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Doctoring By Text

Doctor by text
Doctor online, online medical communication network with patient, Online medical consultation, Doctor through the phone screen using stethoscope checks and analysis health care.

Scheduling doctor visits around your workday can be difficult. Lunch breaks come and go too quickly, and most doctor’s offices are closed by the time you get off. Employees are tired of playing phone tag, using PTO for doctor’s appointments, and spending large sums of money when they only have a simple concern. Gnymble’s solution is doctoring by text and that is exactly what our customer Percentric does! This use case for healthcare helps encourage workplace wellness and showcases how doctors are now helping their patients by text.

Why is doctoring by text better for employees?

  1. More Convenient

Doctoring with Gnymble does not require an app download for patients. They will use their normal texting app that is already on their phone to send their doctor text messages. No more remembering passwords for patient portals, app downloads, or leaving voicemails. Doctoring by text also allows patients to receive medical care from the comfort of their own home, office, or wherever they’re most comfortable. This is a huge advantage for those with mobility issues or those living in more rural areas with limited access to local clinics or hospitals. Gnymble’s got your patients covered when it comes to convenient care.

  1. Less Time Consuming

Think about all of the time we spend on the phone trying to schedule a doctor’s appointment. Then we have to drive to the doctor’s office which can take quite a while, depending on where we live. When we arrive, we’ll spend time doing paperwork, paying our copay, and then waiting for an unknown amount of time. A simple doctor’s appointment can take hours that many people don’t have. Percentric uses Gnymble to doctor by text. Patients can fill out their paperwork from the link sent by the doctor’s office, easily have questions or concerns answered, and even get prescriptions and have them sent to the pharmacy–all from the tip of your fingers via text. 

  1. Budget-Friendly

Percentric offers a non-primary, non-urgent concierge-for-all healthcare service at no cost to employees using the service. Employee healthcare services promote better mental health, better work ethic, and people tend to take less time off.  

Many physicians are starting to explore doctoring by text. Help your patients save time, money, and be more convenient. Bryan R. Fine, MD, MPH is a leader in this industry and continues to use Gnymble to doctor by text. If you’d like to learn more about how you can start using business texting please text 757-818-8010 or contact us here.

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Can Workplace Wellness Make an Impact on Employee Retention?

Business texting is changing the way employers are attracting and retaining top talent. In one use case, a customer of Gnymble provides a healthcare wellness benefit for corporations that includes texting. In this model, the employees have direct access to a physician via text, paid for by their employer. This means the employer doesn’t have to lose their talent for the day to allow the employee to go to the doctor for a routine issue and the employee doesn’t have to take PTO. That’s what we call a win-win for technology helping people!

Why are workplace wellness programs important?

Studies have shown that supporting the physical and mental health of your employees creates a happier and more productive environment. Workplace wellness has definitely impacted employee retention over the last few decades. After all, most people spend up to ⅓ of their life at work. Your workplace is like your second home.

Over 45% of Americans say that they would stay at their workplace longer if they were provided with an employee-sponsored wellness program. Employee-sponsored wellness programs resulted in 40% of employees saying that they were encouraged to work harder and take less time off.

10 Reasons to Provide Workplace Wellness Programs:

1. Improves Employee Health Behavior

Wellness programs are a great way to help your employees adopt healthier behaviors such as more physical activity, eating healthier, and lower alcohol intake.

2. Increases Employee Physical Wellness

Studies have shown that workplace wellness programs have shown increased rates of positive self reported physical wellness.

3. Productivity Increases

Employees with poor health are less likely to perform their best at work. Smokers are 28% more likely to have lower productivity at work. Those not eating healthy are 66% more likely and those that don’t exercise are 50% more likely to have lower productivity at work than those that do.

4. Employee Engagement Increases

Healthy habits lead to increased happiness which leads to increased engagement among employees.

5. Increase in Morale

Workplace wellness increases morale because employees feel valued and appreciated.

6. Lower Stress Levels

Many stressors include personal health, financial worries, and more. Workplace wellness programs can lower stress levels by helping with healthcare costs and providing healthcare.

7. Attendance Increases

Employees spend less time scheduling appointments, traveling to the doctor, and more. This increases attendance when wellness programs are offered on site.

8. Teamwork is Improved

Encouraging and taking part in wellness activities such as walking or yoga improve employee relationships. This makes employees more comfortable around one another and teamwork is improved.

9. Attracts New Talent

Many potential employees are drawn to companies that offer workplace wellness programs.

10. Reduces Healthcare Cost

Companies that offer a workplace wellness program typically see a trend in healthcare costs being lower for employees. The savings from workplace wellness program participation will be greater than the actual cost of the program.

Workplace wellness looks different at every company

These programs can consist of things such as on-site health clinics, weight loss and stress management coaching, corporate yoga, and more. If your business is considering providing workplace wellness, you will most likely see employee retention increase.

How can technology, like business texting, help workplace wellness?

Technology, like business texting, is a great way to deliver workplace wellness. For example, bringing a virtual doctor onboard can help employees by saving them time from not having to leave work for routine issues. Now, asking their physician quick questions, receiving follow-up care, or even refilling prescriptions can all be done via text message with a business texting platform, like Gnymble. Gnymble allows the employee to use their normal texting app on their phone to text with a doctor and receive medical care.

Texting has become the normal way we communicate with each other. Now that health and wellness are becoming a normal benefit for employees, more and more companies are using texting with their health and wellness partners and within their own company.

Interested in learning more about using business texting to strengthen your business and allow your employees a convenient way to communicate with you? Contact us to learn more!

Sources

https://www.wellsteps.com/blog/2020/01/02/reasons-to-have-a-wellness-program-benefits-of-wellness/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2730614

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Can Texting Be HIPAA Compliant?

doctors texting
Doctors and patients both want to text. Is texting HIPAA compliant? What's the difference in a phone call vs. a text message.

Many healthcare providers would rather use SMS than other communication methods to communicate with patients because it’s convenient and easy. With sensitive information being shared, there are many rules and regulations when it comes to texting in the healthcare industry. This has many healthcare providers wondering if texting can be HIPAA compliant.

The short answer is yes. Texting can be HIPAA compliant under certain circumstances. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was revised to acknowledge that texting was a technological advancement now used to communicate private health information, also known as PHI. 

Patients can communicate any PHI to you via text. That is their own personal information, and they have the right to share it with whomever they please. Texting is not as easy for the healthcare provider. You must make sure you follow the rules set in place when sharing PHI with patients.

Here are some of the HIPAA rules around texting:

  • Create rules and procedures to manage who is authorized to access PHI when texting.
  • Execute audit and reporting controls for HIPAA compliant texting.
  • Make sure PHI is not improperly changed or deleted while texting.
  • Authenticate your identity before sending or receiving messages.
  • Protect the integrity of PHI during transmission.

What is the difference between encryption and compliance?

Encryption is simply the process of encoding information. Secure messaging solutions adhere to HIPAA encryption requirements by encrypting PHI while at rest and in transit. In laymen’s terms- PHI becomes unreadable and undecipherable. Texting is HIPAA compliant if you are not sending PHI via text. Texting is also HIPAA compliant if you receive consent from the patient to send PHI. 

Texting Features to Boost HIPAA Compliance

One of our favorite features is SPAM prevention. You can enable SPAM prevention in your Gnymble inbox to receive consent before the patient ever receives any medical information via text. This is an easy process, and the consent messages can be stored under the patient’s profile to be easily retrieved if needed.

HIPAA requires you to make patients aware of the risk of communicating their PHI in an unsecured channel and to obtain their consent prior to doing so. This can be done easily with a message like the following: “Dr. John Doe’s office complies with HIPAA and wants to exchange text messages with you. Text messaging may not be fully secure. To consent, reply YES.” This type of consent is a great way to protect your business by documenting permission from patients. 

Over 80% of doctors already use smartphones and unlike waiting at the doctor’s office or completing treatment plans, texting is quick. There are plenty of valid concerns when it comes to texting your physician, but some people use the argument that texting is more confidential than phone calling because the messages cannot be overheard. 

We All Get Calls From Our Doctor, Is That HIPAA Compliant?

Most medical practices in the United States still use phone calls as a form of communication. The use of mobile devices in the healthcare industry is not HIPAA compliant without consent, however, patients still accept phone calls every day. Like our SPAM prevention- you are typically asked your name and date of birth before beginning a conversation. The phone call continues like normal and is HIPAA compliant by consent, just like texting. A few other ways to text smartly and securely include: keeping an eye on the device you’re using to text, reviewing the content of your messages before sending them and deleting message history after the correct medical records have been documented. 

Texting for the healthcare industry is continuing to grow as we learn more about how to keep PHI secure. If you’d like to learn more contact us or text 757-818-8010