Is your virtual care platform compliant and secure?

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is right around the corner, and Rhinogram is proud to join many

organizations throughout the nation in raising cybersecurity awareness. While keeping patient information safe and confidential is something every healthcare stakeholder should keep top of mind all year long, let’s discuss security when it comes to your virtual care technology.

It’s no secret that healthcare has faced many unique challenges over the last few years – from in-person care limitations to staff shortages and physician burnout. In response to these challenges, practices across all specialties saw the need to rapidly adopt new technologies aimed at streamlining staff workflow, relieving administrative burden and limiting in-person interactions. To assist with the widespread rapid adoption, many mandatory compliance protocols became laxed for both telehealth and virtual care services.

In fact, some practices began using anything they could to contact or interact with their patients (FaceTime, texting via their personal cellphone, etc.) – for virtual visits, appointment reminders, prescription refills, and more. While convenient, these non-compliant platforms and other conventional forms of communication have no safeguards implemented to protect PHI – expanding the threat landscape and putting patient data, safety and health at risk.

Security incidents and privacy breaches damage more than a patient’s trust and a practice's reputation. Compromised patient data can lead to providers making care decisions based on inaccurate information.

Can virtual care and texting PHI really be secure and HIPAA-compliant?

In general, telehealth and virtual care platforms don’t pose a risk to healthcare organizations and the patients they serve. However, the accelerated implementation of virtual care technology, without proper research and understanding, does.

The most sustainable long-term solution is to implement a secure, HIPAA-compliant virtual care platform. All Rhinogram users have access to RhinoSecure™, a messaging channel that protects patient information with 256-bit AES encryption. Additionally, with Rhinogram, users can easily track and maintain full patient consent records with built-in features to stay up-to-date and prepared for audits. In just a few clicks, your practice becomes HIPAA-compliant – really!

Find out how Rhinogram will protect your patients and their data by requesting a demo.