In February 2009, the HITECH Act was signed into existence by President Barack Obama as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. The act continues to provide $27 billion in the form of financial incentives meant to increase the use of digital records.
Since then establishing BYOD in medical care facilities and offices has become an increasingly more popular option. Bring your own device, also known as BYOD, comes with many positive attributes. Office staff are allowed the freedom to individualize their smart phone or tablet to custom fit the demands of both vocation and lifestyle. The implementation of these devices overall decreases the use of and dependance on paper files and increases efficiency. Many users of BYOD phones and tablets say that they are able to find an extra half an hour of productivity simply by being able to process information on the go.
There are just a handful of hurdles that must be crossed before a healthcare office can take part in database virtualization.
While there are many undeniable plusses to the implantation mobile healthcare technology, there are just as many caveats. These caveats come in the form of security threats. These security hazards include: BYOD theft or loss, improper disposal, and the interception of confidential medical transmissions. Not only are there the threats from malware, and human error, which play antagonist to all electronic data, there are also federal regulations on the transmission of healthcare information. These federal regulations come under the umbrella act known as the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, regulates the use of Protected Health Information, or PHI. This act entitles health clearinghouses, employer sponsored health plans, health insurers and health care practitioners to engaged in controlled exchanges concerning and with patients. Thereby, HIPAA both allows and regulates BYOD activities.
The high-tech term for this synergy between security and usability is Health 2.0. Health 2.0 is the electronic infrastructure that promotes collaboration between medical professionals and the dissemination of information to patients, their health care practitioners, and other interested professionals.
Within healthcare 2.0 resides the necessary security of HIPAA compliant email encryption. HIPAA compliant email encryption works much like any other wireless protection, but with the added security that is mandated by the regulatory law. However, not all secure messaging services are created equal. When seeking an email protection service, be certain that it will operated under the rigors of your business. Can it protect multiple accounts, under what stress and against what are all great questions to have answered. Furthermore, HIPAA compliant email encryption may not cover other means of messaging.
Secure text messaging for healthcare and healthcare mobile apps can both help ensure the security of medical documents, and ultimately the business of patents and clients. With these protections subscribed to, HIPAA compliant messaging will be a worry of the past.
Helpful research also found here.