On having to give up my iPhone...

[lovetheduns]

I would love to see them try to do that, especially when there is a doctor shortage in this country. This is my e-mail account, not theirs. Besides, this is how everyone else does it.

Isn't that a HIPAA violation to send out potentially patient information from an encrypted and secure email out to a "free" service like GMAIL so that you can then access it on your mobile device?

I work in a benefits/financial services company and I can tell you I would be fired immediately if I pulled something like that sending company emails, personnel data, etc out of our servers onto a free account just so I can access it on my mobile device.

I know our security and auditors (whether internal or outside) would have a field day with that. I can imagine even JCAHO would not look kindly on a hospital who allows their doctors to send potentially patient specific information via the method you are currently using.

Heck, as a potential patient, I wouldn't want my doctor to be sending emails (potentially about me) to his gmail so he can review it on his iPhone, etc.

 

[kas23]

Isn't that a HIPAA violation to send out potentially patient information from an encrypted and secure email out to a "free" service like GMAIL so that you can then access it on your mobile device?

I work in a benefits/financial services company and I can tell you I would be fired immediately if I pulled something like that sending company emails, personnel data, etc out of our servers onto a free account just so I can access it on my mobile device.

I know our security and auditors (whether internal or outside) would have a field day with that. I can imagine even JCAHO would not look kindly on a hospital who allows their doctors to send potentially patient specific information via the method you are currently using.

Heck, as a potential patient, I wouldn't want my doctor to be sending emails (potentially about me) to his gmail so he can review it on his iPhone, etc.

You have a very good point, but I don't send Patient Identifying information using this e-mail. If you don't include any Patient Identifying information (like name, address, or other obvious ways one could be identified), it is not a HIPPA violation. Like all doctors, I am very careful with this. For this very reason, I try not to even discuss patients via e-mail.

Second, I wouldn't consider an e-mail system that Google Mail can easy fetch data from a "secure" system. Funny thing is, whenever I am at home and I log into our hospital's system, Safari gives me a warning that I am logging into a system whose security is "not up to current standard." I won't name the hospital I am at, but it is a very well known hospital on the East coast. So, yeah, pretty scary.