Phone.com Finds HIPAA Compliance

The protection of sensitive data is something much scrutinized across industries. As compliance regulations rule these practices it is critical to meet these requirements head on. When selecting technology components compliance must be front of mind during the process and in healthcare, this means HIPAA. While the cloud affords much, not all cloud communications solutions are created equal. Allow me to explain.

For cloud-based communications provider, Phone (News - Alert).com, for instance, it turned to a partner to ensure that healthcare professionals can communicate with colleagues and patients effectively under HIPAA regulations. The Compliancy Group served Phone.com (News - Alert) well in ensuring the provision of a compliant VoIP system.

“About a year ago, I didn’t even know what a Business Associate Agreement was,” said Joel Maloff (News - Alert), Senior Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Chief Compliance Officer at Phone.com. Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) are legally mandated contracts that business associates like Phone.com must sign in order to protect sensitive health care data being stored, transferred, or communicated on their systems. If healthcare vendors and service providers aren’t HIPAA compliant, they can’t faithfully execute BAAs for their clients. Health care providers are more selective than ever before about finding vendors that will sign a BAA and keep their data safe, especially now that cyber-security incidents are making the headlines week after week.”

This was only the beginning for Maloff and the Phone.com team, as after some due diligence found a competent HIPAA compliance consultant. It was clear that there was some work to be done. Phone.com was tasked with identifying vulnerabilities. Plain and simple, the possibility of clients seeking to leverage the Phone.com system for data transfer out of compliance was unacceptable, “When you point to the risk that this kind of hypothetical can present, it captures everyone’s attention pretty quickly,” Maloff explained.

HIPAA compliance can appear a daunting task, of this there is no question. However, for those providing cloud-based communications solutions to the healthcare space, this is not an optional undertaking. The Compliancy Group delivered the guidance and insight to make the move toward HIPAA compliance in a rapid and painless manner. ​ “Before we worked with Compliancy Group, there was a tendency to look at HIPAA as overwhelming, a huge undertaking–something that was going to be a burden both of cost and time. The lesson we learned? That’s just not so with Compliancy Group.”

Phone.com can offer clients the peace of mind of compliance. No questions asked.

Are your communications in compliance?