Recently, one of our clients, Alec Lynch from DesignCrowd.com got interviewed at Skynews, Australia to talk about what is behind his business. He used Breadnbeyond’s service to create an explainer video that helps people to understand his business.Continue reading
The total global mobile health (mHealth) market is predicted to reach nearly 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. That would be a fivefold increase from around 21 billion dollars in 2016.
Therefore, it is clear that healthcare messaging needs to be HIPAA compliant to ensure that sensitive data like Protected Health Information (PHI) is protected while in transit. In this article, we will explore the best HIPAA-compliant text messaging apps, what some of their key features are, their pricing available, as well as look at how to go about choosing a HIPAA-compliant secure texting app for healthcare.
The 5 best HIPAA compliant messaging apps – A feature-wise comparison
Healthcare apps with messaging features are many, but, here is a list of the best HIPAA-compliant texting apps available today that provide the best support for both patients and doctors alike.
1) OhMD: Transparent and Affordable Pricing
OhMD claims to be the simplest way for healthcare providers and patients to communicate and they are justified in making this claim. With a user base of over 30000 healthcare professionals, they have the numbers to back them up.
OhMD is a HIPAA-compliant platform that provides patient communication, video consults, appointment reminders, and a host of other features. All of this without even needing the patient to download an app!
Their unique two-way communication system allows the patient to access a link right from their text messages that open up a video conference on their browser. Considering all information is secure in a HIPAA-compliant messaging system, this makes it a very good option for both healthcare providers and patients alike.
Some of their features are:
· Over 50 EHR integrations
· Easy User Management
· Appointment Scheduling
· No App needed for patients
OhMD’s plans come at very affordable rates as well. The Basic plan is free to use, and they have two more: Plus (at $7 per user, per month) and Reach (which needs users to reach out to their sales team).
2) TigerConnect: A Comprehensive Solution
Named a Category Leader in 2021 in telemedicine apps, TigerConnect is a comprehensive HIPAA-compliant chat software that can be used across the desktop and as a phone app.
It uses 256-bit AES encryption to send messages. No one may copy, paste, or forward these communications for extra protection. Physical precautions such as biometric measures, backup generators, and cooling systems are included in their data center security features. They’re also SAS 70 Type II certified, and they’re encrypted at rest using AES 256-bit encryption.
According to their website, some of their unique features are:
· They are HITRUST certified
· It allows for one-to-one or group messaging features like chat rooms that are HIPAA compliant.
· Priority messaging feature that puts high-priority messages at the top of the recipients’ inboxes.
· Message recall function
· Secure attachments
TigerConnect’s pricing is available on request.
3) Providertech: Innovative and Making News
Providerteach has been making waves in the secure medical messaging app space. In 2019, they were featured by HOP (Health Outreach Partners) as an innovative outreach practice leveraging technology to create trusting relationships, ensure access to health care, and improve self-management of care for vulnerable populations.
Providertech is also HITRUST certified and their secure, healthcare communication app is not only a HIPAA-compliant messenger but also adheres to the HITRUST CSF Assurance Program requirements for security.
In addition, some features they offer, among others, are:
· Speedy delivery of test results to patients electronically
· Vaccine Management
· Population outreach
· Real-time but HIPAA secure messaging
Providertech’s pricing is available on request.
4) Halo Health: Early player but still relevant
Founded in 2014, Halo Health was one of the first cloud-based HIPAA-compliant chat systems that were implemented. They are hosted by Amazon web services and have continued to bring about improvements by providing avenues to improve clinical collaboration, and communication between patients and healthcare providers and thereby improving patient outcomes.
Their customers range from independent clinics to large healthcare providers looking to automate and streamline their processes without compromising on patient communication and outcomes. Their chat solutions are also HIPAA compliant and they have more than 20000 users on their platform.
Some of their features are:
· It allows for audio and video conferencing
· Has discussion forums available
· Tracks No-Shows for easier scheduling
· Sends out automated appointment reminders
· Their entire platform is HIPAA compliant
· Has the ability to send messages tailored to the recipients for example to doctors vs nurses
Pricing for Halo Health can be obtained by contacting them directly.
5) Spok: Seamless Interoperability
Spok’s main USP is its interoperability. With its ability to integrate with most EHR and clinical systems, it offers seamless integration. In addition, with its HIPAA-compliant chat options, there is a very good reason it makes it to the list of the best apps for HIPAA-compliant text messaging apps.
Some of the features that Spok provides are:
· A full audit trail of messages
· Sent and read receipts of messages
· On-Call Scheduling
· Sharing clinical diagnostic results quickly and efficiently
One of the most unique features that Spok offers is its DPE (Device Preference Engine). This feature enables Spok to match the priority of messages to the preferred device of the user, thereby ensuring that users have access to the highest priority messages earliest. For example, if someone has selected their smartphone as the device they have the most immediate access to, the highest priority messages are sent to their smartphone whereas something that is not so urgent will be sent to their other device to be accessed later. This way, it prevents information overload as well as overcrowding of the preferred device.
Spok’s pricing is also available on getting in touch with them.
How to select a HIPAA-compliant messaging app
While these options are the best available, you might decide to go with another option or need some pointers to select the one that you might want to use for your business. We have put together a few pointers to consider.
– Consider HIPAA compliance messaging app and other security certifications
– Ensure implementation of adequate quality controls
– Assess the list of all features that suit your business
Takeaways:
Covid-19 has made access to healthcare using virtual means even more critical than it was before. In addition, with strained resources, it has become essential to use resources optimally so that healthcare providers can focus on what they do best: taking care of people’s health. Virtual texting apps go a long way in helping this objective. However, considering PHI and other compliance factors around healthcare, it is imperative that not just any solution be used. Instead, using a HIPAA-compliant messaging system will make such interactions not only easier but also secure, adhering to protocols.
So we’ll talk about link pertinence, link diversity, and link authority, and then we’ll talk a little bit about the long-term of link building, how you can think about making it financially viable, and how to make sure that what you’re doing now will work in the future and how to approach that as well.
The important thing to remember here is to consider your target audience for your product or service. Consider what kinds of pages would be useful to them. What kind of content would they be interested in? What kinds of articles would they save online and then go off and try to find? Because once you’ve done that, you’ll have the kind of relevance that’s crucial in this situation.
The next key to relevance is what happens on your website, specifically what kind of content you publish and create that then goes out and gets links.
So, for instance, if you’re Coffee Beans Inc. selling coffee beans online and you create a blog post about the most-searched-for car brands by state, it could be a great piece of content, visual, interactive, and fascinating, and then you get a lot of links to it from several different car sites. However, if those car sites aren’t relevant (which they aren’t to Coffee Beans Incorporated), these links may not be as useful as they could be.
To hire Digital Marketing Services in Delhi professionals will analyse the majority of the content on your website, and the majority of the content to which you then build links, should be as close to what you do as a product or service as possible, and thus relevant to your target audience because doing so yields more than just links. You’re putting your brand in front of the right people, who may become customers in the future.
It’s not a problem if you get a link from the same domain again, and then another link from the same domain over here, giving you two links from the same domain. That’s a good thing to have, especially if the domain is of high quality. At the same time, you must consider obtaining links from a wide range of different domains.
When considering how to build links, try not to limit yourself to a single type of website. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with getting links from the same sites over and over, but make sure you’re broadening your reach as much as possible and getting links from a variety of sites with your content.
Many links may not be as important as links from the main body of a website, where people can see it right away. So, again, nothing to be concerned about, but something to keep in mind when reviewing your link profile. If you have too much of one of these, it may not be a good sign for Google, and you should investigate what’s going on and why.
