HIPAA Text Messaging in the 21st Century

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HIPAA text messaging is a new way for doctors and patients to receive their medical information. This is a new form of record keeping which actually The Netherlands lead the world in electronic records when it comes to medical practices. They have a 99% participation in electronic medical record keeping. HIPAA text messaging is one example of electronic medical record keeping. However, doctors must make sure they have secure text messaging and preferably mobile health applications. Health care providers must come to a conclusion regarding the threat that text messaging poses of Protected Health Information (PHI), and they also must evaluate their mobile HIPAA compliance policy. If they decide this is a good idea then HIPAA text messaging might be the way to go.

The new development of a BYOD (bring-your-own-device) program may save money for health care providers, but it also requires specific planning to comply with the security standards under the 1996 HIPAA. There are threats to the BYOD implementation through HIPAA text messaging. The threats are to PHI and include improper disposal of the device, theft or loss of the device, interception by an unauthorized person, and lack of availability of PHI to people other than the cell phone user.

Secure messaging
is the single most important part of HIPAA text messaging because today there are several ways for people to hack in and get personal information they are looking for. It is very important for doctor’s to be able to quickly share a patient’s medical records through HIPAA text messaging, however secure text messaging for healthcare must come first.