Encrypted Texting App

Mobile messaging is critical for managing hospital workflows and keeping electronic protected health information (ePHI) confidential. miSecureMessages is an integral part of 1Call’s secure healthcare solutions and functions as a secure messaging platform that is easy to use and meets the strict HIPAA security standards for healthcare organizations.

miSecureMessages is a stand alone app that can also seamlessly integrate with 1Call’s software, or existing hospital technology and electronic medical record (EMR) platforms from other vendors to send secure texts, photos, videos, and audio files. Non-clinical staff can also use the encrypted texting app for maintance requests, improve communication for fast patient room turnover, and in the hospital call center. 

We started looking at all the tools that were available on the market, and there were literally hundreds of them. We created a vendor comparison grid and a team of people to look at all these products. miSecureMessages met all the requirements on our grid.

— Kathy Mealer
IS Manager, West Tennessee Healthcare

miSecureMessages is HIPAA-compliant.

Secure Heathcare Solution

Securing patient information is required by HIPAA and HITECH regulations. Healthcare organizations that use email and SMS consumer apps to send messages about patients risk HIPAA-related fines. Regular SMS or text messages are stored on mobile devices and can be viewed by a third party. The miSecureMessages mobile messaging app was developed for hospitals and clinics and meets security standards for healthcare organizations.

A few safety features include:

  • Fingerprint or face recognition access technology and/or unique passcodes.
  • Messages are not stored on the device.
  • Remote disabling (if device is lost or stolen).
Concept of medical staff coordinating care via mobile messaging.

Mobile Messaging

Healthcare is mobile and message security is paramount for texts that include ePHI. A secure mobile messaging app like miSecureMessages keeps a healthcare organization compliant when sharing information on mobile devices. Benefits include:

  • End-to-end message encryption ensures all communications are secure and protected.
  • Devices can be consolidated through the miSecureMessages app so that all correspondence can be from a smartphone - there’s no need for a pager.
  • The encrypted texting app is simple to use, available for Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Apple Watch, and is customizable.
  • This secure healthcare solution sends massive amounts of data quickly and accurately while keeping you firmly connected through WiFi and 3G/4G networks.
  • A voice-to-text mode (users can speak a message into their device and it automatically converts into text). 
  • Persistent alert settings ensure important messages won’t be missed.
  • A message log keeps track of messaging histories and administrators have access to a full reporting function.
  • miSecureMessages seamlessly integrates with on-call scheduling so you can quickly contact or review on-call staff.

Transcript

Kathy Mealer: My name's Kathy Mealer and I'm the manager of telecommunications in the IT service desk for West Tennessee Healthcare in Jackson, Tennessee. It serves all of West Tennessee. The flagship is a Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. That's a 635-licensed bed facility and serves the 17 county area, and it also has six centers of excellence. And we also have three rural hospitals, small rural hospitals, fifteen sports plus rehab clinics, six cardiology clinics, and fourteen primary care clinics, as well as a mental and behavioral health component. Well I think really the whole journey was driven by the HIPAA requirements, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act for secured messaging. We were using a middleware and not sending messages in a secured fashion, you know, using copy and paste and that sort of thing. So, we needed to kind of reel that in.

And we started looking at all the tools that were available on the market, and there were literally hundreds of them. So, we kind of nailed it down to five and what we thought looked like the five best and the best fit for our organization. And we created a vendor comparison grid. And then we created a team of people to look at all these products. So we went through that whole process and everything that was on our grid Amtelco's miSecureMessages met all those requirements. That's how we selected. We've got 1,200 licensed users today. Two-way communication is always better. Before, they would send the page out, have to wait for the doctor to take time to call them back. And then he'd call back into the operators and they'd have to get him to the right place, so, you know, you could have some serious time delays there. This way we are going straight from nurse to physician, so, you know, anytime you improve that, you can improve patient care at the same time.

We had a lot of support from upper administration, and we had a lot of champion support and that really helped us. And I think really the ones that are using it today seem to like it. And the nurses, they took to it pretty easy. We hope to be part of the big picture. We hope to add modules. We're going to add the Infinity product this year. And hopefully, MergeComm the next. We see a good long future with all of this.

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