Best Clinical Communication and Collaboration Software

Clinical communication and collaboration (CC&C) software are secure messaging solutions that unify multiple communication channels used by healthcare providers and clinicians. Traditionally, CC&C software provided HIPAA-compliant text and voice capabilities for healthcare teams to communicate in real time and safely discuss sensitive patient information. In recent years, these platforms have evolved their functionality to integrate with electronic medical records (EHR), clinical scheduling, and call systems to streamline care coordination, automate service delivery workflows, and improve hospital staff satisfaction and patient outcomes.

Within the desktop application and via smartphones, a patient’s care team can access patient records and history, manage alarm middleware, view on-call schedules, and submit lab and medication orders. For example, a clinician may need to order labs and X-rays for an emergency room patient. CC&C software’s interoperability with different systems allows this lab order to be placed via the application, and the clinician can receive real-time updates on the status of those labs. 

Without CC&C software, the clinician would have to place multiple phone calls and likely leave the patient for an extended period of time to physically interact with lab and radiology staff to interpret the results. Nursing staff can receive alerts from alarms or call buttons if the patient needs immediate assistance.

The following are some core features within CC&C software that can help clinical care teams reduce response times and deliver a consistently positive patient experience:

Text messaging: Real-time HIPAA-compliant texting allows providers and clinicians to collaborate on patient cases, send requests, and receive updates for information requests, lab and medication orders, and other time-sensitive tasks. This speeds up time on making diagnoses, determining outpatient referral needs, and transitioning patients to different staff when shifts end. Care team members can receive updates on a patient’s progress. Users can also attach video and image files to supplement these communications.

Video conferencing: Some CC&C platforms also support video calls, allowing users to communicate via their smartphone or a webcam if text messaging is not the ideal communication channel. This feature may also support situational telehealth needs depending on platform integrations.

Alerts and notifications: Care providers receive instant notifications for lab results, patient information requests, medication orders, admissions and discharges, and coding emergencies. At a broader level, hospital systems can send emergency alerts for active shooters, weather and natural disasters, power failures, and other critical events where mass notification is needed. 

Reports and dashboards: CC&C software captures data from various connected sources, allowing health systems to measure metrics around space utilization, patient outcomes, order volumes, average wait times for emergency rooms, and more. This can help refine clinical workflows and identify areas for improvement in patient experience.

Communication logs: Users can access historical message logs for additional context on specific patients if they were not initially part of the care team or are covering for a team member. Timestamps provide visibility into when messages are delivered and read. This feature also supports auditing processes for investigations and reporting.

System interoperability: CC&C software offers unified, seamless communication for healthcare organizations integrating with EHRs, scheduling systems, call center infrastructure, and alarm middleware. Clinicians can access critical patient information needed to make appropriate decisions, collaborate with staff in other departments, and ensure patients’ needs are met more quickly. These solutions can integrate with a variety of systems, depending on the vendor.

CC&C software offers diverse benefits for both care providers and patients.

Improved care team collaboration: Real-time messaging and alerts enable providers and clinicians to coordinate care more quickly and effectively. Instead of chasing down staff in a hospital building, users can access staff directories and schedules and identify the appropriate staff member to resolve questions and orders. This simplifies routing workflows to transfer patients or escalate issues, accessing time-sensitive lab results, and gathering insight from colleagues to make informed decisions. 

Enhanced patient outcomes: Patient experience is intrinsically linked to clinical communication and collaboration workflows. When providers and clinicians utilize CC&C software, they can dramatically reduce the time spent addressing a patient’s health needs. Patients don’t have to linger for hours in a hospital bed wondering when their doctor will return; their lab or imaging results can be processed faster, and their care team can administer care and prepare them for discharge. 

Improved emergency preparation: In emergencies where every second counts, CC&C software makes a huge difference. EMS staff can communicate with hospital staff to prepare for a critical patient, such as rallying nurses and surgeons to ensure all accommodations are ready before the patient arrives.

Software Related to Clinical Communication and Collaboration Software

Related solutions that can be used together with clinical communication and collaboration software include:

HIPAA compliant messaging software: While HIPAA-compliant messaging is a standard component of CC&C software, some standalone solutions exist for healthcare organizations that only need a secure communication platform. These solutions usually focus more on enabling communication between providers and patients. If healthcare systems use a separate messaging tool for patient communication, then CC&C software will integrate with that solution to track patient data gathered from those messages.

EHR software: CC&C platforms now commonly integrate with EHRs to access critical patient information that providers and clinicians need for context. Medical history, insurance information, intake forms, and other documentation ensure the proper treatment is provided. Additionally, any new information generated during a patient care episode can then be entered into the EHR.

Medical staff scheduling software: By integrating with scheduling systems, CC&C software allows users to access on-call schedules, identify appropriate staff for concerns or escalations, and assign staff to patients. Particularly in home health, caregivers rely on integration with scheduling to improve their clinical workflows and promote a better patient experience.

Medical lab software: Lab technicians and pathologists can receive orders from CC&C software in their lab system, which streamlines the delivery of results. Clinicians can also communicate more quickly with lab staff to interpret results and determine the best course of action.