Health information service provider DataMotion and health care management solutions specialist NeoDeck Holdings have teamed up to offer an email encryption solution for clinical and non-clinical exchange of protected health information (PHI).
NeoDeck will add DataMotion’s line of secure messaging solutions to its product portfolio, allowing NeoDeck customers to use DataMotion’s cloud-based encryption technology, including Direct Secure Messaging and SecureMail.
Based on the national encryption standard for securely exchanging clinical health care data over the Web, DataMotion Direct enables secure messaging for health care providers, patients, business associates and clinical systems.
Introduced in 2012, Direct provides data transfer capabilities for real-world health care communications, including secure email for sending and receiving PHI, summary of care documents and large images for both in-network and out-of-network communications.
NeoDeck will offer DataMotion’s solutions alongside its own suite of health care management software, including the NeoMed 3.0.0.7 EHR (electronic health record) offering.
“Two aspects of security are especially prominent in health IT. First, by nature, health IT workflows handle protected health information. Federal regulations mandate a comprehensive security approach, with protection of data in motion and also of data at rest,” Bob Janacek, chief technology officer and co-founder of DataMotion, told eWEEK. “In addition, Meaningful Use 2 requires electronic health record systems to have the capability to exchange patient records using Direct Secure Messaging. Building on the security of data in motion and at rest, Direct adds identity vetting of senders and recipients, so that the parties involved in the transmission are known.”
In addition to reselling DataMotion solutions, NeoDeck is also a customer, using its partner’s SecureMail on its own behalf to exchange sensitive information.
Janacek noted mobile technology has penetrated health IT from the bottom up. Consumers and health care providers use smartphones and tablets in their daily lives and expect to use these devices for clinical messaging.
As a result, health care messaging systems, such as the ones provided by DataMotion, must support the widest range of devices, including smartphones and tablets, and laptops and desktops, while also being embedded into larger clinical systems via programmatic API integration.
“Health care providers, ranging from physician practices to large hospital systems, that wish to receive MU2 financial incentives—and longer term, avoid penalties—must use an EHR that has Direct messaging capability,” Janacek explained. “In addition, those providers must have 10 percent or more of their transition of care documents sent electronically instead of by fax or mail, with Direct messaging being the leading way to meet this measure.
NeoDeck has ONC HIT 2014 Edition certification of its NeoMed 3.0.0.7 EHR system from the International Computer Security Association (ICSA) Labs, an Office of the National Coordinator-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB).
DataMotion recently reported it has enabled or is under contract to enable 47 EHR systems to achieve ONC HIT 2014 edition certification using its Direct Secure Messaging service.
Outside the Direct messaging platform, traditional encrypted email systems, such as the company’s SecureMail platform, allow a range of health care provider and payer organizations to streamline and accelerate their workflows, eliminating fax and paper, to reduce costs while maintaining security and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance, Janacek said.