Taking the Hippocratic oath binds doctors to their patients, promising to protect them and offer them the finest medical treatment possible in the name of many gods.
Taking the Hippocratic oath, doctors also promise to keep their patients’ sensitive information confidential. The number of HIPAA violations would be greatly reduced if everyone abided by this oath. It appears that this is not the case.
Since doctors and their patients communicate via a variety of channels, it’s not uncommon to consider how any of these channels can violate HIPAA regulations. Is it possible that calling your doctor to ask about an upcoming visit is a cause for concern?
Use of Texting in the United States
Texting has become one of the fastest and most efficient methods of communication. “Daily Mobile phone activity is dominated by messaging above other apps and activities,” Text Marketing Statistics reports.
It’s not a matter of whether your patients or you can’t receive each other’s texts. Because of its many advantages, texting has become a choice for medical professionals such as doctors and nurses.
Texting has many advantages
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has been declared, it is urged that people stay at home to prevent its spread and to keep themselves safe. People are more concerned than ever before about the state of their health.
If you’ve never had to go to the doctor for anything, it could seem like a big chore now. You can receive their perspective on whether or not you need an in-person appointment by texting your doctor between appointments.
Should you need to make an appointment, texting will allow you to interact with your doctor or their staff easier regarding the timetable. Should you need to unexpectedly postpone, letting them know will merely be a matter of seconds with a text.
If you are able to make it, your doctor can let you know exactly what time they will be able to accommodate you, allowing you to make the most out of your own time to judge how long your travel will be and not subjecting you to leave too early only to remain in a waiting room until it is your turn.
If your doctor or their staff needs to remind you of anything, like taking your prescription or exercising, they can use texting to do so. In the instance that you do, it permits them to re-engage you when you would have possibly done otherwise.
Why would texting be considered a HIPAA violation when it has so many advantages? No two text messages or messaging apps are the same.
Many times when we think about texts, the default texting app installed on our phones comes to mind. Other than them, many people make use of messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and the like.
Sadly, all of these come under the category of “unsecure communication routes.” Why? Because the “Minimum Necessary Standard” is not being met by them. The HIPAA Privacy Rule defines this criterion.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
The following are the specifications:
- A unique username and PIN are required for those who have been granted permission to communicate protected health information (PHI).
- Text messages containing personal health information (PHI) must be monitored and their senders held accountable through the implementation of a centralized system.
- As a result, all data sent outside an organization’s firewall must be encoded such that it cannot be deciphered if intercepted.
This means that anyone who gains access to your phone can read your messages and obtain your protected health information (PHI). This is not the case with the popular messaging applications described previously.
If these baseline standards are not met, texting is in violation of HIPAA whenever a PHI-encrypted message is conveyed through text message. As personal mobile phones or smartphones become more common in many medical practices, this could pose a problem.
Violations of HIPAA
HIPAA infractions can appear inconsequential at first glance. When stories about Walgreen’s pharmacists and their husbands’ ex-girlfriends become the buzz of the town, it almost seems like a joke.
However, the seriousness of these infractions is not immediately apparent. It was brought up by the victim’s lawyer in this HIPAA violation that having your personal health information out in the open can be embarrassing.
When it comes to medical conditions, you may choose to keep them to yourself until you feel more comfortable discussing them.
However, in this instance, a patient’s discomfort may be so great that they decide to forego therapy, which could worsen their condition.
The most common HIPAA violations include phishing and data breaches of healthcare records. This gives criminals access to sensitive personal data, which they can then use for a variety of unscrupulous purposes.
With all of this in mind, texting between patients and their doctors may seem overwhelming or problematic. There’s no reason why this can’t be avoided.
If you want to keep your PHI safe while still getting the convenience of texting, there are many alternatives to HIPAA-compliant communication. Keep in mind that the purpose of these channels is to better serve patients, not to harm them.
In addition to the dangers to their physical and emotional well-being, you also run the risk of compromising the confidentiality of your personal data.
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