7 Ways Microsoft Teams Secures Virtual Healthcare Providers

The healthcare industry has proven both indispensable and a high-target for cyber criminals over the past two years. Health providers have a repository of personally identifiable information (PII) and a network of in-office, mobile, and smart devices to deliver patient services. To shore up these endpoints against cyber criminals, Microsoft Teams has a number of assets for healthcare providers including the Bookings app, Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, Azure Active Directory, and many more. These systems improve the workflow of providers, including scheduling and securing appointments. Learn how Teams supports secure virtual visits in the healthcare space.

How Teams Streamlines Virtual Patient Support for Healthcare Providers:

An All-in-One Virtual Healthcare Platform

Virtual visits have become the norm since 2020. To accommodate the changing healthcare landscape, Microsoft adapted Teams to become more user-friendly and secure - smoothing the transition to remote support for many healthcare providers. Microsoft Teams provides a platform where patients and medical professionals can feel safe when communicating:

Scheduling Appointments
- One of the main priorities with virtual visits is privacy. Teams makes privacy easy when scheduling appointments through the Bookings app. This app allows the schedulers to see clinicians' calendars via Outlook. Additionally, the person scheduling the appointment can add document links that the clinician may need to provide the best care. Teams also allows the clinician to send confirmation emails and appointment reminders to limit the number of no-shows.
Joining Appointments
- Providers can set up virtual lobbies for patients before being admitted to the appointment. The lobby adds an extra layer of security. Azure's Active Directory allows for clinicians to access your files securely and efficiently. Teams provides high-quality audio and video features to maximize the value of these appointments.
Provider Precepting
- Teams is designed to enhance meetings, supporting more personal and meaningful connections between providers and patients. Teams does this by encouraging and empowering clinicians to prepare before and after meetings through unique integrations and personal settings. During the meetings, Teams turns on priority notifications - only allowing urgent messages through in order to reduce distractions and support high-value interactions. If an important message does come through, the clinician can put the patient on hold and attend a separate Teams meeting to assist. Teams support three ways calls as well, so that doctors can bring in relevant support and specialists to answer patient questions and concerns.
Care Coordination
- Healthcare workers have claimed that they deliver their best care no matter the system they use. But weak handoffs and fragmented tools come at a high cost to both patients' health and the company at large. Streamlining tools and communication platforms eases use, employee training, and in many cases provides a more comprehensive record for providers. Teams meeting solutions support screen sharing, audio, and video conferencing, for more cohesive care coordination and patient experience.
Modernizing Access
- Ensuring patients feel safe and can trust their care physicians and health platforms helps productivity in the long run. Digital touchpoints require users to remember lots of passwords and provide vulnerabilities that cyber criminals can exploit. Teams creates an easier platform for your IT security team to monitor. Azure Active Directory secures user authentication with automatic policy-based rules along departmental and employee lines. You can layer multi-factor authentication on top of these policies to strengthen end-user security posture.
Protecting PHI
- The healthcare industry is extremely vulnerable to phishing attacks. Microsoft have an integrated security solutions that extend across your whole cloud environment. The security services use analytics to link threat intelligence and security signals from Microsoft and partners. Additionally, Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection detects malicious links in emails and documents.
Information Protection and Governance
- According to IDC, healthcare data is expected to grow at a 36% compound annual rate until 2025. Microsoft's Information Protection and Governance allows you to leverage machine learning to classify your data. Microsoft Information Protection detects sensitive information in Microsoft 365 or other on-premise locations.