Text Messaging to Patients
TEXT MESSAGE COMPLIANCE WITH HIPAA AND PRIVACY LAWS
Text messaging is common practice for personal and business use. In day to day business actions I use it to communicate with clients, confirm meetings, and send reminders. And vendors frequently use it as a courtesy notice to notify me when a project approval file is pending in my email box (LOVE THAT by the way!). The healthcare industry is expanding it's use of technology because patients are savvy and want great customer service. But is legislation and HIPAA privacy keeping up? While technology is available Doctors and providers need to ensure they stay within regulations.
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Surgery Centers and Non-Hospital Affiliates: A Policy you need.
When working with my surgery center clients, we see up close the trends in healthcare. Physicians want to communicate with patients and provide great customer service. And as you may know text messaging is more convenient than email! One of the services I provide, beside designing the marketing for advertising. ' I enjoy designing Marketing Pieces for New TRADEMARKs
in Healthcare, but we always address the legalities,
in this case; NURSE ADVICE: "TALK AND TEXT the NURSE."
I also think through the legal aspects of this type of service and I often advise clients to pursue privacy policy and disclosures to make sure they are staying compliant with the many State and Federal laws. I am NOT AN ATTORNEY, but I am familiar with best practices on disclosures. Basically, disclose, disclose, disclose!
HIPAA Laws and the new HITECH ACT are in review in congress. HITECH covers the aspect of healthcare in the technology sphere. Consider these examples:
- Are you emailing patients, there's a law for that.
- Creating patient surveys on your website, there's a law for that.
- Do you have a Social Media account for your center or institute? There is NOT a law for that... since HITECH is currently (2016) in review.
We cannot claim ignorance.
Several policy guidelines note:
"... if you simply delete all your texts thinking
that is the best form of protection,
you might find yourself in violation of the law. "
What is a Healthcare provider supposed to do? We need to provide easy patient access, yes stay protected and follow regulations. There are guidelines developed by various official Healthcare councils, formed by experienced distinguished service providers, recommending the best practices for creating policies where there lacks legislation.
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| BEFORE YOU ANSWER THAT TEXT: Doctor's and Nurses receiving Text Messages from Patients should know, while extremely convenient, make sure you are following the proper policy guidelines. |
WHAT CAN MY AMBULATORY SURGERY CENTER or HEALTHCARE PROVIDER DO TO CREATE SOCIAL MEDIA OR TEXT MESSAGE POLICY?
I have been here before. My clients will tell you that having a policy is better than no guidelines at all. Yes, you can call my offices if you are looking for perspective and direction at 773-677-0783.
If you are a do it yourself-er than you can also take a look at my scribd store at scribd.com/jk_marketing for the documents and policies that can serve as you templates.
What to consider when writing your Patient to Doctor or Nurse Text Message policy:
Several Surgery Centers do draft there own external use policy's or update template policy's provided by Policy Stat or other software providers. The following outline is a guide to items you need to consider for writing you centers policy. From hospitals to ASC's, these are items that apply across the board.Consider the following questions when writing your guidelines for Patients who use your healthcare text messaging service. But know that we cannot claim ignorance. Several policy guidelines note: "... if you simply delete all your texts thinking that is the best form of protection, you might find yourself in violation of the law. "
- How will our text message line be positioned: as a nurse advice line, as an "Ask the Doctor"
- Will we text any PHI? (ALWAYS ANSWER NO to this question)
- Will we text back answers?
- What is our reply turnaround time policy? Is it guaranteed?
- Can we ensure the cell phone device or computer is secure?
- Can we ensure the cell phone is locked and does not allow pop up text messages?
- Can we ensure the employee is following policy regarding texting patients?
- Do we have 24-hour access to PHI for addressing texts?
These are a few of the questions to ask when assessing using a texting service. Conduct a deep dive and really access your internal patient flow and procedures to identify these areas before writing the policy.
In addition, you should also conduct an internal assessment of employee protocol regarding handling the device for text messages and keeping the device secure.
What to consider when writing your EMPLOYEE POLICY when Patient to Doctor or Nurse Text Messaging:
As stated above, Ambulatory Surgery Centers also draft there own INternal use policy's. Internal assessments and policy's have different concerns than External ones. The following outline is a guide to items you need to consider for writing you centers INTERNAL policy. Once again, these items apply across the board.
Consider the following questions when writing your guidelines for EMPLOYEES who answer text from patients and are responsible for your healthcare text messaging service:
- What information can and cannot be shared via text message to "patients."
- Have employee completed the webinar training on text message policy?
- How to ensure keeping the device password protected?
- Proper sanitization of the device? (yes, put this in writing)
- Policy to cover what PHI information is needed to reply to texts?
- Alternative technology that can be involved in patient replies?
- What is our plan for retention of texts and PHI records interaction?
While the answers are many, there are substantial amounts of best practices and guidelines in use today while we await official HITECH ACT legislative updates.
Lastly, Medical Economics magazine posted a great article on some of the protocol considerations while developing your text message patient and doctor / nurse / medical advice policy.
Good luck in your policy planning.
Definition: HITECH ACT
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was signed into law on February 17, 2009, to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology.
DISCLOSURE: This website does not provide legal advice and we are not a law firm. None of our customer service representatives are lawyers and also do not provide legal advice. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a lawyer if you want legal advice.
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