Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Your questions about healthcare communication answered here.

 

Do You Schedule More Than On-Call? How About Office Assignments?

We schedule anything and everything that is related to the physician. On-call and office assignments scheduling is exactly what we do! Just no patient scheduling; we have to draw the line somewhere.

What Is TigerConnect Physician Scheduling?

TigerConnect Physician Scheduling is a rules-based online scheduling software platform that translates your providers’ requests and availability into an accurate, easily managed, fair on-call schedule for your physicians.

What is the price of TigerConnect Physician Scheduling?

Pricing is customized to help meet the needs of your organization. If you are looking for an automated scheduling solution or to centralize on-call schedules, contact us for a customized quote.

Do You Have an iPhone and Android Mobile App?

Yes, we have both an iPhone and Android app that providers can download free from the Apple and Google store.

Can You Send My Providers a Text Message Reminder that They Are on Service Before Their Shift Starts?

Yes. You can send unlimited text message reminders to providers for any assignment at any time. Both schedulers and providers can configure this feature.

Can You Automatically Limit the Number of Providers “Off” on a Day?

Yes, our provider request settings editor allows you to limit the number of providers off of any day of the week. You can more specifically choose any day of the year that you want or need to limit as well.

Can You Integrate into Our Clinic’s EMR?

You bet! Put us in contact with your EMR vendor and via our API library, we can find a way for the two systems to communicate. Depending on your contract length this may be billable, check with your account manager.

Our Schedule Is So Complex with All of Our Rules and Unique Things, Do You Really Think You Can Help?

Yes. TigerConnect Physician Scheduling works with very complex specialty medical groups that have very difficult scheduling scenarios. What makes their schedules so complex is the number of physicians, the number of jobs, who has what skill to work what job, and the number of exceptions. Ask us to show you some examples of groups that have over 200 rules.

How Much “Tweaking” Is Left to Do after You Run Your “Auto-Scheduler”?

Well, that depends. First off we have two auto-scheduling engines and each will give you a different set of results. Our goal is that you will have minimal “tweaking” or “changes” when the auto-scheduler has completed its work. Please be aware that there is a direct correlation between the amount of tweaking a scheduler has to do and how many physician resources you have to work with when creating your schedule. Scheduling software will not miraculously solve physician staff shortages.

Is TigerConnect Physician Scheduling for a Medical Group or a Hospital?

TigerConnect Physician Scheduling has tools for both medical groups and hospitals. The tools for a medical group are focused around creating, changing, and communicating the physician work and on-call schedule. The primary focus is on “creating a solid schedule”. The tools for a hospital are around managing, merging, changing, and compliance. A Hospital needs to manage on-call information for every specialty group in the community and create a “daily call roster”. The primary focus for a hospital is information “accuracy” and “availability”. TigerConnect Physician Scheduling has all of the tools for a fully integrated on-call system for an entire community or health care system.

Can I Access My TigerConnect Physician Scheduling “Call Schedule” Anywhere?

Anyone with access to an Internet connection can view the most recent accurate and up-to-date information, whether from a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.

Why Is TigerConnect Physician Scheduling Such a Great Value Compared to Other, More Expensive, Software Solutions?

TigerConnect Physician Scheduling is the best value/investment on the market, giving you powerful scheduling tools without costly features your team doesn’t need or won’t use.

Should I Expect the Set-Up and Onboarding Process to Take Months?

No. With our onboarding experts’ assistance, we’ll get you up and running in as little as three one-hour-sessions, without the need to bring technicians on-site. If you need more time, no worries, you can take as much time as you need. FYI, we also help you create your next schedule during this process.

What If I Need Help with My Complex Scheduling Questions?

We only make scheduling software for healthcare, so our team really are experts and are always available to help. Enjoy unlimited training and support. By experts, we mean people who actually have experience in their field of expertise, not just the fancy title.

Does Scheduling Software Reduce the Risk for My Practice?

Yes. Reduce your Federal EMTALA risk associated with not keeping and maintaining accurate on-call records. TigerConnect Physician Scheduling automatically archives each day’s on-call information as well as detailed information regarding changes to the schedule. Did you know that both physicians and the hospital are eligible for a citation from OMB via CMS if on-call is not managed properly?

Our Schedule Takes an Entire Weekend to Create a Few Times a Year. Can You Help?

Yes. TigerConnect Physician Scheduling transforms the arduous task of creating your clinic or hospital’s physician schedule from a weekend’s worth of manual work to an automated software platform that works for you. Create a month, quarter, or years’ schedule for your doctors in seconds, seriously, seconds!

Our Providers Demand a Fair And Equitable Schedule. Can You Do That?

Yes. TigerConnect Physician Scheduling translates your physicians’ requests and availability into a fair, accurate, and easily managed on-call schedule. TigerConnect Physician Scheduling has a “fairness algorithm” actually built into the software. By default, without any rules or customization, our software will create a fair, balanced, equitable schedule that you can prove via a tally report.

Does Your Platform/Software Play Well with Our Existing Software Such as EMR (Electronic Medical Records)?

Yes. We have a public API that can Integrate your medical staff credentialing system, electronic medical records, single sign-on, or secure text solution into TigerConnect Physician Scheduling with ease. Unlimited customization is available.

Sounds Like an Accurate Schedule Will Make My Team Happy. What About The Patients?

Patient care is at the heart of your organization. That’s why identifying, locating, and paging or texting the right physician the first time makes a difference in situations when every minute matters. Accurate on-call information improves “flow” and “patient care” within an emergency department immediately. Better flow and patient care lead to better outcomes and happier patients.

What Is the TigerConnect Physician Scheduling Managed Scheduling Service?

Creating, maintaining, and sharing your physicians’ schedule takes time, even if you have a great employed scheduler and a sound process in place. Let us do the busy work for you. With our Managed Services, all you do is make the rules and we make it happen, literally. One of our skilled scheduling specialists will create your on-call schedule to your specifications. Now long processes like schedule creation and keeping your practice compliant take minutes, not days. Create a true partnership between our scheduling experts and your medical group.

Can You Assist Me with Creating and Documenting a “Scheduling Process” or Will I Just Learn How to Use the Software During Onboarding/Training?

Our training and onboarding service is very unique in that we spend less time on “how to use” and more time on “how to create, make changes and communicate” your schedule. Our software is very simple to use. What takes the most time is learning how your organization creates physician schedules and teaching our software how to give you the results you are used to. When we are finished, we create a “written documented process” at no charge that you can use each time you create a new schedule. The magic is now documented and easy to follow.

What Is a Microsite?

A TigerConnect Physician Scheduling Microsite is a “mini-website” that contains a link to your physicians’ on-call schedule that does not require a username or password to access. It is a secure hidden website that cannot be found by Google, Bing, or any search engine. It is meant to be used by internal staff, families of providers, or your local Emergency Department or Answering Service so that they can access the call schedule in a “view-only mode” without having to log-in.

What Is a Call Panel?

A Call Panel is another term for a physician on-call schedule. This term is very popular on the West Coast.

What Is a Call Roster?

A Call Roster is another term for a bunch of physician on-call schedules that are combined into a “daily view” that shows which physician is “on-service” or available for a consultation for each medical specialty. In the olden days call rosters were created by hand in the Medical Staff Office, Emergency Department, or Hospital Telecommunication Center each day and then manually distributed to specific areas within the hospital. A paper call roster is at the core of the problem that leads to the wrong physician getting called.

Will TigerConnect Physician Scheduling Work in Another Country?

Yes. We have International customers that use and love TigerConnect Physician Scheduling. We do our best to find common times to work together for training and onboarding.

What if I Don’t See a Feature that I Think Is Important, Will You Develop It?

Yes. We work very hard to both listen and lead when it comes to adding new features to TigerConnect Physician Scheduling. Many of our new features come from current customers or prospects telling us about how much easier it could be if only we did … We actually listen and verify with other customers and prospects and if it will help our customers create, change, or communicate physician schedules better, we place it in the queue for development. Once it is “live” everyone can use it at no extra charge. Rarely do we let programmers and engineers suggest “cool techie features”. Our users have the loudest voice. After all, our software is for you.

How Often Do You Release New Features?

Software such as TigerConnect Physician Scheduling is “living and breathing” and is always in development. Our customers continually see new features or increased functionality on existing features constantly.

What is the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA)?

In 1986, Congress enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. Section 1867 of the Social Security Act imposes specific obligations on Medicare-participating hospitals that offer emergency services to provide a medical screening examination (MSE) when a request is made for examination or treatment for an emergency medical condition (EMC), including active labor, regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. Hospitals are then required to provide stabilizing treatment for patients with EMCs. If a hospital is unable to stabilize a patient within its capability, or if the patient requests, an appropriate transfer should be implemented.

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How Can We Maximize One-to-One Call Scheduling Software Training?

The quickest, easiest way to learn new physician scheduling software is by working one-to-one with an expert. Your “personal trainer” can guide you to be sure everything is covered and can interactively answer questions unique to your situation. There is no need to scour manuals to point you in the right direction for your particular questions. Manuals, videos, and tutorials become handy support materials while working alone and when practicing the new software.

However, even with a trainer, learning new software can be a challenge.

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How Do I Get My TigerConnect Physician Scheduling on My iPhone?

You need only three basic steps to have an iCal subscription feed your personal schedule into your iPhone. The rest is details. 1) Log into TigerConnect Physician Scheduling and Create the iCal link (Whiteboards > iCal export). 2) Email the link to yourself and open the email on your phone. 3) “Quick-click” the link that ends in .ics. You will be presented with an interface that asks “Subscribe to the calendar?” If you hold down too long, you will get other selections that do not relate to subscribing. 4) Select “Subscribe”.

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How do you get your Doctors TigerConnect Physician Scheduling into their Android Phone?

You need only three basic steps to have an iCal subscription feed your personal schedule into your iPhone. The rest is details. 1) Log into TigerConnect Physician Scheduling and Create the iCal link (Whiteboards > iCal export). 2) Email the link to yourself and open the email on your phone. 3) “Quick-click” the link that ends in .ics. You will be presented with an interface that asks “Subscribe to the calendar?” If you hold down too long, you will get other selections that do not relate to subscribing. 4) Select “Subscribe”.

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How do I Change a “Provider” username and password?

Each provider can log into TigerConnect Physician Scheduling and mobile app with a username and password. To add or update a username or password please follow the directions in the “Learn More” link.

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Can TigerConnect really help our organization operate more efficiently and reduce costs?

Yes. TigerConnect provides both standard secure healthcare messaging and a more advanced clinical communication solution capable of integrating with your EHR and other systems. Our custom workflow communications mapping will help you streamline admissions and discharges, improve patient handoffs, and respond to patient needs in real-time, creating significant lifts in both productivity and cost savings.

What is the Healthcare Revenue Cycle?

The Healthcare Revenue Cycle is defined by the Healthcare Financial Management Association as the set of all administrative and clinical functions that contribute to the capture, management, and collection of patient service revenue. The healthcare revenue cycle is a complex process with numerous complicating factors. Some patients have no health insurance and maybe billed directly for services.

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What 3rd-party-applications can be integrated with TigerConnect?

TigerConnect integrates with a range of systems across a broad spectrum of vendors, including:

  • Scheduling System
  • EMR (large organizations only)
  • ADT/Bed Management
  • Critical Lab/Radiology Results
  • Alarm Notifications
  • Nurse Call
  • Pagers
  • Answering Service
  • LDAP / Active Directory
  • Single Sign-On (SSO)

Is there any hardware required to install and implement TigerConnect?

No. One of the major areas in which we excel is the ability to successfully implement our customers. TigerConnect requires very little heavy lifting. Being a SaaS-based solution, there is no server to install and we can have you up and running the same day.

Do you have open APIs that will allow your messaging system to integrate with my EHR and other technology solutions we are using?

Yes. TigerConnect was conceived and architected with an open API to integrate into a wide variety of third-party data systems. As health systems have spent millions of dollars on EHR, PACS, and Lab Results systems, TigerConnect is focused on helping to transmit the information housed in these healthcare systems to workers across the enterprise.

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What Is Interoperability?

What is interoperability? Interoperability brings together different information systems, devices, and applications in the care setting. Interoperability is designed to optimize the health of individuals and populations. Improved health outcomes are the primary goal of interoperability. Interoperability is designed to provide seamless access to the correct information needed to address the health of individuals and populations.

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What is Interoperability in Healthcare?

Interoperability is defined as the ability of different information systems and software communications to exchange data and to use the information that is exchanged for some purpose. In an ideal world, all connected and embedded systems in the healthcare environment would use the same communication protocols and data standards to transmit information to the EHR. In the real world, however, no interoperability standard has been agreed on for devices that collect healthcare data. Certain devices and applications may interface poorly with EHR applications, making the captured data inaccessible to the physicians and patients that would otherwise benefit from it.

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What is EHR Interoperability?

Interoperable electronic health records (EHR) allow the electronic sharing of patient information between different EHR systems and healthcare providers. Healthcare interoperability improves the ease with which doctors provide care to their patients, and can help their patients traverse the healthcare ecosystem.

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Our organization has a no texting policy – why would we need TigerConnect?

TigerConnect uses AES-256/SSL encryption and exercises a number of physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to secure healthcare messaging. In addition, we provide the enterprise a suite of security mechanisms to ensure the highest standards of patient confidentiality and overall data protection with regards to PHI and in accordance with HIPAA and other industry regulations.

Isn’t TigerConnect just a secure text messaging app?

Nope! TigerConnect is much more than just secure text messaging. You can leverage the platform to send images, files, reports, voice messages and much more. You can also access information from other healthcare systems, like your EHR and nurse call.

NOTE: To securely capture and send an image that contains sensitive information such as e-PHI, use the camera icon from within the TigerConnect app itself. Taking a picture with a separate camera app and attaching the image to TigerConnect may NOT be HIPAA-compliant and may leave sensitive information unsecured on your device.

 

How can I access messages from different facilities if I work for more than one practice or hospital?

We understand clinicians can work for several organizations and facilities and can have multiple TigerConnect accounts. Our multiple inbox capacity allows users to access messages from all of their health care organizations using one easy menu within the app.

Can I still receive messages if I have poor connectivity or am logged out of the app?

Yes. Connectivity issues inside buildings can hamper communication and adversely affect patient care. With TigerConnect Delivery Escalation, notifications that are not delivered within 5 minutes will be automatically resent via alternate SMS and email channels to ensure timely delivery.

How will we manage the users being added and removed from TigerConnect’s directory?

TigerConnect integrates with ActiveDirectory, LDAP, and eDirectory, so user management is a simple, automatic process. Users can also be managed manually through the application’s Administration Console.

 

What is Patient Engagement?

Patient engagement is all about physicians, nurses and healthcare providers creating more genuine and collaborative partnerships with their patients to support goals like improving healthcare outcomes, reducing costs and improving patient care.

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What are HCAHPS Scores?

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is a patient satisfaction survey that was developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in collaboration with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) beginning in 2002.

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How Does TigerConnect Utilize Virtual Care/Telehealth Services?

TigerConnect is now offering Virtual Care and Telehealth services that make it easy for clinicians & patients to connect by utilizing hassle-free video consults and voice calls 1-to-1 as well as secure text messaging for patients. TigerConnect knows busy care professionals have enough technology to juggle. That’s why everything — video, voice, and text — lives in one easy-to-use app. Move seamlessly between your internal hospital network and your patient network with a simple tap.

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What Is Virtual Healthcare?

Virtual healthcare refers to the use of technology, including telephones, video, mobile apps, text-based messaging, and other communication platforms for the delivery of health services to a patient outside of a health system. These technologies enable virtual care, but virtual healthcare is more than these technologies. Virtual healthcare is the actual provision of care to remote patients through technology.

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How Does TigerConnect Utilize Virtual Care/Telehealth Services?

TigerConnect is now offering Virtual Care and Telehealth services that make it easy for clinicians & patients to connect by utilizing hassle-free video consults and voice calls 1-to-1 as well as secure text messaging for patients. TigerConnect knows busy care professionals have enough technology to juggle. That’s why everything — video, voice, and text — lives in one easy-to-use app. Move seamlessly between your internal hospital network and your patient network with a simple tap.

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What Is Telehealth?

The term “telehealth” is ubiquitous in healthcare. Generally, “telehealth” is a simple concept that means the capability of delivering health treatment, health information, or other health services through some form of telecommunications. The actual product delivered to patients can range widely, but usually include provider-to-patient education, web-based or telecommunications-provided medical care, remote monitoring of a patient’s condition or a combination of these.

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What Are the Types of Telehealth?

Telehealth technologies include video conferencing, mobile apps, remote patient monitoring devices, and electronic exchange of health information from a patient to a medical provider. Other technologies that support the exchange of health information include video conferencing, the Internet, store-and-forward imaging devices, streaming media, and terrestrial and wireless communications.

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What Is Telehealth Nursing?

Telehealth nursing is what is known now as healthcare counseling over the phone. As technology advances, telehealth nursing capabilities are improving to allow nurses to reach patients, educate individuals about their condition, monitor patient health, and interact with patients using computers, telephony, and visual equipment.

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What is Telehealth Patient Education?

Telehealth patient education combines the provision of care, health information with online peer support, decision support, and even help with behavior change. Patient education provided through Internet-connected computer-based programs continues to expand, especially for individuals suffering from chronic disease.

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What is Healthcare Informatics?

Healthcare Informatics is a multidisciplinary field that combines aspects of healthcare sciences, computer science, information science and cognitive science to improve the management of patient healthcare data. The field of healthcare informatics has existed for at least three decades but has seen rapid growth and innovation in the past five years as a result of three key factors.

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What is Nursing Informatics?

Nursing Informatics is considered a distinct specialty within the nursing profession which combines the care provision and healthcare aspects of nursing with the data and information management aspects associated with healthcare informatics. Nursing Informatics encompasses all usage of healthcare information technologies (HIT) to satisfy functions that are under the purview of nurses and to enable or streamline tasks that nurses carry out as part of their normal duties.

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What is Healthcare Data Analytics?

Healthcare data analytics is a set of activities used to process data that is collected within the healthcare environment. In the United States, the healthcare data analytics industry is expected to reach a value of $31 billion by 2022, with an increasing number of hospitals and healthcare organizations leveraging big data for a variety of applications. Increasing adoption rates of healthcare data analytics is a result of three ongoing changes that are taking place in global technology…

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What does HIPAA stand for?

HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and is United States legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information.

Is Text Messaging HIPAA Compliant?

The simple answer is that text messaging is HIPAA-compliant under certain circumstances and provided that “administrative, physical and technical safeguards [exist] to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and security of electronically stored or transmitted private health information.”

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How can Doctors Receive PHI and Still be in Compliance with HIPAA?

If doctors and other medical professionals were no longer allowed to communicate patient data on their mobile devices due to HIPAA and the Omnibus Rule, this would have had serious implications for the standard of healthcare received by patients; but fortunately the issues surrounding how doctors can receive ePHI in compliance with HIPAA can be resolved with a secure text messaging solution from TigerConnect.

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Does Text Messaging Violate HIPAA Guidelines?

The HIPAA guidelines for text messaging were introduced due to the increasing number of medical professionals who were using personal mobile devices (Smartphones, laptops, tablets etc.) to access electronic protected health information (ePHI) and communicate it – via text – to colleagues. TigerConnect has developed a secure text messaging platform which makes the question “Does text messaging violate HIPAA guidelines?” irrelevant. The platform enables the transmission of encrypted ePHI and viewing within a secure cloud-based platform; which authorized users can gain access to via an on-demand or web application.

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Why Was a HIPAA Texting Policy Needed?

The HIPAA texting policy introduced in the Final Omnibus Rule aims to eliminate the risk of patient health information being compromised during the sending or receiving of sensitive data via SMS, or while patient health information is kept on a portable mobile device (cell phone, tablet, Smartphone, etc.).

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Why Were HIPAA Encryption Requirements Established?

Due to technological advances and changes in work practices, sensitive patient health information is often communicated by portable mobile devices such as cell phones, Smartphones, and tablets. The potential for data being compromised when using public Wi-Fi or open cell phone networks is vast. The revised HIPAA data encryption regulations were created to address these issues.

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What Should I know about HIPAA Compliance for Clinical Texting?

Prior to the guidelines for HIPAA compliant clinical texting being introduced, it had been estimated by the Centre for Democracy and Technology that 66 percent of all breaches of PHI were attributable to the loss or theft of a personal mobile device. Due to technological advances and changing work practices, more than 80 percent of healthcare professionals now access PHI or communicate patient data via their mobile devices (according to a study by the Health Research Institute) – although not always within HIPAA compliance for clinical texting.

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What Should I know about HIPAA Compliance for Email?

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services website, the revised rules about HIPAA compliance when sending emails do not prohibit the use of emails when sending ePHI, and at first reading, the regulations regarding HIPAA compliance for email would suggest sending encrypted ePHI by email is acceptable – although it would be necessary for both the sender and the recipient to have the same encryption software.

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What Do The HIPAA Regulations for Email Actually Say?

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services website, “the [HIPAA] Security Rule does not expressly prohibit the use of email for sending e-PHI. However, the standards for access control, integrity and transmission security require covered entities to implement policies and procedures to restrict access to, protect the integrity of, and guard against unauthorized access to e-PHI.”

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Why Do We Need a HIPAA-Compliant Text Messaging Service?

The use of email and SMS to communicate sensitive patient information was effectively outlawed by HIPAA due to copies of messages stored by service providers, the inability to retract and delete sent messages and the risk of a communication being intercepted in an area of publicly-accessible Wi-Fi.

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What Is HIPAA Compliant Encryption for Text Messaging?

HIPAA-compliant encryption for text messaging is a security measure to guard against unauthorized access to ePHI transmitted over a communication network. Its purpose is to make any sensitive patient data that is compromised while in transit unusable, unreadable and indecipherable to any third party who accesses it.

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Who Do The HIPAA Regulations for SMS Apply to?

The changes to the HIPAA regulations for SMS messaging extended who must comply with the mandated best practices. In addition to medical professionals, health insurance providers (including employers), health insurance clearing houses (including fund managers), and any subcontractor, “associate,” or third-service provider who has access to PHI* is now also subject to the HIPAA regulations for texting.

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How Can We Make Smartphones HIPAA Compliant?

In order to make smartphones HIPAA compliant, the organization for which the Smartphone user is an employee, associate or third party service provider must implement a secure messaging solution which protects the integrity of ePHI when it is at rest and in transit. TigerConnect facilitates HIPAA-compliance with regard to most smartphones.

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What Are the Revised HIPAA Text Messaging Software Guidelines?

One of the most important revisions to the guidelines for HIPAA texting software was that the scope of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was extended to include everybody who may have access to PHI or transmit sensitive patient data in text messages from their mobile devices (Smartphones, tablets and cell phones).

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Is Texting in Hospitals HIPAA Compliant?

The revised guidelines for “when is texting in hospitals HIPAA compliant” broadened the scope of the Act to include everybody who may have access to protected health information (PHI). The regulations regarding HIPAA compliant hospital texting now also apply to third party services providers such as administrators, fund managers and insurance brokers – and any subcontractors employed by them. These third parties must comply with the revised HIPAA regulations or risk being fined by the Office of Civil Rights should a breach of PHI occur.

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Why Do We Need a HIPAA Mobile Device Policy?

In order to guide authorized users on the most appropriate way to use the secure messaging app, healthcare organizations must develop policies to ensure compliance with HIPAA – these policies also apply to business associates and third party service providers for the healthcare organization.

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How Should We Text Laboratory Results and Be HIPAA Compliant?

In order to text lab results in compliance with HIPAA, lab technicians should log into a secure application where they can view ePHI they receive and upload any relevant additional information. A text message can then be sent to a medical professional containing the lab results as an image or pdf.

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What’s the Easy Path for HIPAA Compliant Texting for Our Hospital?

Despite the many, many pages in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) relating to the security of protected health information, it is not difficult to achieve HIPAA compliant texting for your hospital. All that is needed is a secure text messaging platform from TigerConnect and a system administrator to monitor usage of the text messaging platform.

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What’s the Best Solution for PHI and HIPAA Compliance for Text Messaging?

TigerConnect’s secure texting solution allows authorized personnel to access PHI through a secure closed network on most mobile devices or via the web. The secure texting system meets all the physical and technical requirements to safeguard the integrity of PHI and HIPAA compliance for text messaging, and automatically generates audit logs to assist administrators with their obligations under the administrative requirements.

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How to Choose a HIPAA Compliant Texting Vendor?

To help ease the difficulty of choosing a secure text messaging vendor, TigerConnect has compiled a white paper “The Top Ten Considerations when Selecting a Secure Text Messaging Solution” that provides advice on the most important considerations you should take into account when evaluating a secure text messaging solution and the vendor who is marketing it. Click below to find out how to get yours.

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What Is HIPAA-Compliant Texting for Physicians?

Using a secure texting platform, physicians can send text messages in compliance with HIPAA by composing the message within a secure platform, accessible from their desktop computers or mobile devices. The recipient receives a notification or a text containing a link to the encrypted message, allowing them to access the message after authenticating their identity with a unique username and password.

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What Are The HIPAA Rules for Email Encryption?

What HIPAA actually says about email encryption is that covered entities must “implement a mechanism to encrypt and decrypt electronic protected health information,” and most communication experts agree that healthcare organizations who want to facilitate the communication of protected health information by email should double their encryption protection, so that encrypted communications are sent over an encrypted connection “just to be on the safe side.”

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Why Were HIPAA Guidelines for Texting Needed?

HIPAA SMS guidelines were needed to eliminate the risk of patient health information being breached during the transmission or receipt of sensitive data, or while such data was maintained on a mobile device (cell phone, tablet, smartphone etc.). Research had shown that more than 80 percent of physicians use mobile devices to communicate with their patients or access patient health information, while a further study revealed that 66 percent of patient health information breaches were attributable to mobile devices being lost or stolen.

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What Are the HIPAA Messaging Compliance Rules?

The HIPAA messaging compliance rules concentrate on protecting patient privacy and how breaches – if they happen should be dealt with; but there are also other changes to the regulations within the Final Omnibus Rule that all individuals with responsibility for the integrity of patient health information should be aware of in the event that patient data stored on mobile devices is compromised.

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How to Share Files in Compliance with HIPAA?

Fortunately, TigerConnect’s secure messaging solution enables medical professionals to share files and collaborate securely without risking a breach of ePHI, and with the result that workflows are accelerated, efficiency is increased and patients have an enhanced healthcare experience.

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How Do I Choose a HIPAA Compliant Texting Product?

Among the many options available for communicating electronic protected health information in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a HIPAA compliant texting product is the most favored, and least likely to result in a breach of ePHI. Follow the link below to learn more about the features and benefits of secure text messaging products and for further information about how a HIPAA compliant text product fulfills the physical, technical and administrative requirements of the HIPAA Security Rule, including a download for our “Top Ten Considerations when Selecting a Secure Text Messaging Solution” white paper.

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Is SMS HIPAA Compliant?

In order for an SMS to be HIPAA compliant, both the sender and the recipient should be authorized users of a secure messaging system which enables them to access and transmit ePHI as required. With a secure messaging platform, all messages are encrypted and do not have the security risks associated with standard messaging systems, aka SMS. The secure messaging system must be capable of removing users and remotely deleting messages sent within the application in case a personal mobile device is lost, replaced or stolen. The application must also provide system administrators with the ability to gather audit logs to adhere to best practices policy for HIPAA compliance and SMS.

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Is Sending Files HIPAA Compliant?

Once a platform for secure messaging (like TigerConnect) is implemented, healthcare organizations also have a responsibility to produce guidelines for authorized users to access and transmit ePHI. These guidelines should outline when it is appropriate to access ePHI and how it should be transmitted so that the sending of files is HIPAA compliant. Policies for how to send files in compliance with HIPAA are essential; for without them, every other precaution that a healthcare organization has taken to be in compliance with HIPAA could be ineffective, and the same penalties would apply when a breach of ePHI occurs.

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Who Do the Rules for Text Messages and HIPAA Compliance Apply to?

In addition to employer, health insurance providers, health insurance clearinghouses and medical professionals, the rules for text messages and HIPAA compliance now apply to associates, subcontractors or any third-party service provider who has access to PHI. This means that if an insurance provider wants details of the treatment a patient has received in hospital, it also has to be an authorized user on a secure messaging system in order to retrieve that information.

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How Can I Implement Secure Communications with HIPAA Email Compliance?

Facilities may begin with policies that prohibit electronic transmission such as a “no texting policy,” but this does not guarantee employees will stop using their own devices for work communication. Ultimately, the best answer is to implement a solution that will address electronic transmission and use this technology to optimize current workflow in the healthcare facility, like TigerConnect.

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What Makes a Texting Solution HIPAA Compliant?

A HIPAA texting solution complies with the legislation for the security of electronic protected health information (ePHI) by allowing authorized users access to encrypted data via a secure messaging platform. The texting solution is HIPAA compliant due to administrative controls which exist on the secure platform to retract or delete communications that may be in breach of HIPAA regulations, remotely wipe sensitive content from a mobile or desktop device, and remove a user from the network if – for example – their mobile device is lost or stolen.

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Is There a Guide to Secure Texting?

Yes. Secure texting best practices guidelines were introduced to reduce the risk of protected health information being compromised during the transmission or receipt of patient data, or while such data was stored on a portable or mobile device (cell phone, tablet, Smartphone etc.). Studies had shown that more than 80 percent of doctors use mobile devices to access protected health information and communicate with their patients, while further research revealed that 66 percent of reported breaches of patient data were due to mobile devices being lost or stolen.

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What Is HIPAA Compliant Messaging?

HIPAA compliant messaging is a means of secure communication by which healthcare organizations and other associated businesses can safeguard electronic protected health information (ePHI) while facilitating an open flow of sensitive patient information between authorized users. Platforms and apps for secure messaging meet healthcare industry standards to ensure the integrity of ePHI during the secure communication of sensitive patient information and provide a secure alternative to “traditional” text messaging.

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How Have The HIPAA Rules Regarding Text Messaging Benefitted Patients?

Case studies have shown that healthcare professionals have been able to treat patients quicker and more effectively through a secure messaging system than through any other mode of communication. The ability for secure messages to be transmitted across various devices and platforms has created a more efficient workflow – both in the hospital environment and in home health settings – which has resulted in healthcare professionals being able to attend to more patients each day.

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What Are the HIPAA Secure Texting Rules?

The HIPAA secure texting rules mostly focus on protecting patient privacy; but also include other organizational procedural changes including when organizations and individuals should report suspected security breaches as well as conduct regular risk assessments on organizations and individuals.

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What Are Some Takeaways from Past HIPAA Audits and Text Messaging?

The HIPAA secure texting rules mostly focus on protecting patient privacy; but also include other organizational procedural changes including when organizations and individuals should report suspected security breaches as well as conduct regular risk assessments on organizations and individuals.

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What Are the HIPAA Compliant Texting Requirements?

HIPAA compliant texting requirements for HIPAA-compliant texting are categorized into three sections – physical safeguards, technical safeguards and administrative safeguards – and each of these safeguards must be fulfilled in order for the communication of ePHI to be HIPAA compliant over any electronic channel.

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What Are the HIPAA Laws and Texting Regulations?

The HIPAA laws and texting regulations focus primarily on protecting patient privacy, but also:

  • Ban the selling or marketing of personal health information without obtaining prior permission from patients.
  • Give patients the right to withhold details of any healthcare they have financed privately from the insurance company that covers their health insurance policy.
  • Must tell patients within 60 days if a breach of personal health information is discovered which affects them.
  • Require organizations to conduct periodic risk assessments to make sure that they comply with the HIPAA guidelines for texting.
  • Require organizations and individuals with access to personal health information report when a suspected security breach is discovered.

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How is TigerConnect a HIPAA Secure Messaging Solution?

The secure text messaging application surpasses all the criteria for secure texting and HIPAA compliance and automatically generates read receipts to confirm a message has been read and eliminate the need for follow-up calls and phone tag. The application also produces access reports and audit logs in order that administrators can monitor use in compliance with the HIPAA secure messaging regulations.

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With TigerConnect, Can I Do a Text Message Recall?

How often have you wished you had the ability to recall a text message because of the wrong recipient, the wrong content or just to ensure that your information is safe? With TigerConnect’s Text Message Recall, you can use a Secure Text Messaging solution to give you peace of mind that your information is secure and that mistakes can always be corrected.

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Why Do We Need Secure Text Messaging for Healthcare?

With a secure text messaging for healthcare solution, healthcare facilities enable their staff to work both efficiently and easily while maintaining each of their patient’s privacy when transmitting PHI. A secure solution enables communications to improve while remaining HIPAA compliant. The best way to solve the issue surrounding mobile device usage is to identify the various risks and select a solution that will resolve these problems.

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What Is a Healthcare Messaging App?

A healthcare messaging app is an advanced piece of software that can be downloaded onto desktop computers and mobile devices. It allows authorized users to access PHI and communicate PHI to other authorized users within a private network. However, safeguards exist so that the PHI cannot be saved to individual devices, copied and pasted or sent outside of the network.

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What Are the Requirements for Texting Patient Information?

The revised regulations for text messaging PHI acknowledge that changes in workplace practices and technological advances have led to more healthcare industry employees using mobile devices in the course of their work. Indeed, a survey carried out by the Health Research Institute revealed that 81 percent of doctors use mobile devices to communicate with their patients and access patient information.

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How Can I Ensure Text Message Security?

In order to comply with the revised HIPAA and HITECH regulations, organizations should be securing text messages by using an encrypted messaging platform, like TigerConnect. Encrypted messaging platforms transmit healthcare communications while taking other precautions to ensure the data is secure on both the senders and recipient’s devices.

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What Are Text Messaging Apps for Hospitals?

Text messaging apps for hospitals are applications that can be downloaded onto mobile devices and desktop computers, which allow authorized users access to electronic protected health information (ePHI) that can then be communicated securely to other authorized users. HIPAA-compliant texting apps meet healthcare industry standards to ensure the integrity of ePHI at rest and during the communication of ePHI, and provide a secure alternative to “traditional” channels of communication such as SMS, instant messaging and emails.

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What Should I Know About Secure Texting for Physicians?

Secure texting for physicians allows administration to comply with these criteria and manage staff usage of a familiar and popular feature, text messaging. Secure texting includes features that allow administration to maintain control with audit logs and “message lifespan” to ensure that data does not reside on mobile devices and is deleted after a set period of time. Authorized users access the data within an enclosed network, keeping all data accessed or transmitted encrypted over either an open cell phone network or Wi-Fi. Given that about 81% of physicians currently use their smartphones in the workplace, the need for a secure texting solution, like TigerConnect, is important.

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What Should I Know About Secure Texting for Nursing?

Studies show that about 81% of physicians currently use their smartphones in the workplace, while 62% of hospital nurses use their smartphones for clinical and personal use while on the job. Nurses need a secure form of communication, like TigerConnect, to optimize workflows and allow for transmission of patient information to fellow staff members. Allowing for secure usage of mobile devices, provides nurses the ability to quickly communicate with the nursing staff and collaborate with other departments. Most importantly, it gives nurses a secure method to communicate among the primary care team for each patient.

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What Is Secure Medical Texting (And How Is It HIPAA Compliant?)

Secure medical texting (to be HIPAA compliant) involves the transmission of messages containing encrypted data across various devices and platforms, within a virtual private network to which only authorized users can gain access. What is different between secure medical texting and other forms of communication (emails, pagers, etc.) is that messages sent by secure text can be remotely erased in the event that the authorized user´s mobile device (smartphone, tablet, PDA, laptop, etc.) is lost or stolen.

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How Can a Secure Messaging System for Healthcare Be Beneficial?

Utilizing a secure messaging system for healthcare organizations has resulted in multiple benefits including cost savings, increased efficiency and the significantly reduced risk that they – or an employee, agent or sub-contractor – will be liable for a breach of ePHI. Also, a secure messaging system for healthcare organizations produces “audit logs”, which enable administrators to check that authorized personnel is complying with the regulations for secure texting between healthcare professionals, and which can form part of the required risk assessments to ensure the integrity of ePHI within the messaging system.

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What Should I know About Texting Medical Information?

Texting medical information has recently come under the spotlight due to changes introduced in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These changes affected many people working in the healthcare industry – due to the convenience of accessing and communicating medical information by text – and the organizations that have to oversee usage of texting medical information. Many organizations that are required to conform to the rules for texting medical information will encounter problems when trying to meet the demands of the HIPAA Privacy Rule; however, a solution exists in the form of a secure text messaging system which connects authorized users to an encrypted and secure platform, accessible via their mobile devices or web browsers.

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What’s Involved with Secure Texting for Healthcare Services?

Using secure texting for healthcare services requires a solution like TigerConnect to allow medical professionals to send and receive secure text messages from their mobile devices or desktop computer to other authorized users within a secure private network. Patient files, images and lab results can be shared securely when attaching them to a secure text message and multiple parties can join existing discussion threads to collaborate on healthcare issues.

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How Can I Bring Our Secure Healthcare Communications Up-To-Date?

A recent survey, conducted by the Health Research Institute, concluded that 81 percent of physicians use one or more personal mobile devices to access protected health information or communicate with their patients, leading to the possibility of a breach – especially when personal mobile devices are used within areas offering open Wi-Fi Internet access or on public cell phone networks. Organizations must develop a system, like TigerConnect, of secure healthcare communications which has control over who has access to protected health information and how it is used. All patient data within the system should be encrypted in order that employees and subcontractors can access the data without risk of a breach.

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How Can We Accelerate Patient Discharge Times with Text Messaging?

TigerConnect provides secure HIPAA-compliant text messaging to more than 3,000 medical facilities, which is not only used to accelerate patient discharge times, but also for a multitude of procedures. Their secure texting platform works in a similar way to SMS text messaging, and complies with the conditions for using text messaging to accelerate patient discharge times by enabling authorized users to access or send PHI through a SAAS solution.

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Who Is Affected by The Rules About PHI and Text Messaging?

Protected health information (often abbreviated to PHI or ePHI) is defined as “any information about health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that can be linked to a specific individual”, and consists of eighteen different “identifiers” which could connect specific details to a patient (such as photographs of the patient, their social security number or their telephone number). The Privacy and Security Regulations contained within HIPAA apply to medical professionals, health insurance providers (including employers as well as brokers who work for insurance companies), health insurance clearing houses (including fund administrators and managers), and any subcontractor who has access to protected health information (irrespective of whether it is stored electronically or not).

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What Is A HIPAA Compliant Texting App?

A HIPAA compliant texting app is a secure messaging solution which enables healthcare organizations to safeguard electronic protected health information (ePHI) while still allowing an open flow of communication between authorized users.

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Why Did Healthcare Texting Regulations Have to Change?

Due to changing work practices and technological advances, more than 80 percent of healthcare professionals now access protected health information or communicate patient data via their mobile devices (according to a study by the Health Research Institute). The Centre for Democracy and Technology recently revealed that 66 percent of reported protected health information breaches are attributable to mobile devices being lost or stolen and the data on the devices being accessed by unauthorized individuals. With additional breaches of protected health information, the healthcare texting regulations had to change to safeguard the privacy and security of patients in HIPAA-covered health programs.

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Why Do Hospitals Need to Consider Pager Replacements?

There are three primary reasons why a paging alternative for hospitals should be considered by healthcare organizations. They include the costs of running the paging system, the lack of efficient communication provided by pagers, and HIPAA compliance.

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Why Replace Pagers with Secure Texting?

The primary reason to replace pagers with secure texting is efficiency. Pagers are notoriously inefficient as they require the recipient of a message to phone in and complete the communication. Paged messages can be missed and there is typically no accountability for messages sent over a paging system.

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What Are the Hidden Costs of a Hospital Pager System?

The hidden costs of a hospital pager system were revealed in research conducted by HIMSS Analytics following a study of communication channels in 200 hundred hospitals that had 100 beds or more. Researchers calculated that large medical facilities are spending an average of $179,000 each year to support paging systems, with more than four-out-of-five doctors using pagers to receive patient alerts and other health-related communications. Additionally, pagers are notoriously inefficient communication channels.

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Why Should We Consider Replacing Pagers Used by Nurses with Secure Texting?

According to American Nurse Today, “67% of hospitals reported in 2013 that their nurses used personal devices to communicate and support their workflow”. As the HIPAA-compliant secure texting apps operate on any system or device, secure texting would seem to be a cost-efficient way of replacing pagers used by nurses with a solution the nurses are already familiar with via commercially available texting apps.

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What Are the Financial Motives for Replacing Pagers in Hospitals?

A recent report published by HIMSS Analytics – “The Hidden Cost of Pagers in Healthcare” – highlighted financial motives for replacing pagers in hospitals. The study found that large healthcare organizations were paying an average of $8.40 per pager, per month, for their pager services – an average per organization of $179,000 per year. During the preparation of the report it was found that physicians (82%) were the main users of pager systems in hospitals. Nurses (69.9%) and IT professionals (52.5%) were the next highest groups of users, while the senior executives considered “perceived reliability” to be the main reason for not replacing pagers in hospitals with cheaper alternatives.

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Why Healthcare Organizations Need a HIPAA Compliant Hospital Paging Solution?

There are three reasons why healthcare organizations need a HIPAA compliant hospital paging solution. Naturally the first of these is compliance with the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The second reason is to reduce costs, and the third is to implement a solution that takes advantage of modern technology to increase productivity.

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EMR vs. EHR: What’s the Difference?

Electronic medical records (EMRs) are digital versions of the paper charts. They contain information collected by and for the clinicians in an office, clinic, or hospital. Electronic health records (EHRs) are more robust than EMRs as they contain information from all the clinicians involved in a patient’s care. The data within an EHR follows each individual patient no matter their place in the care spectrum wherever and whenever they need care.

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What Is An Electronic Health Record?

An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. The technology-based record captures as much patient information as possible at the point and care and throughout the care journey, recording data in real-time so that it is immediately available, securely to authorized users.

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What Are An Electronic Medical Records?

Before the digital age, physicians and other healthcare practitioners would transcribe patient medical records during or immediately following patient interactions. Physical medical records were stored on shelves or filing cabinets in a hospital or doctor’s office, where they were difficult to share with other healthcare professionals and vulnerable to risks such as fire, flood, loss, and theft.

As the healthcare industry began to digitize, healthcare providers began to record patient interactions in electronic medical records. Electronic medical records are records of patient interactions created and stored digitally by a hospital, family health team or group practice. Electronic medical records offer a number of benefits for physicians who use them as well as their patients.

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How Does TigerConnect Compare to Lua?

If you liked using Lua, you’re going to love using TigerConnect – more features, greater reliability, and a roadmap for the future. From the 10-person doctor’s office to larger hospitals, TigerConnect has an option to fit your needs.

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