Jun 09, 2017
Patient data security should be a top priority for healthcare providers, but it often is overlooked and threatened by budget and resource constraints. A recent Spok survey administered by CHIME found that 95 out of 100 hospital CIOs are concerned about data becoming compromised and 26 percent of CIOs said they are unsure how much protected health information (PHI) is being shared unsecurely.
As electronic health and medical records are the future of healthcare, organizations need a document delivery solution that’s cost-effective, scalable and 100 percent guaranteed secure. By extending existing fax server solutions to the cloud, etherFAX enables healthcare organizations, medical groups, insurance companies and billing operators to securely transport unstructured data while complying with government mandated regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
The survey also found that 88 percent of clinical staff use encrypted email as their top communication method, while 57 percent of physicians stated they are dissatisfied with current communication methods outside of EHRs.
etherFAX knows that having the right communication method in place is imperative to improving healthcare data security, workflow, and patient care. With the etherFAX Secure Exchange Network (SEN), healthcare providers can leverage the etherFAX healthcare ECO system or create their own private fax network in the cloud to deliver a fast and customized patient experience.
etherFAX SEN is the world’s largest fax network, providing military-grade encryption and hybrid cloud technology for 100 percent secure communications. By leveraging the security of fax technology with the scalability of the cloud, fax servers, applications and multi-function devices can utilize etherFAX to deliver high-resolution, full color documents within seconds via SEN. Additionally, healthcare professionals and providers can utilize their National Provider Identifier (NPI) number to securely transmit healthcare-critical data directly with physicians or facilities.
The Spok survey also indicated that many healthcare organizations may be apprehensive to implement new communication technologies and may need assistance with installation and training. Thirty-nine percent of hospital CIOs said that their organizations are “poor or extremely poor” at preparing end users for new technologies.
Offering a simple transition to IP-based infrastructure, the Next Generation Analog-to-etherFAX (A2E) device is ideal for healthcare organizations looking to easily extend their legacy systems to the cloud. Best of all, no training is necessary after implementation. As a plug-and-play device, the Next Generation A2E allows organizations to utilize existing IT infrastructure, while eliminating the cost and maintenance of fax lines. The combination of the Next Generation A2E and etherFAX SEN ensures secure transmissions of unstructured data.
As protecting PHI becomes more complex, healthcare organizations need a reliable, cost-effective transport solution that guarantees data security. With four million connected endpoints in healthcare alone, etherFAX SEN is the secure, HIPAA compliant fax solution healthcare organizations can trust.
Interested in learning how etherFAX can help your healthcare organization improve staff satisfaction, workflow, and patient care? Contact us!