Doctor.com on the Future of Healthcare: Patient Perceptions, Preferences, and Adoption of Telemedicine

While the COVID-19 crisis has brought telemedicine into the limelight, 83% of patients expect to use virtual appointments after the pandemic resolves. Learn how patient sentiment toward telemedicine has shifted during this global healthcare emergency and why it will become a critical part of healthcare in a post-COVID world in Doctor.com’s free report on the state of healthcare in the post-COVID world.

Go here to download the full report!

“I knew telemedicine was ‘having a moment’ but I wasn’t anticipating it would affect patient behavior so quickly. Doctor.com’s study really gives you something to think about, especially as we start to reopen our doors.”

About Doctor.com

Doctor.com built their telehealth technology from the ground up to function as a holistic and robust customer experience platform- and not another point solution. Today, they have the only offering in the industry that seamlessly integrates web-wide listings management, reputation insights, universal online scheduling, patient communications and provider data warehousing. These services are enhanced by 50+ integrations with the most prominent healthcare directories, search engines, social media platforms, and EHR/PM systems. As a result, thousands of healthcare organizations of all sizes have been empowered by the Doctor.com platform to enhance their digital presence and credibility, increase patient trust, and grow their business.

Cardlytics State of Spend Report

With insight into 50% of US transactions, Cardlytics is committed to helping marketers understand and respond to current trends that are impacting their industries. They put these purchase insights into action every day through precisely targeted campaigns that drive measurable sales. This report highlights important shifts in consumer spend and tracks early signs of recovery. To isolate the impact of COVID-19, we’re evaluating recent changes in spend compared to the year before.

Click here for the full report

High Retail Discounts May Lead to High Returns

The global pandemic, COVID-19, has greatly affected the U.S. economy, as many businesses are trying to stay afloat and find ways to bring in revenue. The retail industry is one major example.

As many retail stores shut their doors in March, and people all over the country stayed home to quarantine, online shopping began to increase. To compensate for an expected decrease in sales, many brands started offering online sales. Discounts for some retailers are so great, many are comparing it to Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Companies such as Adidas began offering 30% off for their entire site, as well as Levi’s at 40% off. Nordstrom had a sale on clearance items with some pieces marked at an additional 60% off. Shoppers are more likely to impulse buy with discounts so high online.

Another additional perk retailers have added for their customers is extended time to return items. Gap announced any purchase made from January 1 to March 31, 2020 can be returned up until July 1. Sephora extended its typical 30-day return window to 60 days. So while these discounts and larger return windows are great for buyers, they have created a higher risk for loss for the retailers.

Americans returned about $400 billion in merchandise in 2018, with Optoro estimating $100 billion worth of returned goods in the US during the last holiday season. Online returns are 25% of gross US retail sales, while traditional store returns are 9 percent, according to Forrester.

During normal times, according to Forrester, shoppers return around 40% of what they buy online. Sucharita Kodali, a Forrester retail analyst, says retailers can incur up to $10 per item from online orders.

“We are thinking of COVID as another Black Friday for returns — after the market opens,” says Eduardo Vilar, founder and CEO of Returnly.

It is likely that many shoppers will feel a bit hesitant to shop inside stores once restrictions are lifted and retail stores reopen, so there may not be a rush in to return. Although, due to the extended return windows, people may want to go out and get their money back.

Additionally, retail stores may face a larger financial loss from returned merchandise than usual due to the virus and the way it spreads. It’s highly likely that many shoppers will not want to buy items that have been handled and returned by other shoppers because the virus can remain on surfaces. For some retail stores, it may be possible to wipe down and sanitize the returned merchandise, but for items such as clothes, it can be more tricky. And although stores may promise items have been sanitized, convincing shoppers that is true, may be tough, which would leave numerous items as waste.

So what’s the solution?

Unfortunately, there is not yet one. Much like how many researchers were unaware of the extent to which this pandemic would affect enterprise before it hit, there is little data to show what will happen when restrictions lessen and the country begins to resume normal activities. Retailers are bracing for the impact of returns, but hoping their sales will even out in the coming months. People may just want any excuse to go out when the restrictions are lifted!

Sustainability & Public Good Are Key to Your Brand’s Strategy in the Post-COVID World

The pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities across all industries and forced leaders to re-evaluate the systems they’ve long had in place. Some of the most pertinent issues that have been revealed are the inequities in our healthcare system, the problematic nature of the U.S.’s supply chain across all verticals, and the essential shift to an increasingly virtualized workforce and society. At the individual level, it’s shown an esoteric “bigger picture” and revealed to us what a global disaster looks like.

Back in February, COVID-19 felt like a very distant problem to the U.S. The “new normal” didn’t become a reality until it was too late – national lockdown measures were enforced in late March, but there were already over 189,000 COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as of March 31st. The destructive impact of our delayed response draws an eerie parallel to an issue that’s been left open-ended for decades: climate change.

Scientists have shown that the carbon emissions released today are programming a 2-5 metre sea level rise in 2300, and humanity will be forced to make an inland retreat for hundreds of years to come. We’re also pacing toward extreme heatwaves and droughts, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, declining water supplies and reduced agricultural yields. Yet despite knowing all this, society hasn’t made leaps and bounds to prepare humanity for this climate change crisis, and regrettably, we’re only accelerating down this path while imminently putting hundreds of millions of lives at risk. Unlike the virus, the climate change crisis is something that can’t be contained, and the onset effects could last hundreds, if not thousands of years. This all sounds so fatalist that it’s difficult to imagine that it could even be a reality.

Then COVID-19 happened, and we’re now grievously aware of what a global crisis looks like. Overnight, we were forced to substantially alter our lives for the public good. The government-imposed restrictions that we now refer to as the “new normal” mirrors how we may be forced to respond to a worsening climate change crisis in the coming years. Ironically, an inadvertent effect of these restrictions has led to an 8% drop of global greenhouse gas emissions for 2020, which is the largest drop ever recorded, and Los Angeles has seen its longest stretch of “good” air quality since 1995.

The silver lining we can glean from these times is that we have the unique opportunity to replan and structure for a better future. In a post-COVID world, consumers are going to pay closer attention to what companies are doing for the public good.

Julia Wilson, VP of Global Responsibility & Sustainability at Neilsen tells MarketingDive, “Rarely is there one cause that resonates so deeply with so many people at once […] Brands do have an opportunity here to pivot with purpose and to show how they’re showing up … in their communities and for their consumers.”

This coincides with Accenture’s study showing that consumers are planning to change their purchase behavior for the long term – their survey found that 45% of consumers said they’re making more sustainable choices when shopping and will likely continue to do so.

Accenture’s Managing Director and Head of Global Consumer Goods adds to this, “While we have been seeing these trends for some time, what’s surprising is the scale and pace — compressing into a matter of weeks changes that would likely have taken years. The new consumer behavior and consumption is expected to outlast the pandemic, stretching far beyond 18 months and possibly for much of the current decade. […] The pandemic is likely to produce a more sustainable, healthier era of consumption over the next 10 years, making consumers think more about balancing what they buy and how they spend their time with global issues of sustainability — suggesting a healthier human habitation of the planet.”

You can’t remove COVID-19’s context from our lives, and for that reason, “going back to normal” isn’t a reality. During this crisis, we’ve been a witness to businesses changing their model overnight for the public good. Consumers have seen how vulnerable the world is, and this will dramatically shift their values and behaviors post-pandemic. A value proposition for what a company is doing for this greater good will become a necessity for survival, and many are already taking this in stride.

Unilever’s CEO Alan Jope recently spoke about their Sustainability Living Plan, which is the company’s strategy for minimizing their eco-footprint and reducing their use of virgin plastics by half in 2025. Jope claims, “The pressures on the planet are getting worse, and social inequality has reached a critical point, being made even more severe by the devastating pandemic we’re living through. […] These issues are just as urgent as they were before Covid-19 struck, and—like Covid-19—they will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable. The climate crisis risks adding hundreds of millions more.”

The fashion industry has long been set in their ways, but they’re now forced to restructure their processes. BCG’s research finds that 86% of more than 500 manufacturers surveyed have been severely impacted by canceled or suspended orders and 40% are struggling to pay employees and their suppliers. Now that the fashion industry’s supply chain is brought to a standstill, it’s allowed for industry leaders to re-evaluate their sourcing strategies. Dr. Hakan Karaosman, fashion supply chain and sustainability expert at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe claims that lean, simple, and transparent supply chains are proving the most resilient during this crisis, and brands are likely to favor this strategy as they emerge from this crisis.

Even as CPG companies are fighting for survival, sustainability is proving to be all the more relevant today. Just a matter of weeks ago, H&M Group, Microsoft, Lego, Neste, Ikea & Unilever signed the European alliance for a Green Recovery. The appeal is set to “fight against climate change at the heart of the economic strategy to contribute to the rapid recovery of European economies and societies.”

Peter Vanacker, President and CEO of Neste speaks to this, “The coronavirus pandemic is causing unforeseen consequences to people’s health and the economy. While it is important to tackle the coronavirus, we also need to look for ways to help rebuild the world after the crisis. When we plan our path to that world, we have an opportunity to build a sustainable and resilient economy and society. Now is the time to design that vision,”

For good and bad, COVID-19 has shown us what’s possible in times of tragedy. Psychology Today brought to light Paul Romer’s points on what happens in a crisis, and it hits the nail on the head during these times:

Resources become available
Priorities are clear
Rigid rules and regulations suddenly become pliable
Leaders pay attention and are pliable
Change, even far-reaching change, is possible

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. ”

Over the last decade, sustainability has become a high-growth sector, but it will ultimately become a necessity for survival in the economic and environmental climate we’ll find ourselves in over the coming years. As COVID-19 has brought a life-altering global crisis into reality, consumers will start to value public good, preparedness, and sustainability in a more meaningful way. In light of this, we can expect to see efforts for sustainability expedited in the near future. It’s the companies that understand and invest in this shift early-on that will be the ones that thrive not only in the short-term post-COVID world, but in the long-term direction our society is moving towards.

Calculate Your Personal Volume: The Powerful Geometry of Social Distancing

As originally published by David Sable on Linkedin.

Social Distancing is the dichotomy of our times. It comprises two competing and polar opposite concepts—one existential: social, the DNA-driven need we have as human beings to connect, to see each other face to face, to break bread, share a coffee, to hug. The second is a product of our times, and is very physical, immediate, in the moment: distancing. It is the need, in fact, compulsory government mandate, to stay at least six feet apart from each other to limit the spread of the virus.

However, a new dynamic has emerged from this collision of competing needs, which I’ve named the, “Geometry of Social Distancing.” And, like all good geometry, it’s an axiom based on understanding that the insight its driving could be key to successful marketplace recovery.

The Geometry of Social Distancing begins with a point in space: you, for example. We then add another point…say, me. Six feet separates us in a straight line. Simple. Then, we add a friend, and now we have a triangle—6 feet from point to point to point—equidistant ability to communicate and collaborate.

Another person comes along, and we morph into a square. Perfect! Every which way, we are 6 feet apart from person to person. Equidistant. Each able to communicate and collaborate comfortably.

A fifth comes along, and yet another and another, and then? The model falls apart. We are now separated by space that requires yelling across father distances and competing voices for attention, even if point to point, we maintain the same 6 feet. The implications are clear. As long as we are all in a tribal space created by our geometry of sharing, we can continue meaningful social interaction and powerful collaboration. Grow beyond the four, and we start to fail.

Just think about your ZOOM interactions. As much as we love how efficient it is and how well we use it (sort of), when the crowd gets larger than four, and the boxes of participants get smaller and pushed back, the multiple voices become a cacophony, before we are all inevitably muted by the host. And at that point, we all just listen, rather than contribute or speak. It works yes, but it has its limitations.

The Geometry of Social Distancing is a critical lesson and provides meaningful insight as we struggle to imagine what comes next. We will be left with two competing needs, and even as we contemplate an end—or at least a loosening of the restrictions—the impact of the past couple of months will continue to influence our everyday interactions in many profound ways as we consider returning to to local stores, getting a haircut or manicure, eating in a restaurant, attending a concert or seeing a movie or play, or even playing in a park.

Think about your work team size, your meeting size, your physical office layouts. Reimagine your restaurant space and store aisles for shopping and checkout. Public transportation; sports; leagues and on and on.

Contemplate what defines friendship, and who was alone and who was lonely.

In an unattributed quote I read: “Draw a circle around yourself – invite people in or keep them out. We are the creators of our social geometry. Calculate your volume.”

In contemplating traditional geometry, Leonardo da Vinci proffered something rather profound. Listen:

“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else”

The Geometry of Social Distancing has created a new axiom of opportunity. My hope is that we leverage it for a new and more meaningful way to make our humanity core to all that we do.

Calculate your volume. We are all connected.

The Advisory Board COVID-19 Virtual Panel Series: Episode 2

The second episode of our Virtual Panel Series is here, and our Advisory Board members have their eyes on the “next normal”. In this week’s episode, our panelists uncover how leaders in healthcare, marketing & cybersecurity will need to pivot their digital transformation strategy in the midst of COVID-19. Our marketing expert Connie Weaver pointed out that understanding your customer has never been so crucial – the ways you targeted audiences may not be relevant anymore, which ultimately means your brand’s messaging will need to fit today’s “next normal” consumer. And with digital media consumption being at an all-time high, it’s all the more imperative that companies have a strong digital presence. Our healthcare expert Samir Batra acknowledged that because of this influx in traffic, there’s so much added pressure on these systems, especially on security.

One of the most pertinent shifts to digital we’re seeing is that of healthcare, Vince Campitelli adds, “Necessity is the motherhood to invention. There’s going to be a boom in telehealth. When objectives were 5 years out, they are now 6 months to a year.”

Listen to our podcast episode here, or check out the video below.

The panel then delves into how sales and security are going to change across industries, and what this means for the “next normal”. In the midst of this disruption, it’s so important for sales and marketing teams to work in synergy. Our marketing expert Cynthia Johnson speaks to this, “Marketing needs to support the sales team. They need to use them as a branding strategy. Salespeople also need to push marketing in certain directions as well.” As for the security side of things, Vince claims, “The people who were in the background have now become the leaders and they have been asked to do something they haven’t ever done. It’s always been there, now it’s just in the spotlight.”

The “Next Normal” Panel

Moderator Samir Batra: Healthcare expert. Founder & CEO of BAHA Enterprises, and healthcare leader with over 17 years of experience with 500+ Providers and Healthcare Organizations and 40+ Health Systems. Mobile healthcare solution innovator revolutionizing communication and collaboration between providers on iOS and Android application platforms.

Panelist Connie Weaver: Marketing expert. Co-Founder & CEO of Tracker Group, and currently holds over 35 years of executive experience in iconic, cross-industry organizations. Prior to her role as an independent advisor, she served as CMO of TIAA, The Hartford Financial Services, BearingPoint, and AT&T—transfqorming brands and customer engagement strategies, advancing digital and data-driven capabilities, and building world-class marketing teams.

Panelist Cynthia Johnson: Marketing expert. Cynthia is an entrepreneur, marketing professional, author and keynote speaker. She is Co-Founder and CEO at Bell + Ivy, a digital marketing and personal branding agency in Santa Monica, CA. She is Founder at CynthiaLIVE, and Co-Founder at PINCH, Sea Salt. Previously, she was Partner & Director of Marketing for RankLab, a digital marketing agency listed in Inc. Magazine’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies in 2015.

Panelist Vince Campitelli: Cybersecurity expert. Enterprise Security Specialist at Cloud Security Alliance, and leader with over 30 years experience in the evolving business areas of Information Technology Risk, Cybersecurity and Third-Party Risk Management. Created, built and operated Professional Service organizational practices with a focus on information security and IT risk management.

What challenges are you facing as a leader? Comment below any questions or topics you would like to hear our panelists discuss in our next episode!

What is Digital Contact Tracing, and is it Secure? Featuring HackerOne

It’s been estimated that 90% of COVID-related deaths could have been prevented if social distancing efforts were put in place just two-weeks earlier. The statistic is painful to hear, but it reinforces the public’s commitment to getting us on the road to recovery. As we’re starting to see the curve flatten, current modeling has shown that social distancing has significantly curbed the spread of COVID-19. Granted, the battle is long from being over. State lockdowns have been enforced for well over 2 months, and L.A.’s stay-at-home orders have just been extended to July. But digital contact tracing could play a major role in speeding up re-openings and getting us out of the virus’ trenches.

Let’s start with the basics. Contact tracing’s purpose is to identify and isolate potential risks of spreading infectious diseases, and it’s been used in past outbreaks like Ebola, SARS, and various STDs. Contact tracings’ MO is much like detective work – tracers work with patients to piece together a list of all the people they’ve been in contact with during the virus’ incubation period (in this case, it’s 2 weeks). Then, contact tracers notify those individuals of the potential risk and advise that they self-isolate and seek-out testing.

As crucial as this system is, it’s nearly impossible to conduct contact tracing at the mass scale that COVID-19 commands. Each infected person can yield around 40 possible transmissions – that’s 40 calls for every single person infected, and in cities like NYC with over 187k known COVID cases, contact tracing can easily exhaust the states’ resources. Dr. Frank Esper from Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital tells Time, “When you get to a point where there are a lot of people who are sickened with a particular disease, it quickly overwhelms the health departments’ response to be able to contact trace all those individuals.”

As healthcare leaders have pointed out, the traditional method for contact tracing isn’t a perfect solution, especially when it comes to tracking transmissions that can spread as rapidly as COVID-19. It goes without saying, a patient’s recollection doesn’t account for all consequential contacts – a fair amount of interactions can be missed, just think of all the people you have airborne contact with on a daily basis, much less over the span of two weeks. There’s also the possibility of spreading the virus from high-touch surfaces like door handles, ATMs or elevators buttons, and at that point, it’s impossible to contact trace everyone. That’s where the digital side comes into play. Apple and Google control nearly 100% of the worldwide mobile market, which is why they’ve come together in partnership to help provide the tools necessary to develop a digital contact tracing app for the masses. This relies on bluetooth technology to track cellphones, with each individual receiving a unique identifier code tied to their device. Using a bluetooth signal, devices will pick up all the unique identifier codes you’ve been in contact with, and keep a rolling 14-day record of those interactions. If someone has tested positive for the virus, testing centers will import this data on the app’s backend. This will set-off a notification to everyone that has a record of being in contact with that individual, and will provide further details on nearby testing and recommendations for self-isolating during the incubation period. Remember when I mentioned earlier that each virus transmission requires tracers to make around 40 calls to notify those at risk? Think of how much more efficiently and effectively we can combat the problem if this process is condensed to an instant push notification.

Digital contact tracing is entirely anonymous, and if you receive a notification, you won’t know the details of where the possible transmission occurred or who it came from. Having a reliable source for this information would give people the confidence to (safely and responsibly) leave their house again. When you’re living with someone that’s at-risk, being a silent carrier is a constant anxiety, and digital contact tracing could ultimately make these people feel safer.

This could be a turning point in re-opening the country, as research shows that nearly 80% of carriers are asymptotic and are unknowingly spreading the virus to others.

Despite the app being opt-in only, modeling shows that at least 60% of the population will need to participate in order to have a significant impact on flattening the curve. But of course, digital contact tracing comes along with its own troubles, with many raising questions over the privacy and security of this data. Especially when it comes to information related to sensitive and private health records, Americans are rightfully wary of opting-into a system that they don’t entirely trust.

And surveys confirm that Americans are split on the matter. When Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a survey on whether they would download an app for contact tracing, 47% of respondents answered that they would not. Knowing who is in control of the data had a massive impact on survey results, with individuals being twice as likely to download a contact tracing app if it was being managed by a local or state department rather than a private technology company.

We reached out to our partner HackerOne to gain insight into the security of this technology. They’re at the forefront of using ethical hacking in tracing vulnerabilities before they become a problem with their bug bounty program, and they’ve recently made waves with their Hack For Good initiative, giving hackers the ability to donate their bounties to WHO’s COVID-19 relief fund.

EF:

Digital Contact Tracing is said to be ready in the coming weeks. We’ve heard a bit about the uncertainty surrounding the security of this technology, especially as it’s being adopted on such a massive scale. Do you think there’s reason for concern here? Do you expect digital contact tracing apps to prompt a rise in attacks using this technology?

HackerOne:

Data that will be used in contact tracing apps is immensely valuable for threat actors; having PII, location data, and medical data belonging to an individual allows cybercriminals to set up elaborate spear-phishing attacks that will be difficult to distinguish from legitimate medical information.

Now is even more so the time to treat your mobile phone as you would treat a laptop or desktop PC. Always install the latest security patches, use secure passcodes to lock your device, and use a device finder tool to locate and/or wipe your phone after losing it. Also, be careful which apps you install and what permissions you give those apps.

Response from Niels Schweisshelm, Technical Program Manager

EF:

Is bluetooth technology particularly susceptible to vulnerabilities? Walk us through how hackers can leverage this technology for an opportunity to attack.

HackerOne:

All of a sudden, bluetooth might be enabled in every mobile device and the increased usage of the bluetooth protocol will result in more attention from threat actors. This is further exacerbated by the increasing price for bluetooth related exploits on the black market due to the heightened demand.

The bluetooth protocol and its implementations have suffered from critical vulnerabilities in the past (see Blueborne, CVE-2017-0781). These vulnerabilities were exploitable by remote attackers and allowed for arbitrary code execution on the affected Android device. These vulnerabilities have now been fixed, but this does not guarantee that bluetooth and its implementations will be free from future vulnerabilities. One should expect a heavy focus on bluetooth security research in the near future, which will result in the disclosure of similar vulnerabilities. Time will tell if these vulnerabilities are responsibly disclosed to the vendors allowing for a timely fix or end up being used for malicious purposes.

Response from Niels Schweisshelm, Technical Program Manager

EF:

There’s also the issue of trust. Of course, there’s room for the possibility that these systems can abuse the data they collect on Americans. What measures do you think need to be made in order to secure the trust of the public?

HackerOne:

The entire attack surface of these contact tracing applications has to be properly investigated. This should include static source code reviews as well as dynamic application testing to discover any vulnerabilities in e.g. the Web API’s. Ideally, this would be done by multiple parties to ensure a baseline level of security using a crowd-sourced approach.

The potential privacy concerns surrounding these contact tracing solutions should remind governments developing them that the security community will scrutinize these apps more than any app in recent years.

Response from Niels Schweisshelm, Technical Program Manager

EF:

Has HackerOne encountered a rise in cybercrime related to COVID-19 scams?

HackerOne:

Yes, absolutely. However, the vulnerabilities remain the same; it’s the volume and packaging that’s evolving.

Email phishing scams using COVID-19 are on the rise. KnowBe4 recently published its Q1 2020 Top-Clicked Phishing Report, confirming that phishing email attacks related to COVID-19 increased by 600% in the first quarter of the year. In the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre asked for the public to report suspicious emails via a newly launched phishing hotline, and a total of 83 coronavirus related phishing and scam websites were taken down in just a single day. Google reports that it is blocking over 280 million daily COVID-19 spam messages and that it has identified more than 18 million Covid-19 daily malware and phishing emails just in one week alone.

The future of work is changing. As the work-from-home model becomes the norm and work becomes more broadly distributed, more applications, systems, and infrastructures are more vulnerable than ever. With employees working from their own home amidst social distancing orders, device sprawl and phishing attempts have become hot topics of discussion for IT and security teams. It’s easy to become too focused on only what is new with these problems, but really what we need to do is focus on the individual issues (i.e. ransomware, phishing). It’s the same threats with new packaging.

Response from Jon Bottarini, Senior Security Solutions Engineer

EF:

In light of all this, what can individuals do to curb the risk of cyber-attacks?

HackerOne:

Aaron Zander, Head of IT, has the following security tips for all employees working remote right now, emphasizing that basic cyber hygiene practices can go a long way in protecting both employees as well as the corporate network.

Invest in a good password manager. Don’t share logins and passwords unless you absolutely have to. If you have to, then it’s time to invest in a password manager for your team or company. Tools like 1Password make sharing large amounts of secure data easy and help secure your teams even more.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Authentication is the process by which a computer validates the identity of a user (i.e. username and password). Two-factor authentication (2FA) commonly combines a password with a phone-based authentication factor. However, there are shortcomings with 2FA, as hackers can bypass wireless carriers, intercept or redirect SMS codes, and easily compromise credentials. Multi-factor authentication is more secure as it adds an additional layer of protection. Instead of just asking for a username and password, MFA requires additional credentials, such as a code from the user’s smartphone, the answer to a security question, a fingerprint, or facial recognition.

Expect criminals to try and take advantage of the increased distances in our workplaces. Often a lot of the checks and balances around things like financial requests and last minute invites to meetings or other services are done in person. Now that they might happen via email be extra diligent about checking who is sending them. Phishers are going to take advantage of the lack of processes that are in place. If you get a request via email or messaging services, always try and verify outside of the initiated chain of request. For example, if you get a request from your CEO to refund a customer to a new bank account, instead of replying to that thread to confirm, message them in a new email, or via a different medium (call/instant messaging, etc) to verify the request. For large transactions, always have another person on your team double-check the request and your work as well for safety. It’s rare that an extra hour will make a difference in the case of a WeTransfer, but the consequences of moving too quickly can be felt for a long time.

Be even more paranoid of phishing and other scams. If something looks suspicious, don’t click or act on it. Email scams related to COVID-19 are already on the rise, and the U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that they have fallen victim to a cyber-attack that involved a COVID-19 misinformation campaign that quickly spread via text, email, and social media. In general, never share personal or financial information via email if you weren’t expecting it. If you get such a request, it’s best to call or video conference the individual directly to confirm.

Stay at home. If you can, work from home, not from a coffee shop, to reduce the chances of (corporate) espionage. It’s preferable to leave the laptop at home (locked) and go out for a break and then return. If you really need to go to the coffee shop, then use a private VPN for any untrusted network or location, like encrypt.me. VPNs aren’t the end-all-be-all for security though.

Disconnect from the company’s VPN when not in use. Leaving your connections open can increase the likelihood that if you’re breached, that extends past your machine and into your corporate network. Also in a time where many more people are connecting via these services, it’ll give your infrastructure team a little more room to breathe.

Secure your home router. It is essential to ensure your home wifi router has a strong password and is up to date. Search the name of your router, and the words “breach” or “security issue” and see if yours is on the list. Most of these can be fixed by doing a simple software update. If your network equipment is no longer being updated by the manufacturer, chances of vulnerabilities increase over time. It is also important to use a strong password. Make sure you’ve modified the default administrator password on your router and other network equipment. Ensure your wireless networks are using WPA2 security or higher. And, separate guest devices onto a separate wireless network isolated from your personal devices if you can.

Don’t use your personal laptop or desktop. Don’t fall prey to the habit of using your personal machine for work. It’s inherently less secure than your work machine. Also, if you install extra tools for work to your home laptop, who knows what access you’re giving to your company. It’s safer to keep them separate.

Avoid installing new apps without permission from IT. Some apps may be harmless, but inviting more apps to your device can raise cause for concern. Employees working from home may create or take into use new software tools and services that won’t be as thoroughly tested and protected as the tools they normally use, posing a great risk for the corporate network.

Don’t mix personal and work-related internet browsing. If you use Chrome, use a personal profile for personal browsing, and a work profile for work browsing. At home, it’s a lot easier to sink into mixing work and personal browning.

Stay connected online. Connect with your co-workers often to help feel like you’re still connected to each other. Security is often tied to visibility, staying connected helps keep you and them visible.

HACK FOR GOOD

Hacking is here for good, for the good of all of us. More Fortune 500 and Forbes Global 1,000 companies trust HackerOne to test and secure the applications they depend on to run their business.

Go here to learn more >>

The Post-COVID World: Remote Work & The Six-Foot Office

The work environment over the last decade quite literally, broke walls. In the 2010’s, office spaces started to emulate modern designs brought forth by Silicon Valley tech companies. Open floor plans were sought out to remove barriers between departments, co-working spaces became the norm, and office supplies became a bit more nuanced – we started to see a lot more beer on tap and ping pong in the office.

Then COVID-19 hit. And 62% of Americans have been working from home in their virtual cubicles ever since. As we’ve been in a national lockdown for over two months, the conversation has shifted toward re-opening, and what the post-COVID world is going to look like. There’s two things we can expect to see in the long-term: a large portion of the workforce pivoting towards remote work, and a huge shift in the workplace’s design & functionality.

The workforce is going to become increasingly virtualized, which isn’t by any means a new trend. In surveys conducted prior to COVID, 80% of employees wanted some degree of work from home, and 36% were willing to take a pay cut in exchange for that flexibility. Many organizations have embraced this shift because of the significant cost savings – thanks to their remote work strategy, IBM saved $50 million on real estate costs and McKesson saved $2 million a year. Other studies show it can save $10,000 per year on every employee that makes the shift to remote. Ultimately, it’s a win-win for employers and employees alike, which is why change in the work structure has grown so dramatically in the years prior to COVID – it grew by 91% in the last 10 years, and 44% in just the last 5 years. Look at it this way, we’ve been aware of many of these pertinent shifts brought on by COVID-19 for a long time, and the pivot towards virtual work isn’t the only one. COVID-19 has ripped off the metaphorical bandaid, and we’re now forced to address many issues that will allow for us to become better equipped for the future ahead of us.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that remote work, in some capacity, will be a large part of the workforce forever. Global Workplace Analysis estimated that between 25-30% of the workforce will be working remotely by 2021. But in the future, we can expect to see more structure to the system, like better safeguards for cybersecurity, a lot more development in video communication tools and there’s already an increase in companies monitoring productivity by measuring activity logs or keystrokes.

But on-site work won’t become completely eradicated for all office employees. It’s just going to look totally different, and this wouldn’t be the first time an outbreak sparked a change in aesthetics – tuberculosis sanatoriums are said to have influenced much of the minimalist and modern design we see today, and the industrial revolution brought us improvements in indoor and outdoor plumbing in an effort to minimize cholera and typhoid outbreaks. In a strange way, it’s comforting to know that we’ve been here before – we’ve adapted in the past, and we’re surely going to continue to adapt in the midst of this crisis.

Commercial real estate giant Cushman and Wakefield offered a glimpse into what the future workplace might look like with the design concept, “The 6 Feet Office”. This COVID-conscious office concept featured contact-less elevators, 6-foot floor markers, one-way corridors, temperature checkpoints, replaceable desk pads, and a lot of plexiglass. They’re currently implementing these features with their clients in China, where they’ve helped over a million workers get back to the office.

Despina Katsikakis, Head of Occupier Business Performance at Cushman & Wakefield added, “Improved air filtration is probably the single most important lesson learned from China.” Especially given the nature of COVID’s spread, as the virus can travel through the air in respiratory micro-droplets, we can expect to see a new standard for indoor air quality. This is actually something that was foreseen in China several years ago. High-end air filtration systems are already the norm in many office buildings and the country has indoor air certification safety standards – this largely contributed to China’s ability to quickly get their workforce back into the office. Improved indoor air quality standards in the U.S. are long overdue, with pre-COVID research showing that CO2 levels in many office buildings were high enough to impair human health and showed signs of significantly impacting workers’ cognitive functions.

This post-COVID world is going to be mindful of limiting the spread of all infectious diseases, not just COVID-19. 80% of infectious diseases transmitted through touching a contaminated surface, so you can also expect to see an emphasis on contactless pathways in the coming years – like using your smartphone to call down an elevator or get a coffee, and motion-sensored doors inside and outside the office. Ultimately, we’re going to see limiting the spread of germs influence functionality and design in products and spaces in the ongoing future.

Ironically, these critical changes brought about by COVID-19 aren’t just today’s news – many of these topics and issues have been front of mind for several years, leaders just weren’t aware that these systems would need to be built overnight. We’re in the midst of something truly beyond ourselves. It’s somber, nerve-wracking, and we don’t have all the data yet. But I think that the lessons we’ve learned during COVID-19 have shown us something within a realm of possibilities that we never want to see again. The systems we put in place today have the profound ability to save lives down the line for generations to come, so as we trudge through these challenges, let’s make that our silver lining.

InstaMed’s Annual Report & Webinar on Trends in Healthcare Payments

InstaMed’s Annual Trends Report

Get access to exclusive healthcare insights. InstaMed’s Trends in Healthcare Payments Tenth Annual Report is now available for download. The report features trends in healthcare payments that impact industry stakeholders: consumers, providers, and payers. The trends reveal a preference for digital payment options in healthcare, especially for consumers. This demand is set to grow as COVID-19 and social distancing emphasize the limitations of tools that require manual intervention.

Join the Webinar: What Ten Years of Trends Can Tell Us About a Post COVID-19 World

The Webinar is taking place on Thursday, May 14 at 12:00 PM ET. Go here to RSVP!

This report revealed that a high percentage of all stakeholders, especially consumers, are looking for a digital healthcare payments experience. The impact of COVID-19 and long-term precautions around human, manual interactions stand to put even more pressure around these demands.

In this webinar, InstaMed is going to take a deep-dive into all of 2019’s trends and explore how payment interactions between payers, providers and consumers will continue to shift to digital in a post COVID-19 world.

Meet Today’s Healthcare Consumers

Since the first report was published in 2011, the report has tracked the downward trend in the amount payers covered for medical services and a growing portion due to the consumer. In the latest report, consumers owe more for medical services and health plan premiums, and demand for advanced payment technology is growing, too. The data also tells us that demographics, including gender and age, can exacerbate the impacts on individual consumers.

The Pain of Outdated Collections for Providers

Over the years, providers have faced mounting collection challenges with the same tools and processes as they did a decade ago. Paper-based and manual collections clog provider collections that cannot keep up with the changes in consumer payment responsibility. The lack of progress affects provider revenue and loyalty among patients. Digital tools that rely on automated and electronic channels improve payment assurance for providers and meet consumer digital demand for a better overall outlook for provider organizations.

Challenging the Way Payers Do Business

Payers have been thrust into the spotlight in recent years as the healthcare industry looks for ways to manage the growing payments market. Competition from inside and outside the industry has grown fierce with large health systems and tech giants looking for a share of the health plan market. Payers must prioritize the payment experience for members with multiple digital touchpoints to maintain their position in the market. A focus on electronic transactions for providers and payment security is also necessary for the future of payer organizations.

Trends in Healthcare Payments Through the Years

For the past decade, the Trends in Healthcare Payments Annual Report has been published for the purpose of objectively educating the market and promoting awareness, change, and greater efficiency. These trends highlight quantitative data derived from the InstaMed Network and feature qualitative, proprietary, independently gathered survey data from consumers, providers, and payers nationwide. Trusted third party sources are also used to analyze the market from the perspective of all stakeholders – consumers, providers, and payers.

Our Advisory Board’s COVID-19 Virtual Panel Series: Episode 1

Our Virtual Panel Series is here! Over the coming weeks, our industry experts will weigh-in on the evolving challenges that executives are facing amid COVID-19, and together, we’ll create a virtual think tank to tackle these obstacles. This week, our Advisory Board members are covering how COVID-19 has specifically impacted Healthcare, Marketing & Cybersecurity, and how these issues have become intertwined. As Diana Burley puts it, we’ve had a lot of these issues for a while, we just didn’t know we would have to address them today. And with re-opening looming ahead, our panelists discuss how these industries will move forward, the future of work and automation, how we can find equity in healthcare, along with so much more.

Listen to our podcast episode here, or check out the video below.

Leading Effectively Amid COVID-19 Panel

Moderator Pierre Vigilance: Healthcare expert. Founder of HealthUp, Podcast Host of Junctional Thinking & Professor at GW’s Health Policy & Management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Pierre Vigilance is a systems-thinker with extensive experience in operations management, policy, executive education, and establishing strategic partnerships designed to improve population health outcomes.

Panelist Diana Burley: Cybersecurity expert. Executive Director and Chair of the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P) & Professor of Human & Organizational Learning at GW’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development. Prior to GW, she managed a multi-million dollar computer science education and research portfolio for the US National Science Foundation.

Panelist Steve Facini: Marketing expert. CMO & Managing Director at ondemandCMO & Professor at NYU teaching Business Planning & Media Planning & Buying. Innovator and champion for digital initiatives with 20+ years of financial services and marketing experience.

Panelist Craig Richardville: Healthcare & Technology expert. SVP & CIO at SCL Health. Industry leader with a history of advocating on Capitol Hill with legislative and executive branch leaders to create standards and new norms for health information technology.