TigerText News

More than 90% of Hospitals and Physicians Say Mobile Technology is Improving Patient Safety and Outcomes

90% of hospitals and 94% of physicians have adopted mobile technology and say it is helping to improve patient safety and outcomes, according to a recent survey conducted by Black Book Research.

The survey was conduced on 770 hospital-based users and 1,279 physician practices between Q4, 2017 and Q1, 2018.

The survey revealed 96% of hospitals are planning on investing in a new clinical communications platform this year or have already adopted a new, comprehensive communications platform.

85% of surveyed hospitals and 83% of physician practices have already adopted a secure communication platform to improve communications between care teams, patients, and their families. Secure text messaging platform are fast becoming the number one choice due to the convenience of text messages, the security offered by the platforms, and the improvements they make to productivity and profitability.

98% of hospitals and 77% of physician practices said they have implemented secure, encrypted email and are using intrusion detection systems to ensure breaches are detected rapidly.

Many providers of secure text messaging solutions have developed their platforms specifically for the healthcare industry. The platforms incorporate all the necessary safeguards to meet HIPAA requirements and ensure PHI can be transmitted safely and securely. Text messaging is familiar to almost all employees who are provided access to the platforms and they make communication quick and easy.

However, 63% of respondents to the survey said they are still facing ongoing challenges with buy-in of general mobile adoption strategies and related enterprise technology execution.

30% of respondents said that even though secure methods of communication have been implemented such as encrypted text messaging platforms and secure email, they are still receiving communications on a daily basis from unsecured sources that contain personally identifiable information such as patients’ names and birthdates.

Part of the study involved an assessment of cybersecurity and privacy software and services, allowing the company to identify the vendors that are most highly regarded by customers. TigerText, the market leading provider of secure text messaging solutions for the healthcare industry, was rated highly across the board, as were Vocera, Spok, Doc Halo, and Imprivata.

Doc Halo was the highest rated secure communications platform provider among physician organizations, with Perfect Serve, Patient Safe Solutions, OnPage, Telemediq, and Voalte also scoring highly. Spok ranked highest among hospital systems and inpatient organizations, with Qlik and Cerner also receiving high marks.

“Stakeholders across the healthcare industry are in the quest of finding solutions to use comprehensive real-time data and connectivity cleverly to advance patient safety, productivity and profitability,” Doug Brown, president of Black Book Market Research. “Organizations are adopting secure text messaging platforms because texts are convenient, as well.”

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TigerText Announces Record-Breaking Year for Growth

TigerText, the nation’s leading secure healthcare messaging platform provider, has announced it has recorded another record-breaking year for growth, signing up over 300 healthcare organizations in 2016.

The company now boasts more than 3,000 healthcare customers in the United States, including five of the top ten largest health systems in the country. More than 10 million secure messages are now being sent via the TigerText platform every day and the platform is used in over 5,000 healthcare facilities in the United States.

TigerText was originally developed as a standalone messaging platform, yet over the course of the past 6 years it has evolved into a comprehensive clinical communications platform. The platform has been tailored to meet the exacting needs of healthcare organizations, including the strict privacy and security controls required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

This year has seen two major new developments. Earlier this year, the TigerText platform achieved the prestigious HITRUST certification and in October the company launched a new healthcare workflow solution –TigerFlow.

TigerFlow incorporates a range of healthcare-specific features that allow healthcare organizations of all sizes to optimize and enhance communications workflows. As Brad Brooks, co-founder and CEO of TigerText, explained “TigerFlow is the first clinical communication platform built to be the central hub for care teams, thus truly enabling the last mile of care.” Brooks went on to explain that “Optimizing communication at the point of care frees physicians and nurses to do what they love – take care of patients.” The introduction of TigerFlow is seen as the biggest event in the company’s history since its 2010 launch.

The healthcare industry faces unique communications challenges and has historically struggled with integrating new technology. The pager has proved to be an invaluable and reliable tool for the healthcare industry for more than 60 years, yet many healthcare organizations have now accepted that the time has come for a modern replacement to be introduced. The launch of TigerFlow has spurred many healthcare organizations to finally make the transition to a new, and more efficient communication system.

The communications system incorporates a wide range of features to improve productivity, patient outcomes, provider satisfaction, and profitability. As Brooks explained, “The TigerFlow solution specifically improves collaboration and clinical communications by addressing and solving health systems’ concerns around integrating technology.” In addition to the messaging platform, healthcare providers benefit from enhanced data integration capabilities, end-to-end workflow consultation services, and on-demand data analytics.

The cost savings that can be generated are considerable. Brooks believes the potential savings could be excess of $100 billion across the healthcare industry as a whole. One of the company’s large healthcare clients has generated over $6 million in cost savings in 2016 alone, while another reported savings of more than $200,000 in just 8 weeks after implementing the TigerText platform.

The past few months have also seen the company bring in new talent with a wealth of healthcare experience to further accelerate growth in the healthcare industry. Kirk Paul Kirkman has been recruited to serve as President of the TigerText Client Organization while Kelli Castellano has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer. Both new hires have extensive experience in the healthcare industry and are highly focused on improving physician and nurse satisfaction and helping providers improve patient outcomes.

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