the Internet get improvements for locating the relevant information that meets their needs?

Information Hierarchies and Storage

Login information is stored somewhere with technology offering databases, cloud services, and computer capabilities. The content of information should be private and the data that is stored could be considered as part of the deep web that should offer protection and privacy of personal information. Some examples of deep web content that may not be found with Internet searches but should be a high priority for managers of businesses include the following:

• Information in emails
• Information with banking account online services
• Information shared between social media accounts
• Data in business databases
• Information from medical providers
• Information from legal firms
• Information for the IRS
• Information from public institutions, such as libraries and university databases

Understanding the deep web and surface web concepts for the Internet is what can make everything more sensible for business planning and data protection. This includes personal data protection and the suggested improvements for the usage of any information sharing processes. Overall, technology is impressive with the deep web not having private information that turns up in a web search. Misuse of data must be avoided and IT experts are excellent leaders for helping to make sure the web is safe for everyone. Routine security checks and appropriate planning are the best ways to manage protection in a smart way. Proactive plans to protect how information is provided, collected, and used is another simple way to demonstrate smart management. Managed IT support is understood better as an intelligent way to make sure a business has the experts available to help with processes, sales planning, and customer satisfaction. Profitability is a smart focus and security planning is a nice way to promote a successful business.

What is the ‘Dark Web’ and why is inappropriate and inefficient scanning disallowed?

The dark web may be used for criminal activities. Password protection is understood as more important and the selections of account data should be determined with smart planning. Virtual Private Networks (VPN) are another way to encrypt the data and protect the privacy of information. Email content from unknown sources is another consideration and company managers should consider processes and policies to protect their employees, company, and clients. Training is another smart way to make sure business information is protected and the planning processes support best practices for IT support throughout a company.

The dark web should not have any criminal activities. Dark web scanning is disallowed and should not be anything with your network. Scanning devices involved with the dark web are not considered ‘clean’ and involvement with anything like scanning services is not the best plan. Forced compliance is now the best and IT support teams are smart to focus on security and protection of all information. Companies that notice any forced inappropriate web and computer scanning may want to consider a reporting process or work with their IT experts to plan out security protection. Employee training is a smart way of protecting the information and assets of a company.

Dark web scanning services are inaccurate and inappropriate. To put it simply, the scanning is disallowed and not allowed on the Internet. Nonusage and prohibited refers to the scanning, service, providers, and convoluted partnerships. What action can you take to stop inappropriate computer presentations and forced disallowed services? What action can you take to confirm computer and network efficiencies? Manage your network with IT professionals. Also, email management is smart planning. This may include security planning, checks for computer efficiencies, and optimization of speed with performance.

 

The ability to work anywhere used to be limited to freelancers and writers, but today’s professionals need the flexibility to be productive regardless of their physical location. Microsoft Office 365 provides the full-featured suite of services that businesses need to scale quickly and focus on core growth. While Office 365 may call to mind basic programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, there are far more software apps available that allow you to create custom solutions by department and quickly add or reduce your licenses as needed. See why Microsoft Office 365 is the choice of millions of businesses throughout the world.

Integrated Apps: Superior Experience

Designed to help you grow your business, Microsoft Office 365 provides your teams with simple collaboration internally as well as with customer and external vendor partners. This is ideal for organizations with multiple locations that need the ability to share calendars or documents in real time. Chat functionality is built in, as well as version control that works across mobile and desktop applications. What’s better — users are able to install the apps on up to five devices, making it easy to always stay in sync.

 

 

Apps included in Office 365 include:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneNote
• Teams
• SharePoint
• Exchange Online Protection
• Access (PC only)
• Publisher (PC only)

Each application is fully managed and supported by Microsoft, with 24/7 phone and online support as well as their uptime guarantee of 99.9 percent so your software is always available for use by your team.

Cloud-based Storage You Can Trust

Each Office 365 subscription level also includes 1TB of storage in Microsoft OneDrive, an extremely secure solution for cloud-based business data storage. OneDrive allows you to send links to files in a secure location instead of attaching the files directly to your emails, and your devices will always be up-to-date with the most recent versions of documents — allowing for quick edits on the road. Patches are applied on a regular basis

Easy Access to Tools for Building Your Business

Your time is important, which is why Microsoft has created this integrated approach to business productivity and operations. From chatting with remote staff members to collaborating across devices with customers in other parts of the country, you’ll find all the key services that you need to build your business without the overhead of internally managing the licenses or support. From mileage tracking and protection against unauthorized access to your company’s confidential information, Microsoft Office 365 has you covered.

When you’re able to focus on the key tasks associated with business growth and are spending less time on administrative background work, you may be surprised at the high level of value you are able to deliver back to your company on a weekly basis.

Over the last couple of years, both the concept and the real world application of Virtual Reality (VR) has moved from the fringes of our imagination, into everyday use.

What was once a technology that was considered as only beneficial in computer games and futuristic projects designed never to come to fruition, is now infiltrating many areas of our lives. The military, education, entertainment, fashion, and even engineering are all being touched by the power of VR, but it is the healthcare sector where it is really making waves.

Notably, during the previous 18 months, something of a virtual reality revolution has taken place in terms of health-related applications. We may well still be in the early days of releasing its full potential for patients and medical practitioners, but so far it seems that VR is becoming something of a tangible reality in healthcare.

Here are just some of the pioneering ways that VR has been integrated into the healthcare industry to improve the lives or both patients, and doctors.

Autism Therapy

Around 1% of the global population sits somewhere on the autism spectrum. With no preventative methods, no cure, and little understanding of why it occurs, therapeutic treatments are the only way to help those afflicted. Language and speech therapy can offer significant improvements in an autistic individuals quality of life, but previously this therapy had to be done face-to-face. This posed a number of limitations depending on the location and level of mobility of the individual, and it also means doctors are restricted to practicing in certain geographical areas.

But with VR this doesn’t have to be the case. Some startups have begun to utilize technology to simplify the delivery of therapy to autistic individuals, without the need for travel. Products use VR to create social interactions by creating virtual characters in a digital scene. For example, instead of sitting in a doctors office and looking at toys on a table, the individual will see a panda in a virtual safari park that they can interact with accordingly. Each environment can be specially tailored to include the appropriate sensory environment for each patient- something that is hard to do in ‘real life’.

Virtual surgery

The concept of virtual surgery is being used in both to educate trainee medical professionals, but also to give surgeons a chance to rehearse complex operations before the real thing.

By allowing trainee doctors to conduct medical procedures in a VR situation, their confidence and experience can be built on significantly. Being able to perform a surgical procedure on a virtual patient means they can practice new techniques and skills in a ‘real’ setting, without ‘real’ consequences.

For more experienced surgeons, the ability to walk through a complex or lengthy surgery before having the live patient on the operating table can allow them to deal with a variety of outcomes, as well as to troubleshoot or practice tricky maneuvers.

Chronic Pain

Over 25 million people in the US alone, suffer with chronic pain. These people resort to the long-term use of painkillers and opioids which carry their own risks and contraindications, including addiction and death. As a result, doctors have been searching for a way to provide safer, more effective, and less problematic alternatives as quickly as possible. Virtual reality has been suggested as one way of doing just this and so far studies have show that it can help to reduce pain by around 25%.

Virtual reality therapy has been shown to not only reduce pain in patients, but to stop the brain from processing pain the same way. This can lead to reductions of in-patient time as well as decreased dependency on powerful prescription drugs. By helping to distract the minds of patients in pain, the world of VR can release stress which in turn contributes towards the alleviation of pain. Allowing patients to escape the four walls of hospital or their homes and to swim with dolphins, take a helicopter ride, or play a game of tennis, has a significant impact on their mental and subsequently, physical wellbeing.

Providing visual and motion-based experiences has been found to work in positive ways on several parts of the brain, leading to increased rehabilitation rates and enabling them to live a more normal and less painful life.

Restoring Vision

Vision impairment affects around 150 million people around the world, in varying levels. Whether it is age related or caused by a medical issue or injury, it severely impacts the patient’s ability to live normally.

Low vision is not easily treated with glasses, medicine, or surgery, and until recently, those afflicted had little choice but to learn to adapt. Now, with the use of VR, levels of vision can be increased by allowing the patient to magnify certain objects in a visual scene without losing sight of the rest of the environment. Certain software applications allow users to literally zoom in on certain things without impacting the rest of the ‘scene’. Users are then able to adjust the contrast, text, or ambient level, allowing them to carry out normal activities with more ease.

Care of the Elderly

When dealing with elderly patients, it can be difficult for younger medical professionals to understand the situation and limitations that age imposes on patients. For example, an age difference of 50 years between patient and doctor can create a significant disconnection between the two, resulting in frustration and breakdowns in communication.

VR, however, is helping to change this. By harnessing virtual reality technology, doctors and nurses are able to experience what growing old feels like or what recovering from a stroke is really like. Applications have been created where the user is able to experience life as an elderly person, see the world through their eyes, and experience as realistically as possible, how everything from movement to sight can be severely limited. It is hoped that this kind of experience will bridge the gap between elderly patients (especially those that are non-verbal) and caregivers to increase the level of care offered.

Brain Trauma Recovery

Strokes are one of the leading causes of brain trauma and to stand a good chance of recovery, patients need to start therapy and rehabilitation as soon as possible. In some communities and circumstances however, this is not always possible.

By using virtual reality, patients are able to practice regaining the functions they have lost such as moving their fingers or lifting their arms. Whilst the patients are not actually carrying out the actual movement, the motivation, engagement, and activity of the brain is improved through the use of audio-visual feedback. It is understood that this can lead to significantly improved recovery time for those who have suffered significant neurological trauma and injury.

A recently announced a data security breach of Microsoft’s Outlook.com product has many wondering how to work with MSP customers to understand the scope and impact.

What Happened to Outlook.com Data?

It appears that the breach occurred when a support agent’s access credentials were compromised. Support agents are customer service representatives that handle technical issues and complaints. That led to unauthorized access to a portion of the accounts on Microsoft’s web email service from January 1 to March 29, 2019.

The hack apparently affected Hotmail and MSN users in addition to Outlook account holders. In an email to users, Microsoft noted that, “This unauthorized access could have allowed unauthorized parties to access and/or view information related to your email account (such as your e-mail address, folder names, the subject lines of e-mails, and the names of other e-mail addresses you communicate with), but not the content of any e-mails or attachments,”

Microsoft also said that the hackers were able to access content on about 6 percent of users.

Is That the Complete Scope of the Breach?

Not necessarily.

“At this time the impact of this particular breach is still under investigation,” noted Swinburne Charles of Checksum Systems, a Toronto IT services company. “However, overall it would not surprise any security expert that far more users were affected. The mere fact that the Microsoft support engineer’s credentials were affected so long would imply that the perpetrators had unfettered access to millions of email addresses and could have simply ‘botted’ their way around those mailboxes, scraping information such as name, email address, mail subject, and message body.”

Phil Cardone of Radius Executive IT, a Boston-area IT company, pointed out that Microsoft support technicians do not have access to end-user protected data. “This breach could have been much worse if the hackers had destructive intent and compromised the integrity of the Microsoft Office 365 environment,” Cardone said.

“The impact of this attack shows how vulnerable we all are to hacking,” added Anthony Buonaspina of Long Island, New York-based IT support company LI Tech Advisors. “Even through no fault of our own, our information can be compromised by a lapse in security by some individual at a company that maintains our information. It’s scary that these types of hacks can happen without our knowledge and we may or may not even get notified for months after an attack.”

What Should I Do If I Have an MSN, Hotmail or Outlook Account?

In cases like this, it’s important to take precautionary steps, whether or not your account is affected.

“Users should continue to employ safe email practices, keeping an eye out for an increase in phishing emails designed to solicit a response,” said Sarah Ober of Washington, D.C.-based IT company Intelice. “Attackers gained access to email addresses of contacts and had visibility into subject lines of emails, which could be used in targeted attacks.”

Buonaspina, Cardone and Charles all urged users to change their passwords immediately. Charles noted that companies “should not skimp” on deploying two-factor or multi-factor authorization for systems and applications. Cardone encouraged global account administrators to firm up security on Office 365 tenant accounts and using Office 365 Secure Score to assess and provision as many precautions as possible.

Is This Attack Like Other Ongoing Breaches or Is Something More Significant about This One?

“This attack is like many other ongoing breaches where soft passwords or internal security procedures are lax, allowing for security breaches like we see with Microsoft,” Buonaspina said. “What’s more significant about this one is that it undermines our trust in a major corporation. If they can’t get it right, how the hell are smaller, less security-minded companies supposed to keep their data and their clients’ data safe?”

Ober noted the need for end-user vigilance. “One concerning part about this breach was that it involved compromised credentials of a Microsoft support technician, and lasted for multiple months before being remediated,” she said. “It highlights the importance for all support staff to be vigilant with their own chain of security, as it is only as strong as the weakest link.”

“This attack went after the back-end system infrastructure versus the actual end-user experience,” Cardone explained. “A typical breach may affect day-to-day interactions between people and organizations, whereas this attack could have affected the structural integrity of the Microsoft Office 365 system infrastructure. This could have been much worse than it was.”