The Ehealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine Blog

What’s the Trend? The U.S. Government Is Focused on Telemedicine

Across the board, the U.S. federal government is intensifying its focus on funding and otherwise expanding telemedicine and telehealth as the future of healthcare. Consider these developments: During the President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address, he mentioned telemedicine as a key player in the broader mobile revolution: “It’s about a firefighter who can [...]

FREE Webinar, June 6th: 3 Reasons SKYPE May be RISKY to Your Practice & How to Remedy

Register for a FREE webinar entitled, “3 Reasons SKYPE can be RISKY to Your  Practice & How to Remedy.”  With HIPAA requiring compliance, licensed professionals can be caught in the crosshairs if a problem arises when opting for these free video services.  Traditional telehealth standards of care call for much more robust and IT-staff supervised [...]

Microsoft Buys SKYPE: What Does That Mean for Health Care Practitioners?

Many questions surround Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype this week. What does new ownership of Skype mean for health care practitioners? I have 3 possibilities to offer you: 1. Any $8.5 billion investment has meaning for the industry it serves. Microsoft’s investment in this videoconferencing company is a good predictor for the future of video. [...]

SKYPE & HIPAA (ePHI vs PHI)

There seems to be continued confusion about whether or not Skype is HIPAA compliant. Please allow me to  post some of the additional requirements under HIPAA and let you consider if you are compliant when using Skype. First, there are the “rules” under HIPAA: transactions, security and privacy. Some of our colleagues see the security [...]

Telehealth, Telepsychology and Technology-Related Papers: Open Call for Manuscripts

Telehealth, Telepsychology and Technology-Related Papers: Open Call for Manuscripts

This is a forwarded message from the American Psychological Association’s Division 18 to request manuscripts related to technology, telehealth or online counseling. Two types of submissions will be accepted:
1. traditional research (20-25 pages)
2. profiles of successful projects (1-page)

Skype & HIPAA: What are the issues today?

As stated in an earlier blog post, it’s almost impossible to know for sure if Skype is HIPAA compliant for these reasons:

1. Skype is proprietary software so we do not have ready access to behind-the-scenes information

2. HIPAA was intentionally written as if a document that is meant to evolve as technology evolves.

Does Video Contact with Clients or Patients Require HIPAA Compliance?

If a US-based company isn’t claiming HIPAA compliance, my tendency is to recommend against using them for the delivery of telepsychiatry, telepsychology, online therapy or online counseling in the US, until they make claims for which they can be held accountable by our federal consumer protection agencies. That includes email, chat rooms, telephone or videoconferencing.