When blocking prevents a clinician from doing their job to the best of their abilities, data is especially hard to contain. But as the old saying goes, “Data flows like water.” Eventually, it’s going to find the holes and escape.Įven if a healthcare IT system has water-tight data controls, that’s not the only goal within the organization-and not even the most important one.
Healthcare organizations still seem to think that blocking all access to unapproved cloud storage or cloud collaboration tools means that they’re preventing leakage of sensitive information. Applebaum, PT, is a PPS member and the founder of the Bexley Physical Therapy Center in Columbus, Ohio.The following is a guest article by Damian Chung, Business Information Security Officer at Netskope. The sole drawback to Sookasa is that it only works with Dropbox, so you cannot use it to encrypt files with a different file-sharing service.īrent S.
I also like that Sookasa can be used with any mobile device so my physical therapists can work on their own laptops or tablets, and I do not need to provide each of them with an expensive device. There is no new system to learn, and Ido not have to bring in technical support to make sure it works. When one of my physical therapists completes a home visit, the patient notes are instantly synchronized with both my practice and the relevant home health care agency. One thing I like about Sookasa is how easy it is to use. The product also allows me to control access to the files, so if a physical therapist leaves my practice, I can remotely revoke access to the patient files stored on their device. Sookasa audits files, allowing me to see who has viewed or made changes to any of the reports. With Sookasa, this is no longer a concern. Without Sookasa, if any of our physical therapists would have accidentally lost or misplaced their mobile device, it would have been a HIPAA breach. When one of my physical therapists submits a report to a home health care agency, only authorized users can open that report. Sookasa works by encrypting Dropbox files even after they have been shared and downloaded onto a new device. Now, after four months using Sookasa, I have transformed the way we share patient files at my practice.
SOOKASA THAT MAKES DROPBOX HIPAA COMPLIANT SOFTWARE
I quickly realized that a cloud-based file-sharing service, such as Dropbox, could solve my problems, allowing my contractors to instantly share files from their personal devices with the home health care agencies.Īfter some research, I discovered Sookasa (a software product specifically designed to make Dropbox HIPAA-compliant, whether we are sharing or storing patient records. My only other option, for a period, was to fax the records to each agency, which was time-consuming and expensive. However, because these reports contain patient data, I have to transmit them in a way that is compliant with HIPAA.Įach of these agencies has its own electronic medical records (EMR) system, making it nearly impossible to try to interact with all 30. Every time one of the physical therapists conducts a home visit, I need to provide a report back to the home health agency (HHA). One of my longstanding challenges as the owner of a physical therapy center is how difficult it is to quickly and easily share patient files with clients and contractors in a secure way.Īt my practice, nine physical therapists provide care to hundreds of patients for the 30 home health care agencies. I found a solution that solves that problem.
However, it was not compliant with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules, which put me at risk for a HIPAA violation. By Brent Applebaum, PTĭropbox has made it possible to share patient information securely with my staff of physical therapists and my home care agency clients. Sookasa-finally, a way to make Dropbox HIPAA-compliant.
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