The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the healthcare industry as we know it. Simply walking into a healthcare facility and expecting treatment has been replaced by online consultations, remote treatment and monitoring. This shift to remote healthcare has led to a growing demand for new innovative ways to deliver healthcare services. To meet this demand, we have launched three Healthcare Kits aimed at small, medium and large healthcare organisations to simplify and optimise healthcare provision.
Despite the decline in face-to-face consultations due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic, a recent Accenture study found that 9 out of 10 patients who used virtual healthcare services during the pandemic said the level of care they received was as good or better than before COVID-19. This patient shift, together with the after-effects of the pandemic, ageing populations, chronic disease management, staff shortages and rising costs in the sector, is driving massive digital transformation in the healthcare space.
With that in mind, healthcare providers and organisations are exploring new innovative technologies to improve and optimise the patient’s experience. Healthcare organisations need to be able to communicate, collaborate and comply with regulations. Lack of training for both the healthcare provider and the patient, together with a lack of funds for scaling technology and challenges of data privacy and network security, are just some of the hurdles for healthcare organisations wanting to scale their use of technology.
Stay connected, stay productive
As part of our Stay Connected, Stay Productive campaign, we have created three Healthcare Kits specific to different areas of the sector, to help partners support their customers as they remotely care for patients. Each kit contains Cisco’s award-winning solutions from all architectures, so customers have access to solutions that are best in class for reliability and security and are designed to address unique needs for secure collaboration and infrastructure in the healthcare industry.
Customised for single-site practices up to large-scale hospitals and clinics
The Healthcare Kits are available in three variations.
- Single-site practices
Healthcare professionals need secure, reliable network access, collaboration tools for patient and colleague communication during and outside of practice hours, and insightful analytics to help optimise the patient experience. - Multi-site practices
The needs expand, and security takes priority with secure SD-WAN to other sites, unified threat management across the network and endpoint security. Healthcare providers can also monitor their guest portal journeys, footfall analytics and Wi-Fi, as well as being able to enforce social distancing and traffic flow with smart security cameras. - Hospitals and clinics
With a greater number of users on the network and with greater needs to enforce social distancing and mask wearing, a secure, scalable network is a priority. Security of personnel and devices that access the hospital resources are also prioritised, with the added benefit of being able to monitor traffic flow and social distancing in high-traffic areas.
Flexible healthcare needs flexible financing
As healthcare customers turn to partners for support in their remote working environments, flexible payment options can help them scale their technology affordably and help them remain competitive by keeping technology up to date – especially now as they work hard to provide adaptable, productive and trusted experiences to their staff, patients and partners. With Cisco Capital payment options, you can help your customers fund this investment through monthly or periodic billing, without the large upfront payment.
Telehealth is here to stay
Throughout the pandemic, most healthcare organisations will have had a crash course in the use of technology to deliver healthcare services in a distanced environment, and the trend does not appear to be a passing phase. The convenience and improved access to care that patients have experienced through virtual care can only be enhanced with the right set of tools and technologies.
Find out more about our Healthcare Kits
Find out more about Cisco payment options
Part of the SCSP blog series
