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Empowerment and Security in Healthcare’s Data-Rich Era

30 May 2025
Blog
3 minute read

eClinicalWorks

bot on screen in a hand, with person on the phone representing AI contact center solution, healow Genie

Evolution in healthcare means lots of data

Everyone agrees the healthcare industry is evolving, even if they don’t agree on what that means. Analysts worry about the scope and impact of regulations. Consumers worry about costs. Practices struggle with patient volumes and collecting revenue.

But everyone agrees the volume of data is growing. According to RBC Capital Markets, total healthcare data saw a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36% between 2018 and 2025, outpacing every other sector of the economy — and nine percentage points ahead of the overall rate of growth in the global datasphere.

healow Genie and secure contact center solutions

One challenge that comes with that growth — for both consumers and healthcare practices — is protecting personal health information (PHI) from accidental exposure or ransomware attacks.

healow Genie, a comprehensive, AI-powered contact center solution, is poised to transform patient engagement by giving consumers unprecedented ease of access to the healthcare resources they need. But as it does so, it is keeping a close eye on security.

When data is allowed to flow through many devices — laptops, desktops, iPads, smartphones, smartwatches, and email — that data is potentially at risk. Powerful security solutions must be in place.

Improving access while protecting PHI from risk

healow Genie will mean providers have more effective ways to manage phone calls and inquiries, while patients will benefit by getting faster answers to common questions and 24/7 access to healthcare resources.

As important as those goals are, they must be achieved in ways that are compatible with security and the protection of PHI. The human touch is great, so long as the wrong humans — hackers and their ilk — are kept out of the conversations between patients and their providers.

That’s why healow Genie relies upon Microsoft® Azure® OpenAI in Azure AI Foundry Models. Microsoft recently highlighted its partnership with healow, illustrating how it offers the optimal solution to automating real-time conversations with patients at scale and in a highly secure environment. With Azure’s ISO 27001 and HIPAA compliance capabilities, Genie provides a secure environment for patient interactions and data storage.

“Security is at the top of our list, given this is healthcare and the inherent need to protect patient data,” Rakhee Langer, Vice President of healow, told Microsoft. “Our customers need to have high trust in Genie’s compliance capabilities, and Genie needs to deliver that protection at scale. Azure AI Foundry can move as fast as we do, so providers see the value immediately.”

healow and a secure healthcare IT future

What does the near future of healthcare IT hold? One certainty is that the volume of data will only continue to grow. Another is that pressure to make healthcare resources even more accessible and convenient for patients will also push innovation.

Those realities mean it is more important than ever that healthcare IT providers put security and compliance at the top of their lists of priorities.

Looking ahead, healow is exploring the use of GPT-4o Realtime API audio models from Azure OpenAI to further enhance real-time patient interactions. By incorporating these advanced models, healow aims to deliver even more responsive and accurate patient communications.

“We need multiple services from Azure that work well together for Genie to deliver on its promise,” Bharat Satyanarayan, Vice President of Technology and Quality Assurance at healow, told Microsoft. “The solutions we’re using to build Genie must interact easily, so from the user perspective, the experience is seamless.”

As healow continues to innovate and expand its contact center capabilities, the impact of Genie extends beyond healthcare into other industries. By leveraging Azure’s scalability and security features, healow is empowering companies across various sectors to enhance their contact center operations and provide exceptional customer service.