The Bridge Blog

Updated on January 29, 2021. Patient portals for healthcare can positively influence patients’ overall health, as many recent studies[¹] have found. Positive outcomes[²] include improved patient-provider communication, enhanced overall wellness management, and more positive health behaviors. Patient portals for healthcare organizations improve patient-provider communication Patient portals help facilitate patient engagement…Read more

Within the healthcare industry, medical jargon can be thrown around with little rhyme or reason. This may not be a problem for professionals within the field but may prove difficult for the general public, especially for patients trying to figure out what their medical payer may or may not cover.…Read more

Bridge Patient Portal introduces biometric authentication on mobile devices for fast, easy, and secure patient portal login  Dallas, TX – April 29, 2020 – Bridge Patient Portal, the enterprise patient engagement platform for leading healthcare organizations, today announced the release of biometric authentication for user login on mobile devices. This new feature…Read more

In order for a communications platform to be considered HIPAA compliant, it must fulfill the following requirements: Employ end-to-end encryption Implement access control Enable audit controls  Sign a business associate agreement (BAA) Recommended:  Zoom® is a HIPAA compliant telehealth software WhatsApp® provides end-to-end encryption, but that does not mean that it…Read more

What is the FCC Telehealth Fund? Federal Communications Commission (FCC) COVID-19 Telehealth Program authorized by the CARES Act will provide $200 million in funding to support healthcare providers in offering telehealth services to patients during the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 Telehealth Program aims to fully fund telecommunications services for eligible…Read more

Due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that was first reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31st, 2019, the public is turning to telehealth to prevent further spread of the virus. Telehealth is the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support and promote long-distance clinical health care.…Read more

Updated on March 2, 2021. Over the past year or so, the regulations around the use of videoconferencing software for telehealth have been liberalized as the U.S. government sought to move an increasing number of doctor’s appointments online. In early 2020, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created…Read more

What Is HIPAA? The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects patients’ privacy by limiting access to PHI  (Protected Health Information) and governing acceptable use of their health data. The HIPAA Privacy Rule is composed of national regulations for the use and disclosure of PHI in healthcare treatment, payment,…Read more

Bridge Patient Portal is an important part of how our clients communicate with their patients. At Bridge, we think its important to share ways that Bridge Patient Portal can be used to help our clients meet their patients’ needs during this challenging time. The Bridge team is available to help…Read more

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed by Congress in 1990 to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities. ADA is stringent and has a very comprehensive scope. The reality is that the vast majority of websites, patient portals, and mobile apps in healthcare are often not accessible to people…Read more