Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights eased HIPAA’s privacy compliance requirements for health-care providers using telehealth platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. This announcement, coupled with increased reimbursement opportunity for offering telehealth services, makes a pretty compelling case for diving into new technology.
But just because you can skimp on HIPAA compliance, doesn’t mean it is wise or necessary.
Ostensibly, the goal in easing rules around patient privacy is to open up more platforms in which to perform virtual visits. As a result, practices are using everything from workplace meeting software to Facetime to facilitate care without incurring additional costs.
We have all read the horror stories detailing recent security issues with open meeting platforms, even if the link is only shared by a few. The very thing that makes this public software so appealing – everyone can download and access with a valid link – makes it the most susceptible to a breach.
This risk for compromised privacy was the impetus behind the development of Talk With Your Doc.
“We saw that patients and providers were desperate to have continuity of care during this crisis,” said Robin Wiener, President of Get Real Health. “We wanted to do our part to provide an option for providers looking to add telehealth to their care circle.”
In conjunction with our parent company, CPSI, we created a product that connects with patients in a user-friendly, fully HIPAA compliant way. With no training necessary, Talk With Your Doc fits seamlessly in workflow whether an organization is currently using other software or has nothing in place.
“We wanted to make this product so easy and flexible that any practitioner could adopt usage in a day or two,” explains Wiener. “We have been building secure, safe software for over a decade, this was just another in a long line of patient-centered solutions.”
In order to support the medical community sacrificing so much during this pandemic, Talk With Your Doc is available free of charge for the remainder of 2020.
We think that is pretty good news on both ends of the stethoscope.
