5 minute read
Transforming healthcare consultations
in the time of CoVid and beyond with uConsulttM
Thomas Edison said: “There’s a way to do it better – find it.” In a time of unprecedented change the pressure to adapt has resulted in some remarkable healthcare developments, to do things not only differently but, in some cases, better.
“As a healthcare administrator, we saw a broad spectrum of challenges that arose quickly once the pandemic had hit our shores, which brought about the need for long-term solutions,” says Dr Johan Pretorius, CeO of Universal Healthcare.
“Perhaps the most notable of challenges at ground level was the sudden change in the dynamic between provider and patient. Where once a face-to-face interaction was so essential, caution on the part of both parties now meant that consultations in rooms would only take place if absolutely necessary. This had a far-reaching financial impact for doctors, who could no longer practise as they had before, while the break in continuity of care often resulted in patients neglecting their general health.”
INNOvATION FOR ACCESSIBIlITY
Dr Pretorius notes that while telemedicine is not a new field, the legislation passed by the HPCSA along with the sudden need for a streamlined virtual consultation offering, provided a timely opportunity to develop uConsult™.
“With the advent of COVID-19 the need for a sustainable alternative consultation model became clear. Following discussions with key stakeholders at various schemes we moved quickly, engaging our international innovation team based in Silicon We take a look at how, in a time of necessity, Universal Healthcare and uConsult successfully connected patients with healthcare providers using safe, scalable microservices technology
hiGhLiGhTs
wHAT wE ACHIEVEd IN A TIME Of NECESSITy
reaching out to key stakeholders in medical schemes and the healthcare community resulted in some important conversations and insights around just what was needed to solve the problem of face-to-face patient consultations. This type of collaborative approach, in times of such difficulty, proved highly beneficial in laying strong foundations for new ideas.
Taking quick action and identifying the right development team for the job went a long way towards ensuring that this new virtual consultation platform would be built at the very forefront of technological innovation. In this process we saw clearly that having an idea is one thing, getting it done is another but getting it done right requires a carefully defined vision and a high level of input and resourcefulness.
Engaging the users – healthcare providers – in finding out exactly what their needs were, not only provided valuable insight for product development but began to create a deeper sense of where our healthcare community is going in the future and just what potential digital solutions have in respect of assisting provider-patient interactions to evolve.
uConsult now has a total of eight medical schemes, both closed and open, already supporting and endorsing the platform as well as a fast-growing user base of healthcare providers and patients nationwide. Building for accessibility for the healthcare industry as a whole, here in South Africa and internationally, is an essential step in digital transformation.
Valley, California, who immediately began development of a responsive web-based platform,” he says.
While many other platforms were in development at the same time, Dr Pretorius points out that the uConsult difference lay in the fact that the team understood the importance of maintaining a strong focus on accessible care, throughout the healthcare industry, from the outset. For this reason the platform was built to be totally agnostic – not aligning itself to any medical scheme, nor indeed requiring patients to have medical scheme membership.
Furthermore, the platform does not require software installations. Rather, it is able to launch from a web browser, enabling access from any smart device and increasing ease of use for both provider and patient.
REACHING OuT TO HEAlTHCARE PROvIDERS
“There was a pressing need to get uConsult as close to perfect as possible within the first iteration. We therefore reached out to healthcare providers from multiple disciplines in order to gain user perspective and to help us simulate existing processes followed in a healthcare practice. These included patient bookings, checking in, issuing pathology and radiology requests and scripts, managing billing and making medical notes.
“We wanted the platform to provide an intuitive and streamlined digital version of these largely analogue processes, not only to enable doctors to see patients virtually but to assist with the digital transformation of their practices well beyond that.
“It was also important that we be able to ensure that patient confidentiality remains intact, and that the protection of personal information would never be jeopardised. uConsult is therefore fully POPIA compliant, thus assisting doctors in the legally correct management of patient databases.”
Dr Pretorius says that after initial testing and a successful pilot phase, the product went live in South Africa in July 2021.
With the approval and support of independent healthcare bodies, private practices and eight medical schemes and counting, uConsult is quickly becoming the definitive virtual consultation platform for the entire South African healthcare industry. SO, WhAT exACTly DOES THE PlATFORM OFFER?
Unlike other virtual consultation platforms, uConsult connects patients with healthcare providers using safe, scalable microservices technology. The platform’s functionalities include schedule management, video chat and screen sharing, the transfer of encrypted medical documents, upfront or immediate patient billing and the digital storage of medical notes.
Users are able to search for general practitioners on uConsult by name or geolocation and virtual consultations can take place no matter where the patient is based, locally or internationally. The patient and healthcare provider are, in addition, able to connect with other practitioners without having to switch between systems – a revolutionary development. “It is just the beginning of a new era for the management of healthcare interactions. At Universal, this comes down to innovating and creating solutions that ultimately hinge on so much more than convenience – it is about making inroads into accessibility, sustainability and connectivity for all, within and beyond our borders,” concludes Dr Pretorius.
For more information visit www.u-consult.co.za or call uConsult director Anton Paich on 078-095-9580
