Teledermatology Software: Choosing Telehealth for Dermatology

Main Things to Consider When Choosing a Teledermatology Software for Your Practice

1. Usability is Key

Usability is the term used to assess how easy a user interface is to use; the term also refers to methods for improving the ease of use during the design process.¹

Five quality components define usability:

• Learnability: How easy is it for users to complete basic tasks the first time they use the dermatology telehealth software?
  
• Efficiency: Once users are familiar with the design, how quickly can they perform specific tasks?
  
• Memorability: When users return to the teledermatology software after not using it for a while, how fast can they reestablish proficiency?
  
• Errors: How many errors do users make, and how easily can they recover from them?
  
• Satisfaction: Do users have a good experience using the software for teledermatology²?

This is often an area that is overlooked because the creators of dermatology telehealth software are often medical, legal, and technical experts who focus more on their areas of expertise than the user experience.

It is vitally important to get the user experience right. Any telehealth dermatology software will fail if patients and providers find it difficult and inconvenient to use.

Whether it is a mobile teledermatology system, a web-based solution, or a combination of both, user experience is critical.

2. Ensure System Quality

Another key point to take into consideration is if the quality of the technical implementation is sufficient. 

Three critical areas are critical to consider:

• The teledermatology platform should be well-tested. Users might quickly lose motivation when they encounter an error-prone platform. If there are too many interruptions and the system doesn’t work as intended, the user experience will be highly affected.
  
• Patient data should be readily available. All patient data must be readily available since valuable information is shared and may be needed at a later stage for compliance and reimbursement purposes.

• Images captured and stored should be high-quality. If the dermatology telehealth platform captures photos or videos, the clarity and quality of the digital images or video stream are important. Video streams can be problematic due to poor data connections in mobile phone-based teledermatology. 

A bad connection causes video images to be unclear and useless. That being said, an image-based solution helps dermatologists get a better view of a rash or lesion on the skin. 

Fortunately, the cameras of most of today’s smartphones are perfectly suited and meet the requirements in recommended guidelines. A well-designed telehealth software for dermatology enables users to take good photos with the help of computer vision and artificial intelligence.

3. Adhere to Data Privacy Laws

In any health tech solution, data privacy is critical. Data privacy is the right of the individual to know:

• The type of information that is being collected 
• The purpose of the data collection
• Freedom to opt-out from an undesired intrusion of your data

Data privacy regulations ensure the proper and transparent handling, processing, access, storage, and usage of the patients’ private data.

Security and data shielding ensure how data privacy is enforced to secure your privacy and the prevention of unwilling intrusion. 

This includes:

• Storage encryption
• Transport encryption
• Network security
• Identity management and secure authentication
• Access control and audit logs
• Breach response

In the United States, all health-related information is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). 

HIPAA is a federal law enforced in the U.S. that protects sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

In the European Union, patients’ data privacy is protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR.) 

However, it’s important to pay attention to the additional GDPR requirements for sensitive health information. Those requirements may include strict adherence to patient consent and an extra high focus on data shielding and security.

4. Gather Patient Consent

Ensuring a patient’s consent to use their data is essential when collecting data. To do this, the system should explain how and for what purpose the data will be used before processing the information in a teledermatology context.

Patients must give consent to healthcare providers so they use their photos for care delivery.  After patients have given their consent, the information and images can be used for a teledermatology consultation.

5. Coordinate with the Existing Care Team

It is important that all information collected can be saved to the patient’s record, and that it is also available to the existing care team.