It's been a while since last hearing about Health Gorilla, the service that was out to make it a lot easier for people to make connections to doctors and specialists. But now, the company has expanded its slate of offerings by bringing a new physician portal into play, a move which only represents part of a much larger overall plan.
The new physician portal, reports note, is actually part of a new clinical network that the company is set to roll out next month. With that new clinical network in place, it will be that much easier to accomplish the original goals of offering better connection between doctors and patients on one highly-secure platform. The new clinical network is set to provide some noteworthy features of added value as well, including the most up-to-date clinical records available right at the point of care, as well as the ability to more readily share information as appropriate and even providing some of the necessary tools for the healthcare consumer to better manage his or her own health.
The new platform will also bring about a complete patient health history, which represents a solution to one of the biggest problems of electronic healthcare records (EHR): being able to properly compile all the information about that patient over the patient's lifetime. There's also an ability to better automate, allowing orders to be placed with the various labs and facilities in Health Gorilla's online partner network. Communications are fully secured to applicable HIPAA standards, reports note. Health Gorilla has even been certified for Meaningful Use 2, and an iOS app allows for easy access to the Health Gorilla network while on the go.
With the healthcare environment in a nearly constant state of flux, as baby boomers retire in staggering numbers and start to make increasingly frequent use of the healthcare system, it's clear that new measures are going to be necessary to keep the system fluid and efficient. We've already seen a lot of troubles opening up with the passage of the Affordable Care Act—an act that may or may not continue to be around, with a new presidential election a little over a year off—and that's just for starters. But with increasing numbers of users, a host of new regulations, and a variety of other matters cropping up, new technology is going to be a very big part of what's needed to help keep the system up and running as best it can. Health Gorilla, meanwhile, looks like it could be a very big part of that, especially with its emphasis on communication and patient engagement.
The healthcare market is a shaky place right now, and sometimes it seems like it would take something particularly strong to hold it all aloft. Will Health Gorilla be that particular strong something? It's entirely possible, but even here it will likely need plenty of help to do the job.
Edited by
Dominick Sorrentino
