Halo is on a mission to make it easy and secure for medical service providers to communicate on texting platforms, so that they can provide the best possible care. Halo makes it incredibly easy for doctors to do their job on and off the clock, enabling a smooth transition between shifts and hence the best possible care for patients. The solution shields patients from delayed treatments and clinicians from burnout and fatigue, all powered by Halo’s clinical workflow system.
High-level security features and accreditation make Halo a trusted clinical communication solution. The platform is easy to use but the high level of encryption and security make it nearly impossible for hackers to infiltrate and steal patient data. Perhaps the best part about Halo is that the security features do not get in the way of functionality that enables delivering care to patients.
What are the key features of Halo?
For clinicians, the message status feature ensures they know when a message is sent-delivered-read. All messages are time-stamped with a sent, delivered, and read status and time indication.
Patient centric messaging is among the best practices for clinical communication. Halo can integrate with the hospital system through the ADT feed to obtain basic patient information which can be attached to an SMS thread, making it more than just a basic texting service. Clinicians can communicate name, room number, and diagnoses of patients, as well as allergies and required medication to remove all ambiguity from the message.Â
Flexible security
Good medical messaging apps should not disrupt the delivery of care. So how does Halo accomplish this? One answer is through a feature called Halo Gatekeeper. This is an additional feature where a clinician can authorize another person to temporarily screen messages for them when they are not available. The original recipient can still access screened messages after-the-fact, as it is only meant to provide flexible, point-in-time administration.
Auto forwarding feature
Another feature that makes the Halo platform stand out is auto-forwarding with sender notification. This feature comes in handy when the intended recipient is unavailable and someone else is standing in for them, such as during a surgery or similar procedure. The sender receives a warning notification before messages are forwarded, with the ability to choose not to forward if desired.
AttachmentsÂ
Another highlight is the amount of data that can be attached to messages sent on this platform. From high-resolution photos to documents and videos, users can share more detailed messages for all medical diagnoses and treatments.
Urgent messages
With urgent messaging, users can set a special audible tone for messages flagged by the sender as requiring an immediate response. Another feature that ensures action is taken is backup escalation. This means that every message has a lapse time when it can be escalated to another recipient if not received by the original intended recipient. This addresses the scenario where the intended recipient is offline and therefore cannot respond to emergencies.
Safe textsÂ
Safe Text involves separating texts from the same sender into different threads for each patient. This eliminates the risk of mixing up patient data.
So much more…
Other features include the national provider NPI database, groups, VoIP callback button, and org screen. With groups, clinicians can add several recipients to the same thread just like with other messaging apps. This makes it easier to communicate with a broad group of people on the same forum.
Final thoughtsÂ
Hospitals across the U.S. are aware that using non-HIPAA compliant messaging could result in expensive fines and other punitive measures. Basic SMS services do not meet the requirement of HIPAA compliance in terms of encryption and access restriction. This means that hospital staff still using basic SMS risk charges and penalties for their institutions for patient data mismanagement.
If your hospital is still using a non-compliant platform or your current HIPAA messaging app is sub-optimal, then join the new wave of organizations using platforms that enable secure and convenient clinical communication.
