CERBA: SMS verification API to provide quick health results

In the context of the covid crisis and the high demand for quick and urgent tests, Cerba wanted to implement the SMS API solution and unique password verification to authenticate its patients before sending their results by SMS. Indeed, Cerba uses RingRing’s SMS API technology to keep its patients informed of urgent medical results such as covid test results.

Challenge: Send quick results to patients during the covid crisis

The challenge faced was the accessibility and ease of sending medical test results to patients. Rather than waiting for the results to be sent by mail or waiting for a call from the doctor, we had to find a fast and secure way!

With COVID, the need for speed has become even more important. Indeed, the PCR test has validity in time. Within 72 hours, some countries require PCR test results. Cerba has a time limit to respect and the results must be sent directly. As the lab takes a few hours to produce the results, they have to be transferred promptly to the patient.

Another challenge was, of course to respect the data privacy of the patients. In order to ensure this, the implementation of one-time password verification via SMS was required to address the two-factor authentication model.

Solution: implementing SMS API

Thanks to RingRing’s SMS API and the two-factor authentication via SMS, the identity of the patient is verified before sending any results. The implementation of this double authentication system secures the whole process.

Moreover, Cerba was missing a dashboard to visualise the correct routing of the SMS and to trace the “path” of the SMS. Thanks to the RingRing SMS API, the results of SMS sending are easily and directly accessible. Cerba can see the deliverability of the sent messages, complete statistics of the SMS sent to the customers and trace the messages in case of any problem. If a patient has blocked a number used by the SMS API, Cerba will be able to see that the message did not reach the recipient via this dashboard and intervene accordingly.

Advantages of SMS API verification

The advantage of the SMS API and one-time password implementation is that it is fast and simple.

« The implementation of an API system is a technology that we are also looking for with other partners. We are used to working with that and we can implement it easily and quickly » says Nicolas Archen, Head of IT at Cerba Healthcare.

« As soon as we heard that it was an API, we knew that the integration with our system would go very fast. We decided to work with this tool and in two three clicks, it was live. The documentation is also very clear. » says Nicolas Archen.

With the API message system and the statistics, the reliability of the message sending and the analysis of the results is very high. This is not negligible in the medical field.

This type of solution is especially useful in healthcare. Indeed, as all doctors or labs have different software, it would be necessary to have a product compatible with the thousands of existing software. Thanks to the SMS API and its standard language, any laboratory or doctor can connect via any type of software.

How does it work?

It’s quite simple: first, a patient gets tested. Everything is sent to the laboratory which analyses the sample. Once the results are obtained, they are sent by SMS to the patient. Before giving the results to the patient, the patient receives a security code by SMS to make sure it is the right person. A unique password is generated via SMS API, once the person has validated this code, he/she accesses his/her results. Quick and easy for all parties!

To conclude, the use of an API by a message is easy, fast and integrable with all types of software. Whether in the medical field like Cerba or in other sectors, do not hesitate to optimise your processes and improve the satisfaction of your end-users thanks to a simple API key. Ask our team of experts for more information now!