Microsoft Teams Adds New Virtual Care Features

Microsoft is adding several new features to its Teams platform to support virtual visits.  

These include a feature that enables patients to request appointments with their providers within Teams. Organizations using the feature will be able to monitor the on-demand appointments in a queue view through the Microsoft Bookings app in Teams.

Microsoft will also enable the collection of patient triage information in Teams through the integration of Microsoft Forms and the Microsoft Bookings app.

Other new features include a device tester that allows patients to test their hardware settings before their virtual appointment and access to analytics insights regarding virtual visit performance in the Microsoft Teams Admin Center, including insights on metrics like lobby wait time and the impact of text-based notifications.

As telehealth use skyrocketed in the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, existing teleconferencing platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams saw spikes in usage as well. Between March 2020 and November 2021, the monthly use of Teams in the healthcare industry grew by 560 percent, according to data from Microsoft.

In addition to these new features, Microsoft announced that its Teams EHR connector for Cerner, announced last October, is generally available. This will allow clinicians to launch virtual visits with patients or consult with other providers in Teams directly from their Cerner EHR.

"As a validated code application, Microsoft Teams EHR connector meets Cerner security, operational, functional and UX criteria designed to help improve the user experience for Cerner clients searching for a third-party telehealth solution," said Jake Engle, senior director of open platforms at Cerner, in a Microsoft blog post.

The company connected Teams with Epic's EHR system in 2020.

Teladoc Health's Solo platform for healthcare organizations is also generally available on the Teams platform. Last July, the companies announced a collaboration to integrate Solo and Teams with the aim of streamlining the technology and administrative processes involved in virtual care. Through the integration, clinicians are able to securely access EHR clinical data via Teladoc Health Solo within the Teams environment.

Microsoft has been making significant strides in healthcare outside of telehealth as well. This month, the technology giant closed its acquisition of Nuance Communications, a provider of speech recognition services and conversational artificial intelligence across industries, including healthcare.

Last December, CVS Health announced a collaboration with Microsoft to drive digital health transformation through artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Microsoft joins other prominent technology companies in expanding its healthcare footprint.

At the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference on Tuesday, Google announced plans to integrate Care Studio, an EHR search tool, into Meditech's system, according to Modern Healthcare.

Amazon also recently announced a partnership with Teladoc Health, enabling voice-activated access to virtual care using Alexa-supported devices.