In April, Microsoft will release the first update for its Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare that will include new features for remote patient-monitoring and the Microsoft Teams and Epic EHR integration, according to a Feb. 24 company blog post.
Microsoft launched its healthcare cloud offering in November; in September, the tech giant announced Epic as the first EHR to integrate the Microsoft Teams Connector, which lets clinicians and patients launch telehealth visits through Teams on Epic's platform.
Six things to know about the new updates:
1. Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare will roll out tools that let patients self-schedule both virtual and in-person appointments through their existing patient portal.
2. The cloud platform will also integrate virtual health assistants such as the Azure Health Bot service to help with triaging and scheduling.
3. With the Epic and Teams integration, physicians will be able to see appointments scheduled and who is waiting in their virtual clinic patient queue.
4. The cloud platform will also feature new home healthcare plan management applications and remote-monitoring features, which will let care managers create and more closely track care plan activities and goals.
5. Providers deploying wearable or remote-monitoring devices for patients will be able to track and manage their device inventory using the cloud's new tools.
6. Microsoft is also building data exchange tools that meet requirements for HIPAA within the cloud platform so providers can more easily participate in patient data exchange.