A signifcant ruling affecting HIPAA-compliant organizations came down in January 2013. We dive into how this affects your healthcare organization's mobile communications protection of PHI data
The recent HIPAA regulations require that every healthcare provider take the necessary steps to protect the content of the communication provided to the mobile devices. The ability to communicate freely with the encrypted Zipit solution, compared to pagers, or cell phones makes your organization more effective. There is no risk in sending PHI information with the encrypted Zipit solution.
You have complete control of both the device and the application, including the ability to wipe them or lock them remotely as required by HIPAA. What is the risk if a message containing PHI was sent to a pager or cell phone and that device was lost? What would be your liability for that? With the recent ruling, not being proactive in protecting/securing the communication also poses a risk to your organization as a HIPAA violation and basic text messaging has already been ruled out and is not allowed.
