COVID-19 surge readiness: use cases demonstrating how hospitals leveraged digital identity access management for infection control and pandemic response.

Background: Surging volumes of patients with COVID-19 and the high infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 challenged hospital infection control/safety, staffing, care delivery and operations as few crises have. Imperatives to ensure security of patient information, defend against cybersecurity threats and accurately identify/authenticate patients and staff were undiminished, which fostered creative use cases where hospitals leveraged identity access and management (IAM) technologies to improve infection control and minimise disruption of clinical and administrative workflows.

Methods: Working with a leading IAM solution provider, implementation personnel in the USA and UK identified all hospitals/health systems where an innovative use of IAM technology improved facility infection control and pandemic response management.

Inpatient Telehealth Tools to Enhance Communication and Decrease Personal Protective Equipment Consumption during Disaster Situations: A Case Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: As the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic exerts unprecedented stress on hospitals, health care systems have quickly deployed innovative technology solutions to decrease personal protective equipment (PPE) use and augment patient care capabilities. Telehealth technology use is established in the ambulatory setting, but not yet widely deployed at scale for inpatient care.

Objectives: This article presents and describes our experience with evaluating and implementing inpatient telehealth technologies in a large health care system with the goals of reducing use of PPE while enhancing communication for health care workers and patients.