Medical networking company Doximity rolled out a telehealth app for physicians. The company, which let physicians make secure phone calls to patients through its app, rolled out a version that allows them to make HIPAA-compliant video calls. Doximity said it had seen 20 times as many physicians using its service since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
The new app, called Doximity Dialer Video, lets physicians conduct video calls with patients in an encrypted environment. As with Doximity’s phone app, physicians can also set a customer caller ID for their hospital or office line. Calls can also be initiated from Epic’s mobile electronic health record app.
When physicians launch a video call in the app, patients are sent a text message inviting them to talk. As soon as they accept, they enter a video chat.
The new service is geared toward physicians. Doximity said it is making it free for them until January of 2021. For hospital-wide deployments, a paid enterprise version of the app is available.
“Doctors on the front lines asked us for a secure and reliable telemedicine tool, and we moved quickly to fulfill that need,” Joel David, senior vice president and head of product at Doximity, said in a news release.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Since the pandemic started, most non-emergency appointments have moved online. Regulators temporarily waived some restrictions that would allow physicians to make calls over non-HIPAA compliant platforms, in an attempt to make it easier to connect with patients.
Physicians have turned to everything from internal telehealth systems to Zoom, Skype and other consumer-focused tools. But it’s taken time to adapt to new workflows, including figuring out how to send patients appointment reminders and consent forms for virtual appointments.
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