Lynn Sessions and Cory Fox write:
Text messaging allows healthcare providers to deliver simple, relevant, and customizable health information instantaneously to their patients, like reminders to obtain a vaccine, take a medication or come to an important follow-up appointment. Text paging, a form of text messaging frequently used by healthcare professionals, can help ensure patient safety by allowing practitioners to quickly exchange important patient treatment information in a hospital or clinical setting. But is this kind of health-related text messaging permissible under HIPAA?
According to a recently published report in the American Journal of Public Health, text messages containing protected health information (PHI) would be impermissible under the HIPAA Security Rule (Security Rule) unless the covered entity either removed PHI from the message or complied with the Security Rule’s administrative, physical and technical safeguard requirements.
Read more on Data Privacy Monitor.