Healthcare Listener: A wireless solution to streamline iPad and Apple TV deployments

Using Jamf Pro for their MDM solution to scale their iPadOS and tvOS deployments, healthcare organizations have also incorporated EMR apps, like MyChart Bedside, to engage patients. Across the board, Jamf’s Healthcare Listener workflow has been crucial to secure and scale IT processes through automation as well as improving the patient experience with technology.

How does Healthcare Listener work?

Healthcare Listener is an electronic health record (EHR) integration with Jamf Pro. It can receive messages from an EHR system (e.g. discharge, transfer), and automatically trigger management commands in Jamf Pro (remote wipe, remote lock, and more) for iOS and tvOS devices. To date, Healthcare Listener executes a full device reset, which wipes and re-enrolls iPad and Apple TV devices to an organization's Jamf Pro instance, ensuring that all device data is removed between patients to protect PHI (protected health information) and PII (personally identifiable information).

What’s new in this version?

In the release of Jamf Pro 10.39.0, we've introduced a new Healthcare Listener workflow, called App Refresh, which uninstalls and reinstalls managed apps without requiring a full device reset. App Refresh can provide a faster way to refresh specific app content and prepare a device for the next patient. In-house books deployed to iPad devices are also reinstalled with this workflow. Ultimately, App Refresh ensures that a patient’s notes or highlights within those books are cleared automatically.

What does this look like in action?

Here's a quick glance:

What are the benefits of Healthcare Listener’s App Refresh workflow?

For end users, App Refresh enhances the experience by removing all iOS Setup Assistant prompts that follow a device reset (Language, Region, Wi-Fi) and configures the device beyond the "hello screen" so it is ready for immediate use without any manual set up. For IT Admins, the entire refresh workflow is shortened, the device remains online and managed in Jamf Pro, and the workflow provides device visibility throughout the entire process.

Should health systems fully reset iPad and Apple TV with Healthcare Listener?

Hospitals that wish to provide a “consumer experience” of iPadOS and tvOS to patients at the bedside, should run Jamf’s standard Healthcare Listener workflow. The following iPadOS and tvOS use-cases are not cleared by the App Refresh workflow, and therefore would need to be restricted from use on bedside devices:

• Use of Apple Services, like iCloud and App Store
• Use of Apple default apps, like Safari and Camera
• Use of third-party apps that store user credentials in system keychain, and can persist despite app removal and reinstallation (ex: Facebook, Instagram)