Essential Facts About HIPAA Compliant Communications
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, was enacted during the Clinton administration in the interest of employee health care benefits. HIPPAA is divided into Title I and Title II. Title I aims to protect employees’ health care benefits in the event they lose their jobs, while Title II established regulatory standards pertaining to insurance providers, health insurance plans, employers, and electronic transactions.
When it comes to the secure messaging services and mobile health applications utilized by hospitals, Title II of HIPAA is the most important. This is because the “electronic transactions” outlined in Title II apply to the mobile applications and other electronic communications, such as secure email services and instant messaging.
Despite the privacy standards set forth in Title II of HIPAA, the issues surrounding securing privileged data would exist with our without HIPAA. For instance, organizations outside of the health care industry continually strive after the most advanced mobile communications data solutions. This is particularly the case for entities with BYOD policies.
That being said, secure mobile communication is at least twice as important for health care institutions, because they are responsible for protecting not only their own data, but the personal medical records of their patients. When you factor in the standards governing electronic transactions under HIPAA, the importance of HIPAA compliant emails and text messaging is clear.
By investing in state-of-the-art mobile healthcare solutions, health care providers can rest assured that their patients’ personal records will not be compromised. Whether we’re talking about mobile medical applications, electronic patient records, email, or secure messaging services, today’s most advanced mobile security solutions have it covered.
