Client records app or workflow?

Check out Daylite by https://www.marketcircle.com. It is a fantastic program to manage everything you will need and has both iPad and iPhone apps that sync with the primary database on your mac through both your local network and over the internet, and it's easy it set up.

I would suggest that you go to their pre-recorded webinar page and watch a few of them to get a good idea of the capabilities within Daylite. That will give you the best idea if it is something that you can use or not. I've been using it for a few years now and love it. And, since you are just getting ready to start your practice it's a great opportunity to organize and set things up right from the beginning. Here's the page:

https://www.marketcircle.com/daylite/webinars/

Start with this webinar: Start Smart with Daylite (pre-recorded video about two thirds down on page)

 

One thing you'll need to take into account is privacy. Not sure either iCloud or Dropbox is HIPAA compliant; I won't use either for my client's records.

I like SpiderOak, but I believe that even with their security provisions they aren't technically HIPAA compliant. Sometimes the standards lag behind the technology, and common sense should rule, but you do need to be careful.

And you are right to be concerned about the records stored locally on the iPad or MBP since either of those devices could be stolen, and then you not only have issues restoring data but informing clients their records may have been taken. Not pleasant.

And the nice thing about something like Daylite is that it's scalable, so that you aren't faced with a huge migration in the future as your practice grows (and we hope it does )

 

Box.com provides cloud storage that is HIPA compliant, but I believe that you have to be an enterprise customer which gets a little pricey if your just starting out. But then again, it's a part if your business.

If you use Daylite then all your records are maintained internally but always make sure you have some type of off-site backup. As for the security of the data on the mobile devices, I'm not sure of what the HIPA requirements are for that. If you lose one of your devices you have the ability to remote-wipe the data from the mobile devices through the Daylite Server app which will be on your local Mac housing your database. I would go to the Marketcircle website and ask them about HIPA compliance with their app, they are always very responsive to questions.