Healthcare IT companies offering assistance to customers on the front lines of COVID-19

Rod Hodgman

As healthcare providers continue to work around the clock to treat the influx of patients impacted by COVID-19, healthcare IT vendors are doing their part to assist customers who are on the front lines of this crisis.

Imprivata is offering licenses to our enterprise multifactor authentication solution — Imprivata Confirm ID for Remote Access — at no-cost for all users, and many of our partners are also doing what they can to help by offering free products, services, and resources.

Here is a look at what some of our partners are offering to customers in this time of need:

  • Ascom: In terms of customer support, they have capabilities for remotely troubleshooting customer installations, should that be required. Support for hardware is also ensured and, in the highly unlikely scenario of having all technicians in quarantine, Ascom could ship the hardware to a customer and guide them on replacements remotely. Ascom has sufficient levels of spares and monitors their supply situation on a daily basis; they can adapt if necessary. Ascom mobile devices and nurse call systems can be disinfected using common disinfection agents.
    Disinfection User Guide mobile devices
    Disinfection User Guide nurse call
    To learn more, visit their website here
  • Mobitrace: During the Corona crisis, Mobitrace wants to support hospitals and their staff by making their Nurseflow application available free of charge.  Learn more here.
  • Cerner: The company has updated their solutions and included guidance and recommendations for operational readiness, screening, testing, treatment and surveillance of COVID-19. Additional information and resources can be found below within the Recommendations link. In addition to updates, they have created a space for clients to talk with and learn from each other’s organizations. The Collaboration Communities provides an easy-to-access site where customers can find and communicate with other Cerner clients and associates on a variety of COVID-19 related issues their organization might encounter. For more information, visit their website here.
  • Halo Health: The company is offering urgent deployment of the Halo Platform’s secure messaging and Clinical and Critical Teams functionality at no cost for up to six months. They have also published a best-practices guide, “COVID-19 Best Practices Guide”, for utilizing the Halo Platform’s secure messaging for Teams. Should any of their customers require support during this time, the Halo Health Emergency Response Team is available.
  • Hillrom: Recently Hillrom announced it is donating medical devices well-suited for critical and intensive care environments to 25 U.S. hospitals fighting COVID-19. You can learn more here.
  • Masimo: They modified a wearable device that allows patients to continuously self-monitor key vitals (especially SpO2) at home to catch signs of shortness of breath and the solution escalates to the caregiver if the patient ignores alarms. You can learn more about this solution here.
  • MEDHOST: MEDHOST has made available COVID-19 screening for its solutions based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations. Beginning in January, the new screening tools were made available to MEDHOST customers. New travel related screening questions were also made available within the MEDHOST Enterprise EHR and Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) workflows, and MEDHOST customers can use these screenings in the inpatient or emergency department settings. To learn more about this, read the MEDHOST press release here.
  • Microsoft: Offering Microsoft Teams for remote working at no-charge. Millions of users have already begun using it to collaborate remotely, including hospitals that are using it to help clinicians communicate with their patients. To learn more about this offer and others from Microsoft, visit their website here.
  • TigerConnect: TigerConnect is supporting its customers with complimentary license expansions beyond their current agreement, extending standard support hours, conducting webinars, and publishing resources to help optimize their communications through this pandemic. They are also providing current customers complimentary expansion of TigerText Essentials licenses for up to 6 months. For U.S. hospital systems who are not currently using TigerConnect, the company can provide them with complimentary use of the TigerConnect texting network for up to 6 months to aid COVID-19 communications.
  • Verato: Due to the surge in telehealth use amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, Verato is providing “Telehealth Identity Bridge,” a solution that connects the EHR record and the telehealth record to help prevent duplicate records. You can find more information about this solution and other Verato offerings here.
  • VMware: The company’s global support team is managed from six main centers located across the globe, enabling strong geographic resilience to provide continuity of service for their customers. VMware does not expect COVID-19 to impact the availability of VMware software and services, although some VMware SD-WAN hardware appliances are on backorder as a result of supply chain issues. As a result, VMware is extending the option for customers to update existing orders with different appliances where inventory is more readily available. For more information about VMware during this COVID-19 outbreak, read their blog here.
  • Zebra Technologies: Thorough disinfection of mobile computers, tablets, printers, scanners, and other devices is critical to infection control. Zebra’s guidance on how to clean a device, and what to clean them with, is different for each device; there is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Detailed guidelines on how to disinfect healthcare variants of Zebra scanners, printers, and mobile computers are provided in their user guides here.