The healthcare sector has been hit harder than most over the last two years. 

But unlike companies in other industries that were able to purchase cloud-based products at the drop of a hat, healthcare providers have remained bound by strict compliance because of the nature of the data they handle. 

In the US, this means complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, to secure Protected Health Information (PHI). 

The radical shift to remote working, coupled with the sense of data protection being more important than ever, has put a great deal of strain on the healthcare vertical, net2phone CTO, Jeffrey Skelton, explained. 

“The way that people interact with their healthcare provider has drastically changed,” he said. 

“There’s been a lot more telecommunications added to the process of interaction between providers and patients, or if patients have been going to physical appointments, they have to be marshalled in a way that only one patient can be there at one time.” 

“Healthcare providers have had to deal with that and at the same time they still have all their obligations of keeping patient data secure.”  

This has, of course, led to healthcare providers turning to cloud-based solutions – but they need to ensure that these solutions are as secure as their on-premises predecessors. 

At the same time, net2phone has been working to make its cloud PBX HIPAA compatible – which it has now done successfully. 

net2phone invested time and money in building out the solution, along with support from its parent company, IDT, and specialist consultants in the HIPAA space. 

The outcome is that net2phone’s hosted PBX calling solution is HIPAA compatible, along with three important features: 

  • Call recording 
  • Voicemail 
  • Voicemail transcription 

Skelton stressed that healthcare providers need to ensure that they cover all their bases when it comes to protecting PHI. 

“We have to look at all of the places that information or data may be captured,” he said. 

“When you get into the telecommunications space, we look at things like voicemail. If a patient is leaving a message with a healthcare provider, that message could contain PHI.” 

“The medical office is not soliciting that information from the patient, but they also can’t prevent the patient from leaving the message, so they have to make sure that the voicemail is kept private and secure.” 

“The same is true of call recording. If the provider records their calls, they could be in a situation where the recordings contain protected information, and then you have other things like faxes or even just the call records themselves.” 

“We keep that information encrypted, secure and ensure healthcare providers that they can use us and continue to be compliant.” 

Increased Demand

Skelton said that net2phone has seen increased demand from healthcare providers since announcing its HIPAA compatibility – particularly from companies that want to sign Business Associate Agreements which detail how net2phone can help it maintain their compliance. 

He explained that there are multiple reasons why a business might look to upgrade their comms systems. 

“There’s a lot going on,” he said. “Maybe a provider is moving to a new location or expanding their office, or maybe just dealing with the changes that have come about because of Covid. 

“You also have new businesses born every day or businesses that go through mergers, so there are all kinds of opportunities to change the platform they’re using for telecommunications. 

“And this is true of any industry, not just healthcare providers.” 

 

 



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