Healthcare Technology Featured Article

February 19, 2014

OnePass Secure Messaging App Now Integrates with Box Secure File Sharing


The growing use of mobile technology in the healthcare industry has created a new marketplace for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant apps, notably texting and messaging applications.

Emerge.MD is taking the messaging concept one step farther with the announcement that its OnePass secure messaging app will now integrate with Box, the file sharing and collaboration management solution. The goal of the partnership is to make it easier to share patient information quickly, easily and—most importantly for the regulation-heavy healthcare industry—securely.

For healthcare providers who use the OnePass app, the integration of the two solutions means they can share Box-hosted information about patients with other healthcare providers via a smartphone or tablet. According to the companies, both OnePass and Box support HIPAA and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) regulations.

"OnePass and Box are erasing the barriers to clinical collaboration and bringing healthcare provider communication in to the 21st century," said Dr. Jim Mankin, chair of surgery at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. "Physicians are the only people left on this planet using pagers, and it's ludicrous. Now, using my smartphone, I can pull up a patient x-ray on Box, and send it directly to another physician using OnePass without worrying about violating any privacy laws. It's a revelation."

The combination of messaging and cloud-based file storage has potential to help healthcare providers work remotely or in networks like government-incentivized accountable care organizations (ACOs).

This holds huge potential for the field of telehealth—where electronic information and telecommunications technologies supports long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.

The telemedicine industry is expected to almost triple in size, from $9.8 billion in 2010 to $27.3 billion in 2016, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.6 percent over the next five years, according to a report from BCC Research.

"To improve healthcare quality, we must improve healthcare access," said Emerge.MD CEO Shahram Partovi, M.D. "Telehealth strategies not only give patients better access to doctors, but also give doctors better access to information. The Box integration will improve the speed and accuracy of physician consults, and enable the care collaboration ACOs need to be successful while complying with privacy laws."

The OnePass mobile app is available for download from the Apple App Store now. An Android version will be announced in the near future.




Edited by Cassandra Tucker
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