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Survey: Most Healthcare Messaging Systems NOT HIPAA Compliant

Picture of Hannah Ostrem Hannah Ostrem : Dec 03, 2015

Stroke STEMI EMS Coordinators' Corner Healthcare

Survey: Most Healthcare Messaging Systems NOT HIPAA Compliant

A recent survey conducted by Infinite Convergence Solutions shows that the majority of healthcare institutions in the United States are using messaging apps and services that do not meet enterprise-grade standards for HIPAA and security regulations.

According to FierceMobileHealthcare, Infinite Convergence's CEO, Anurag Lal, said "CIOs and IT leaders in healthcare institutions need to make available an official ... messaging platform to their employees which also allows them to implement administrative, physical and technical safeguards that HIPAA requires."

While FierceMobileHealthcare points out that the survey's results may need to be taken with a grain of salt - since some respondents appeared to be in industries other than healthcare - its results showed that 91 percent of employees are using mobile messaging for their jobs several times per week, but the most commonly used applications, including iMessage and Skype, do not follow HIPAA guidelines for secure messaging.

Utilizing messaging applications that do not protect information in a HIPAA-compliant manner could be a major potential lawsuit for healthcare facilities. Lucky for you, Pulsara has your back. You can now send instant messages to anyone on the care team - including EMS - and rest easy knowing that NOTHING is stored on your personal device. Simple, secure, and 100% HIPAA compliant.