Ensure Compliance With Secure Texting for Physicians
The conditions under which secure text messaging is HIPAA compliant have changed considerably. “Secure” messaging by healthcare professionals is now only considered secure when the following criteria
have been met:
- Organizations responsible for the integrity of protected health information must introduce a system of secure text messaging which is HIPAA compliant and centrally monitored to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive patient data.
- All sensitive patient data maintained on the messaging system should be encrypted in order that it is “unusable, unreadable or indecipherable” should data be copied from the system without authorization or in the event that the messaging system is hacked into.
- In order for secure text messaging to be HIPAA compliant, authorized users should be unable to store protected health information locally on their personal mobile devices when it is received in a text message or accessed remotely.
Secure texting for physicians allows administration to comply with these criteria and manage staff usage of a familiar and popular feature, text messaging. Secure texting includes features that allow administration to maintain control with audit logs and “message lifespan” to ensure that data does not reside on mobile devices and is deleted after a set period of time. Authorized users access the data within an enclosed network, keeping all data accessed or transmitted encrypted over either an open cell phone network or Wi-Fi. This helps keep all patient data “unusable, unreadable, and indecipherable” to those not allowed in by the administrator.
With features that keep these criteria in mind, healthcare organizations can ensure that secure text messaging is HIPAA compliant and that mobile device usage remains manageable and secure when discussing patient health information.
Owners, who want to use their personal mobile devices to communicate with friends and family, send non-medical text messages or surf the Web, will be able to use their devices as normal – all secure texting by physicians will be transmitted via the encrypted messaging platform which will not interfere with any other of the mobile device´s functions.