Last Updated | November 6, 2024
Overview: What is Salesforce Health Cloud
As the benefits of digital data-keeping become more pronounced, hospitals are rapidly adopting electronic health record (EHR) systems. This has led to a surge in demand for healthcare software development companies, with Salesforce being one of the leading names.
Salesforce Health Cloud provides custom fields to store data more efficiently in the existing system. It offers advantages like Patient 360, which gives a real-time comprehensive view of every patient’s information for improved care. Salesforce Health Cloud is a popular name among healthcare organizations that want telemedicine software solutions. Its user-friendly interface and HIPAA compliance make it a valuable option.
Additionally, Salesforce Health Cloud integration with HL7 standards ensures seamless interoperability with other healthcare systems. It is widely used and praised for making communication between a patient and the healthcare professional in charge much smoother and increasing customer engagement. Salesforce Health Cloud has the most seamless functioning among all other medical software development companies.
What is Salesforce Health Cloud?
Salesforce Health Cloud is a powerful platform for healthcare organizations. It is a cloud-based technology that centralizes patient information, providing healthcare workers with a complete view of patient records to help them deliver more effective treatments.
Salesforce Health Cloud is a type of Customer Relationship Management software that uses cloud technology to help all stakeholders and customers in a healthcare organization have real-time access to patient information, including medical history, upcoming health check-up appointments, etc.
The integration of healthcare applications with this software has become an essential part of the medical care system. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies can use the information stored on such health clouds to predict upcoming widespread health issues and alter their procedures and medicinal production accordingly.
Why is Salesforce Health Cloud the Best for Telemedicine?
Healthcare organizations are looking towards Salesforce for telemedicine software development as it is far more efficient and accurate than most other versions being developed. Sales force health cloud delivers information much faster from one user to another, reducing the communication gap between the parties involved.
Salesforce Health Cloud is a user-friendly platform that helps individuals manage their overall well-being. In addition to providing valuable health advice, it ensures strict compliance with HIPAA regulations through its healthcare compliance consulting services, protecting patient data from privacy breaches.
What is Salesforce Health Cloud Used For?
By moving to cloud-based solutions, healthcare organizations protect sensitive patient data from the risks associated with manual entry. Centralizing information in a secure cloud system allows timely access to the data relevant parties need to improve workflow efficiency.
Salesforce Health Cloud is a trusted platform for healthcare setups. It is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software with the most interactive UI design in healthcare. Salesforce Health Cloud allows easy access and analysis of critical information by the patient, healthcare team, and other stakeholders.
The information stored in the Salesforce healthcare cloud follows the HL7 method, which is easy to understand and abides by HIPAA audit policies. Furthermore, this software comes with features allowing patients to connect directly with their healthcare organization to schedule and track appointments, form health goals, etc.
Salesforce Health Cloud Features
This user-friendly software facilitates easy communication between patients and providers, improving patient engagement and satisfaction. Here are some of its lauded features:
- A comprehensive patient overview: It provides highly accurate information such as the patient’s health history, pending treatment plans and check-ups, and care team network.
- HIPAA compliance audit services: All services provided are HIPAA compliant, reducing the risk of data leaks.
- Care Team Productivity Assistance: Data is analyzed to form risk plans, customize care structure, set consultation appointments, and alert healthcare professionals of possible widespread issues. This feature helps medical staff prepare themselves and their equipment for dealing with problems and alert them to emerging health threats.
- Data Storage: Salesforce Healthcloud can store large volumes of data in multiple forms, such as heavy patient information and history files, scans, and lab results. The data is protected by EHR device integration and HL7 integration.
5 Benefits of Using Salesforce for Healthcare Organizations
Integrating Salesforce Health Cloud and EHR
Electronic Health Records (EHR) are digitalized versions of patient charts. Medical health organizations prefer these over other means of recording patient data. Salesforce Health Cloud provides custom fields to store the data in the standard EHR fields.
Electronic health records (EHRs) store patient information, including medical history, diagnoses, treatment plans, medication schedules, lab results, etc. This information is used to improve the quality of medical care.
The EHR system is steadily replacing old-school paper patient charts. All major health cloud-using hospitals are carrying out mass EHR device integrations to digitalize the tedious process of manually creating and maintaining patient charts and records. This process eliminates the chances of human error and the accidental negligence of critical information during chart evaluations. Salesforce health cloud integration synchronizes patient data with all the medical records in the cloud system, enabling information to be updated and analyzed in real-time.
Health professionals use this information to develop personalized and highly informed treatment plans. Epic is one of the most commonly used EHR software programs worldwide, offering regular updates and healthcare integration consulting services. It is almost impossible not to find hospitals that use EPIC software.
Salesforce Health Cloud Security
Salesforce Shield provides two most sought-after features, along with other safety features required by HIPAA:
- Improved data logging system
- Comprehensive data encryption
Salesforce health cloud security measures are perfect for encrypting and protecting all data types, such as Protected Health Information (PHI), Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and sensitive files and attachments. Security customizations, such as allowing limited people access to information through password protection, are popular among customers.
Salesforce Health Cloud Implementation
Salesforce Health Cloud is one of the Best Examples of Excellent Customer Service in Healthcare and can be implemented on all your devices in these steps:
- Health Cloud set up: Salesforce Health Cloud is offered in two packages: the enterprise package, which costs $300 per month (annual billing), and the unlimited package, which costs $450 per month (annual billing). The difference in payment plans is meant to cater to organizations of all sizes. Purchasers can select the best option after discussing it with a Salesforce representative. Once purchased, the software can be installed on multiple devices.
- Customization: Once set up, the health cloud can be customized to adapt to the organization’s needs and control which users can view what information.
- Build Patient Communities: Building a patient-centric community helps improve patients’ health and safety. These groups identify caregivers and better-suited healthcare professionals for each member.
- Manage patient risk detectors: Set the criteria for risk factors within patients to identify high-risk individuals and proactively manage their health journey.
- Apply Salesforce Shield: Salesforce Shield helps protect sensitive data in compliance with HIPAA security rules. It oversees platform encryption, field audit trail, and event monitoring, protecting it from all malicious activity without affecting other Salesforce health cloud functions.
Also Read: A guide to implementing Salesforce Health Cloud.
Salesforce Health Cloud Limitations
With numerous features and benefits, Salesforce health cloud solutions have a few limitations as well:
- Display: Health Cloud is available only in Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 or 11; Microsoft Edge, the most recent stable version of Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Google Chrome.
- Access: A patient ID and password breach can give third parties data access unless the healthcare organization is informed and the password is changed.
- Information Display: The software may display information with a delay; however, it can be easily fixed by refreshing the page.
- Patient List Display: When viewing the patient list, the page can show only up to five hundred entries at a time.
- Language: Salesforce Health Cloud only supports major languages, such as English, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Finnish, and Korean.
- Cost: Some organizations may argue that the cost of Salesforce health cloud services is too high. However, Salesforce’s services have one of the lowest telemedicine software costs among medical software development companies.
Salesforce Health Cloud and HL7
HL7 (Health Level Seven) is the standard set by HIPAA related to Electronic Health Exchange (EHR). Salesforce Health Cloud stores EHR data transmitted via the HL7 data messaging method, so customers do not need to worry about security breaches. Salesforce has a strong partnership with HL7.org and is a voting member of the organization.
Salesforce is a member of HL7.org, regularly utilizing its standards and sharing digital assets. This active involvement assures that Salesforce Health Cloud stays updated with the latest HL7 standards, guaranteeing smooth interoperability and data exchange.
Here are the three key HL7 messages examples supported by Salesforce Health Cloud:
- ADT (Admission, Discharge, Transfer): This message type handles patient demographic information such as admission, discharge, and transfer events.
- ORM (Order Message): This HL7 message type transmits orders for various healthcare services, such as laboratory tests, radiology procedures, medications, etc.
- ORU (Observation Result): It conveys results from laboratory tests, radiology procedures, other diagnostic tests, and any relevant interpretations.
HL7 and FHIR
The FHIR specification offered by Salesforce is one of the easiest to implement and is the safest method for data exchange between multiple healthcare applications. Although FHIR alone can be used as a standard for data exchange, it is best used coupled with other standards, such as HL7.
Maximize Patient Engagement with Salesforce Health Cloud Integration With Folio3 Digital Health
Improve interoperability and patient engagement with Salesforce Health Cloud integration. Get Salesforce Health Cloud to streamline operations and drive better outcomes. Our team of industry experts at Folio3 Digital Health can help you seamlessly integrate Salesforce Health Cloud with your existing EHR system, ensuring a smooth transition. We will help you out from ideation to deployment and post-deployment support.
Conclusion
Salesforce Health Cloud is one of the best platforms for healthcare organizations to use. It has been revolutionary in reducing the communication gap between healthcare organizations and patients.
Features such as consultation appointments, updates, and treatment plans greatly benefit patients; on the other hand, healthcare practitioners take advantage of the risk alert and treatment plan features, providing patients with the best services possible. Thanks to Salesforce Shield and HL7 standards, healthcare organizations are also able to avoid most non-compliance with HIPAA audit policies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Salesforce Health Cloud HIPAA compliant?
Salesforce Health Cloud is usually integrated with Salesforce Shield, which ensures HIPAA compliance. Salesforce’s HL7 messaging standard further encrypts and protects data from unsafe exchanges and suspicious activity.
How Salesforce Health Cloud is Transforming The Patient Experience?
Salesforce Health Cloud has robust data management features that automate patient information management, including handling, storing, tracking, and reporting confidential patient data. Additionally, it offers a 360-degree view of each patient to better understand their requirements.
About the Author
Robert Terry
Rob Terry brings over 35 years of experience in project management and software development, working across a variety of industries to implement impactful software solutions. One of his career highlights was leading an ERP implementation at Express Scripts Canada, where he tailored workflows to support pharmacy processes for one of North America’s largest home delivery pharmacies. At Folio3, Rob is dedicated to delivering technology solutions that solve real-world problems and drive business growth across sectors.
