Text Messaging Apps for Hospitals

How do HIPAA Compliant Texting Apps Work?

HIPAA compliant texting apps work by allowing access through a messaging platform to encrypted ePHI maintained on a secure server. The messaging platform has administrative controls to protect the integrity of ePHI, and when authorized users wish to use their apps for texting in compliance with HIPAA they must first authenticate their ID with a unique username and password issued by a system administrator.

Text messaging apps for hospitals mirror text-like interface so that authorized users will find them simple to use and not be tempted to revert to unsecure channels of communication, while the text messages they create are configured to travel only within a defined private network. Message recipients must also validate their identity before being able to read secure messages, reply to them or access any information that may be included in attachments.

Delivery notifications ensure that secure messages are delivered to the correct recipient and, should a mis-click occur, the facility exists on HIPAA compliant texting apps to retract text messages. Administrators can monitor usage of the text messaging apps for hospitals to ensure that all text messaging is HIPAA compliant; and, if a potential breach of ePHI is identified, messages can be deleted remotely or user accounts wiped clear.

The Benefits of Apps for Texting in Compliance with HIPAA

Apps for texting in compliance with HIPAA include many features to comply with industry regulations and safeguard the integrity of ePHI. Some of these features have also been found to provide additional benefits to healthcare organizations.

Medical professionals can receive ePHI “on the go” with secure texting, enabling them to access patient information, x-rays, and lab results, collaborate on a patient´s condition with other medical professionals, diagnose illnesses and arrange for the appropriate treatment.

Nurse-doctor communications are accelerated with secure texting due to automatically generated delivery notifications and read receipts; meaning that medical professionals spend less time playing phone tag and more time attending to their professional duties.

Outside of the hospital environment, apps for texting in compliance with HIPAA enable emergency personnel to accelerate admissions with secure texting, home healthcare workers to escalate patient concerns with secure texting, and pharmacists to fill prescription orders faster.

Telemedicine physicians can receive ePHI on their way to attend to patients and – when the telemedicine physician is attached to more than one medical facility – they can receive all their text messages in one convenient inbox – allowing them to prioritize their workflows and provide healthcare where it is most urgently required.

Considerations when Selecting Text Messaging Apps for Hospitals

Many text messaging apps for hospitals share similar features, but not all are HIPAA compliant or may be suitable for your use case. In order to guide healthcare organizations through the options available for text messaging apps for hospitals, we have produced a white paper – “The Top 10 Considerations when Selecting a Secure Messaging Solution” – which provides advice on evaluating the technical and functional requirements of apps for texting in compliance with HIPAA, and also the vendors of HIPAA compliant texting apps.

One of the essential considerations mentioned in our white paper is that vendors should be able to demonstrate a significant number of customers that are similar to your healthcare organization – both in type and style – and we would like to guide readers to our case studies which illustrate a few of the success stories where our text messaging apps for hospital are already in use.

Our essential guide to selecting text messaging apps for hospitals also touches upon integrating the chosen secure messaging solution with existing corporate directories so that administrators can manage accessibility settings, and in order that authorized users can locate colleagues by name rather than by number – accelerating the flow of information even more, while reducing the risk of a breach of ePHI.

Speak with TigerConnect about HIPAA Compliant Texting Apps

TigerConnect’s apps for texting in compliance with HIPAA have been downloaded in more than 5,000 medical facilities to date, and each month we process more than 150 million secure text messages through our servers.

You are welcome to request a free demo of TigerConnect’s HIPAA compliant texting apps in action to see how our text messaging apps for hospitals can streamline employee workflows, increase productivity and enhance the standard of patient healthcare in your particular healthcare scenario.