PHILADELPHIA, April 26 A new law that took effect in February calls for substantial new penalties on doctors for something they are doing every day - sending e-mails that include patient information, without encrypting the e-mail.
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So, the doctor who answers a patient's e-mail asking for medical advice, and does it without encryption, is breaking the law, and is potentially subject to penalties and fines that can go as high as $1.5 million in a single year!
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Many medical professionals remain unaware of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. According to this law, answering a patient's request for a test result, by unsecured e-mail, is a violation. Updating a patient's status, through an unsecured e-mail, is a violation. Sending an unsecured e-mail containing critical health-related information - even during an emergency medical situation - is a violation.
One doctor has developed a free solution to the new law's requirements: JumbleMe, a free software that encrypts e-mails and other electronically transferred information. JumbleMe complies with the new law and protects electronic information from fines that could prove disastrous for medical operations. The encryption protects e-mails and attachments whether they are sent through the Internet or via smartphones.
JumbleMe provides a number of features to ensure the confidentiality of e-mails. It allows medical professionals to encrypt e-mail via a password. Only the intended recipient can read the message. JumbleMe offers numerous enhanced features, including one that limits the number of times an e-mail can be read and another that sets an expiration date - when the e-mail disappears, forever. JumbleMe meets all HIPAA and HITECH Act requirements so that e-mails - and the medical professionals who send them - are protected.
JumbleMe was created by a doctor - Greg Hill, M.D. - for other doctors and medical professionals. Dr. Hill, a Philadelphia family practitioner, knows well the implications of the new regulations on his medical communications - and yours.
"As a doctor, I am just giving back to my peers," Dr. Hill said of offering the software, free, to medical practitioners. "This law impacts everyone in the medical field and finding a solution that helps us all seemed the right thing to do."
JumbleMe's standard software is free. To see a demonstration and to sign up for this free service, go to JumbleMe.com.
SOURCE JumbleMe
