When it comes to our health, we want to ensure that our information is kept safe and secure. With the rising popularity of telehealth, more and more healthcare providers are beginning to see the advantages of leveraging this type of platform. Of course, like any in-person healthcare visit, information should remain confidential and secure regardless of the medium we use to access care from our providers.
This is why telehealth platforms use encrypted messaging chats. These chats allow us to send and receive HIPAA protected information without having to worry about the security of our data. In this blog post, we will discuss secure messaging for telehealth platforms and what this means for patients and providers.
What is Encrypted Messaging?
Encrypted messaging is a secure form of communication that provides encryption for a message exchange between users. This type of messaging prevents unauthorized parties from monitoring conversations. The content of the message is protected with a password or key to prevent any other people from seeing it, resulting in much more private and secure communications. This is especially critical for HIPAA compliance, which ensures the privacy of a patient’s health history.
Why is this so important for telehealth platforms and providers? To start, when sharing personal information it is crucial that the data remains confidential. Encrypted messaging helps with this by offering a safeguard against unauthorized use of your healthcare data. This prevents hackers, third parties, or any otherwise unauthorized individuals from accessing your protected health information (PHI). By using an encrypted messaging chat, providers can be sure that their conversations are private and secure with no liabilities at stake.
What is HIPAA Compliance & Why Is It Important for Telehealth Platforms?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a set of federal regulations that protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of PHI (Protected Health Information). These regulations apply to any entity that handles PHI, including healthcare providers, insurers, and business associates. In order to be HIPAA compliant, telehealth platforms must adhere to a strict set of privacy standards when it comes to the exchange of PHI between a patient and provider.
Remaining in compliance with such strict standards in place should be absolutely paramount for telehealth platforms, considering the unpredictable nature of the internet. Data breaches are never out of the realm of possibility, and healthcare data can be extremely valuable to hackers. And if you’ve ever used a telehealth platform, you know that there’s a number of ways to correspond with your provider including via the internet and by SMS. HIPAA compliance sets the standard for PHI communication between the provider and the patient.
Aside from its security benefits, however, secure messaging solutions can ultimately lead to better health outcomes for patients and providers. In fact, according to a study conducted by the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, integrating a secure messaging solution with an EMR reduces the possibility of patient incidents by 27%, and errors in medication by 30%.
SecureVideo’s HIPAA Compliant Messaging Platform
If you’re looking for a telehealth platform with secure messaging baked in, look no further than SecureVideo. Our clinical chat feature is designed to provide a secure way for providers and patients to communicate. Providers can send invites to a chat with a unique access code, setting individual or group chats. Patients with an active video session invite can initiate as well, allowing for a secure channel to ask questions, bring up topics beforehand, or request rescheduling and explain why. For added security, all Clinical Chat messages and files are permanently deleted after 24 hours.
Ready to try out our chat feature? Contact us today to learn more!