Paubox is the easiest way to send and receive HIPAA compliant email. No portals. No plugins. No extra steps. Just secure email for both senders and recipients.
Exploring the Adjacent Possible with Blaine Kahoonei
The Adjacent Possible describes how innovation truly happens.
Peter Gassner and Dharmesh Shah are leaders in the Adjacent Possible for SaaS.
We implemented our own version of the Adjacent Possible today.
Peter Gassner and the Adjacent Possible
I first heard of the concept Adjacent Possible from Veeva CEO Peter Gassner at last year’s SaaStr conference in San Francisco.
Peter Gassner made a habit of taking a day off every three weeks to meet with someone outside his industry. His objective was to get exposed to new ideas from outsiders. In other words, he systemized a method to consistently level up. I recall immediately thinking that was very clever.
Veeva CEO Peter Gassner does not follow the herd
Nature Makes a Compelling Case for the Adjacent Possible
The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the Adjacent Possible: “The Genius of the Tinkerer.”
These two paragraphs beautifully summarize the genius of Adjacent Possible:
“The scientist Stuart Kauffman has a suggestive name for the set of all those first-order combinations: ‘the adjacent possible.’ The phrase captures both the limits and the creative potential of change and innovation. In the case of prebiotic chemistry, the adjacent possible defines all those molecular reactions that were directly achievable in the primordial soup. Sunflowers and mosquitoes and brains exist outside that circle of possibility. The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.
The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations. Think of it as a house that magically expands with each door you open. You begin in a room with four doors, each leading to a new room that you haven’t visited yet. Once you open one of those doors and stroll into that room, three new doors appear, each leading to a brand-new room that you couldn’t have reached from your original starting point. Keep opening new doors and eventually you’ll have built a palace.”
Dharmesh Shah and Learning Lunches
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I saw a post on LinkedIn from Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of Hubspot. The post explained how Dharmesh pioneered the concept of “Learning Lunches” before he started Hubspot.
The concept for Learning Lunches is simple:
“Take someone smart out for a meal. Learn something. Expense it. No approval needed. No limits. No rules. Use good judgment.
Paubox Adjacent Possible
After digesting these new ideas I’ve been exposed to here in Silicon Valley, I made the decision to launch our own hybrid of the Adjacent Possible today during our weekly staff meeting.
The Paubox Adjacent Possible, as of today, is very similar to Learning Lunches.
Indeed, as I reflect on how deeply we’ve invested in the V2MOM system developed by Salesforce, I realize we are already utilizing the Adjacent Possible. Our next logical step was to systemize it and turn it into a playbook.
Hawaii will always be home. And I love Silicon Valley at the same time. It’s the best place in the world to level up in SaaS.
When the fax machine was first successfully implemented in 1964, it seemed revolutionary. Long gone were the days of telegraphs and snail mail taking days or weeks to deliver documents. Now, you could fax any sheet of paper and it would deliver in minutes.
The fax machine led to the telegraph eventually phasing out of existence. When the fax market took off in the late 1960s, it seemed it was here to stay. You weren’t considered a “modern” office in those days unless you had a fax machine in your office.
But then a little thing called the Internet was born. It took off in the 1990s, and email followed closely behind.
Email took over as the signifier of a modern office because of it’s lightning fast speed. What took minutes for a fax machine to send and deliver a document took mere seconds with electronic mail.
As such, the fax machine went the way of the telegraph. It slowly started phasing out of existence in many modern offices, except one: healthcare offices.
Why do doctors still use fax machines?
Healthcare still uses fax machines for sending important documents such as patient records or prescription orders. Often times, these documents contain PHI of some kind.
As Sarah Kliff at Vox put it, fax machines are “thecockroach of American medicine: hated by doctors and medical professionals but able to survive — even thrive — in a hostile environment.”
And that’s somewhat true. Fax machines have been reliable for the longest of time – aside from the busy signals, blurry printouts, and faxes being sent to the wrong place entirely.
As it turns out, it was these reasons why the fax machine phased out of existence in most offices.
On the other hand, hospitals and doctor offices still can’t transfer electronic information to other hospitals and doctor offices. Despite billions of dollars being spent, healthcare still prints out documents and faxes them.
So what failed? The Obama administration did not take into account the reluctance of competing health systems willing to share data. They now admit that this assumption was “naive”.
David Blumenthal, a health policy coordinator for the Obama administration from 2011 to 2013, compared health systems to large corporations: “We don’t expect Amazon and Walmart to share background on their customers, but we do expect competing hospital system to do so. Those institutions consider that data proprietary and an important business asset. We should never have expected it to occur naturally, that these organizations would readily adopt information exchange.”
The HITECH Act is born
In February 2009, President Obama signed a stimulus package into law. The package included a 53-page section called the HITECH Act (the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health).
This act allotted $30 billion to incentivize doctors into adopting digital records. The ONC (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology) was in charge of creating a program to distribute the funds accordingly.
The government believed that if doctors began using electronic records, they would be more amenable to using further digital forms of communication such as secure email.
If doctors and hospitals met the criteria set by the ONC, they would receive bonus payments from the federal government taken out of the $30 billion incentive fund.
As the government hoped, these incentives worked – but only for those who were able to receive them. For instance, hospitals were quick to adopt EMRs because they were qualified for incentives payments. Nursing homes were not qualified, and thus took a much slower pace at adopting EMRs.
If your current doctor’s office allows you to see test results online, schedule an appointment online or message your physician online, that is a positive effect of the HITECH Act at work.
Hospitals and private practices are still businesses that need to stay ahead of their competitors. As a result, healthcare organizations are less likely to share patient information.
If one hospital were to exchange patient information to another hospital at the patient’s request, the transferred information makes it easier to for the patient to see another doctor. However, if a patient’s medical record is only exchanged within one hospital system, patients are encouraged to stick with the healthcare providers within that hospital.
Likewise, companies that sell electronic record makers are very competitive. Why create a medical record that connects well with other records when the electronic record company can provide an exclusive EMR altogether?
Healthcare still relies on the fax machine because the fax machine makes it tedious to transmit medical information. By making information harder to transmit, patients are more likely to stay within one preferred healthcare network.
How can we finally rid healthcare of the fax machine?
Farzad Mostashari, the healthcare policy coordinator who succeeded David Blumenthal in the Obama administration, had one key takeaway from his time in the White House.
To get rid of fax machines in healthcare, we must outlaw faxing in healthcare. He believes that if the government intervenes and gives the fax machine an expiration date in healthcare, doctors will have no choice but to rely on secure HIPAA compliant email instead.
“I think if we want to kill the fax, we need to schedule a funeral,” Farzad Mostashari said. “I think you need a pull and you also need a push.”
Now in the Trump administration, we have Donald Rucker running the ONC (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology).
Rucker believes that better-designed electronic records will help data transfer more freely in the long run. He also cited a new provision in the 21st Century Cures Act that “requires electronic records to exchange data with other records in a way that requires ‘no special effort.'”
What “no special effort” means is to be determined.
We’ll have to wait and see if the Trump administration’s approach to building better-designed electronic records will eliminate fax machines once and for all.
Until then, join us when we say, “No more faxes!” With faster and easy alternatives like secure HIPAA compliant email, the fax machine’s time has come and gone.
2 million of Nairobi’s 4 million residents live in slums.
Jake’s mom went to Punahou.
Dawn Nakano: “Public schools are where we make Americans.”
Jake thinks I should someday make a donation to Kuhio Park Terrace (my mom used to work there).
Jake is down to participate in an upcoming fireside chat we’re looking to do.
Like Marc Benioff, Jake is profit driven and mission minded.
Physicians Choice Medical Group
Physicians Choice Medical Group is a physician owned and directed, community-based medical group. Their physicians have decades of experience working together to enhance quality while managing the costs of health care.
Jake Sinclair had this to say about working with Paubox:
“I was able to continue giving away $500k a year to programs in Africa at a time when my business faced a threat of losing our position in the healthcare marketplace.
Paubox came along at a perfect time to enable us to maintain our contracts and continue our mission.”
Roy’s SF
Roy’s San Francisco is located in SoMa, just two blocks from the Moscone Center.
The first Roy’s was opened in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1988 by namesake Roy Yamaguchi, a James Beard Award winner. Since those early days, they have proudly spread their passion around the world.
There are 18 Roy’s restaurants in the continental United States, six in Hawaii, one in Japan and one in Guam.
On January 9, 2018, Alicia Ann Oswald submitted a HIPAA Email Breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Located in California, the Alicia Ann Oswald email breach affected 800 individuals’ protected health information.
Alicia Ann Oswald is classified as a Healthcare Provider.
HHS Wall of Shame
The HHS Wall of Shame is a website under the jurisdiction of HHS that lists all HIPAA breaches reported within the last 24 months. The Wall of Shame displays breaches that are currently under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights.
As part of section 13402(e)(4) of the HITECH Act, the HHS Secretary must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals.
HIPAA Breach Report
The Paubox HIPAA Breach Report analyzes breaches that affected 500 or more individuals as reported in the HHS Wall of Shame.
On January 5, 2018, Agency for Health Care Administration submitted a HIPAA Email Breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Located in Florida, the Agency for Health Care Administration email breach affected 30000 individuals’ protected health information.
Agency for Health Care Administration is classified as a Health Plan.
HHS Wall of Shame
The HHS Wall of Shame is a website under the jurisdiction of HHS that lists all HIPAA breaches reported within the last 24 months. The Wall of Shame displays breaches that are currently under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights.
As part of section 13402(e)(4) of the HITECH Act, the HHS Secretary must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals.
HIPAA Breach Report
The Paubox HIPAA Breach Report analyzes breaches that affected 500 or more individuals as reported in the HHS Wall of Shame.
DocuSign is a San Francisco-based company that provides electronic signature technology and digital transaction management services for facilitating electronic exchanges of contracts and signed documents.
DocuSign and the Business Associate Agreement
We’ve previously talked about how a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a written contract between a Covered Entity and a Business Associate. It is required by law for HIPAA compliance.
Although DocuSign does not have access to any PHI, it may hold PHI in encrypted form on its servers, and as such is a Business Associate (BA) and has entered into agreements with numerous HIPAA covered entities.
It also includes this section:
Has DocuSign signed HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with customers to date?
Yes, DocuSign has signed BAAs with healthcare and life sciences customers.
To the extent DocuSign receives or possesses access to Protected Health Information, DocuSign complies in full with the privacy and security requirements of HIPAA applicable to DocuSign as a Business Associate of our customer.
DocuSign has BAAs in place with customers who have Enterprise accounts and want to be HIPAA compliant. A signed BAA should be in place between DocuSign and the customer prior to transmitting any Protected Health Information (PHI) through DocuSign.
Does DocuSign Offer HIPAA Compliant Service?
The Business Associate Agreement is a key component to HIPAA compliance between a Covered Entity and a Business Associate.
Since DocuSign offers at BAA, we conclude that DocuSign is a HIPAA compliant service.
It’s important to note however, you must sign a BAA with DocuSign to be HIPAA compliant.
Conclusion
DocuSign meets HIPAA Compliance standards. Make sure you sign a BAA with DocuSign.
On January 12, 2018, Onco360 and CareMed Specialty Pharmacy submitted a HIPAA Email Breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Located in Kentucky, the Onco360 and CareMed Specialty Pharmacy email breach affected 53173 individuals’ protected health information.
Onco360 and CareMed Specialty Pharmacy is classified as a Healthcare Provider.
HHS Wall of Shame
The HHS Wall of Shame is a website under the jurisdiction of HHS that lists all HIPAA breaches reported within the last 24 months. The Wall of Shame displays breaches that are currently under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights.
As part of section 13402(e)(4) of the HITECH Act, the HHS Secretary must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals.
HIPAA Breach Report
The Paubox HIPAA Breach Report analyzes breaches that affected 500 or more individuals as reported in the HHS Wall of Shame.
Organic Content & SEO Specialist Bernard Huang signs an autograph while Takeshi Young of Optimizely welcomes us.
I went to my first SEO meetup of the year at Optimizely.
Lem Park, co-founder of BrightEdge, gave a impassioned presentation on why he believes SERP is your new homepage in 2018.
I love going to meetups like these where I learn a lot and the vibe is welcoming and chill.
Thanks to a LinkedIn post from my friend and Paubox NPS 11 promoter Bernard Huang (Clearscope co-founder), I attended my first SEO meetup of 2018.
Traven Watase (Scholar’s App) and I passed by Y Combinator, Shippo, Slack, EventBrite, Yahoo and 500 Startups on the 20 minute walk over. Man, I love having Paubox headquartered in San Francisco.
After signing in, I quickly located the heart of any self respecting Silicon Valley meetup: The obligatory pizza, beer and wine station. After scarfing down my meetup dinner (free pizza), I struck up a conversation with Jeff Chen via an intro from Bernard. I am certainly looking forward to implementing his creative content suggestions.
Yet before I could download a third slice of free pizza onto my paper plate, the meetup kicked off.
After some opening remarks, Lem Park of BrightEdge gave a compelling presentation on why he believes SERP is your new homepage in 2018. He also kindly provided a link to download a copy of his deck.
I learned a lot and am looking forward to attending the next BayAreaSearch meetup.
My favorite Lem Park quote of the night: “I like to nerd out” (hell yeah)
My key takeaway slide from Lem Park: Defend. Optimize. Create. Collaborate.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner is fired up for BayAreaSearch in 2018.
It was a rainy afternoon in San Francisco.
About BayAreaSearch
BayAreaSearch is a new association of Bay Area Search Marketing Professionals.
BayAreaSearch’s goals are:
Provide members with networking opportunities with other like-minded SEO pros
Promote education of SEO amongst its members and the Bay Area business community
Facilitate recruiting (it’s hard to find good SEOs!)
Written by Orlee Berlove, Director of Marketing at OnPage
OnPage has many answering services as clients.
They are often hired by a doctor’s offices to take messages after hours or during office breaks. When these answering services use OnPage or Paubox, they can send important patient messages in an encrypted and HIPAA compliant manner.
Last week however, one of our customers – let’s call him Joe – mentioned that some of the hospitals and clinics his answering service works with requested that he send text messages or emails with the names and phone numbers of patients who have called in.
Despite Joe’s argument that their request was forcing him to violate HIPAA regulations, Joe’s clients were not persuaded.
HIPAA compliance and the Business Associate
You might wonder why Joe is required to comply with the exigencies of HIPAA compliant messaging since his business is an answering service, not a doctor’s office. However, since Joe’s company was hired by a hospital, they are considered “business associates” (BA).
According to HIPAA, a “business associate” is a person or entity that performs certain functions or activities that involve the use or disclosure of protected health information on behalf of, or provides services to, a covered entity.
But, what happens when a BA is asked by the clinic or hospital that hires them to send straight, unencrypted messages to doctors or nurses which contained patient names, phone numbers and ailments?
In this case, both the doctors’ office and the BA would be liable for a HIPAA. Since answering services are granted access to patient information when patients disclose medical concerns that prompt them to call, the answering services are required to follow HIPAA statutes.
The HITECH Act signed in 2009 requires HIPAA covered entities and business associates provide for notification of breaches of “unsecured protected health information”. They cannot send unencrypted emails containing PHI nor can they send text messages which are unencrypted such as patient name and phone number to a doctor’s office.
Keeping it legal
There are significant reasons for the doctor’s office to be concerned about the activities of their business associate. Since answering services are business associates of the a physician’s office, a number of federal obligations under the Omnibus Final Rule and other HIPAA regulations apply. There is the clear potential for possible civil and criminal penalties if there is a violation such as through sending unencrypted emails or text messages.
Ten Commandments
Keeping all the requirements of HIPAA straight can be confusing at times, so I thought to clarify the requirements of HIPAA through the following 10 commandments:
In exchanging patient information, you will remember HIPAA and maintain the importance of protecting your patients’ privacy
Thou shall not put a patient’s name in communications that are not HIPAA compliant
Thou shall not put a patient’s phone number in communications that are not HIPAA compliant
Though shall not exchange patient information through emails which are not HIPAA compliant
Thou shall not exchange patient information through text messages which are not HIPAA compliant
Thou shall only use encrypted forms of communication for exchanging patient information
Nor shall you ask a business associate to send unencrypted, patient information on your behalf.
Thou will educate your employees on the requirements of HIPAA regulations and what HIPAA requires of them
Thou will ask questions if you have concerns or are unclear on implementation
Thou shall stay abreast of HIPAA updates and requirements
Keep it clean
Covered entities and the entities they work for are clearly liable if either is found to exchange patient information in an unsecured manner. However, by learning and following the ten commandments of HIPAA, both BAs and the offices they work for will be in better standing.
U.S. Healthcare is expected to add over 4 million jobs between 2012 and 2022. That’s more than any other industry.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there were 40 million Americans aged 65 years or older in 2009. Representing one in every eight Americans, the elderly demographic is expected to swell to 72 million Americans by 2030.
In other words, 19% of the U.S. population will be elderly by 2030.
The explosion in American senior citizens is due of course to the Baby Boomer Generation- those born in the 1940s and 50s.
The rapidly expanding elderly population dictates a need for more Senior Care Homes and Providers.
Types of Senior Care Homes
Senior Care Homes come in a variety of offerings and can be difficult to differentiate.
In this post, we’ll cover the different Senior Care Homes and services offered by Senior Care Home Providers.
In closing, we’ll discuss how HIPAA Compliant Email can improve operational efficiency for Senior Care Homes and Providers.
Assisted Living Facilities (ALF)
Assisted Living Facilities cater to seniors who are relatively independent and have few medical problems.
Residents in Assisted Living Facilities typically live in fully equipped private apartments with supervision or assistance with activities of daily living. In addition, there are numerous social outings and events to choose from for entertainment.
Assisted Living can be thought of as a philosophy of care and services promoting independence and dignity.
Assisted Living Facilities are also known as:
Assisted Living Communities
Congregate Care
Continuing Care Retirement Communities
Retirement Communities
Retirement Villages
Senior Apartments
55 + Communities
Intermediate Care Facility (ICF)
An Intermediate Care Facility is a senior care home facility for individuals who are disabled, elderly, or non-acutely ill.
An Intermediate Care Facility usually provides less intensive care than that offered at a hospital or Skilled Nursing Facility. Services are usually paid for by the senior or by the senior’s family. An senior’s private health insurance and/or a third party service like a hospice company may sometimes also cover the cost.
Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF)
A Skilled Nursing Facility caters to seniors who require 24-hour monitoring and medical assistance.
Patients typically suffer from severe illnesses including cardiac and respiratory diseases or are recovering from a serious injury. A hip fracture for example, would render a patient unable to care for themselves and thus a good fit for Skilled Care.
Today’s Skilled Nursing Facilities provide skilled medical attention such as physical therapists and licensed physicians. Gourmet dining services are also available at such Skilled Care Homes.
Skilled Nursing Facilities are also known as:
Convalescent Homes
Nursing Home Care
Skilled Care
Skilled Nursing Care
Home Health Care
Home Health Care helps patients and older adults live safely at home with medical conditions like acute chronic illnesses, terminal illnesses, post-surgical events, and short-term health needs.
Home Health Care typically includes part-time or intermittent Skilled Nursing Care and other skilled care services like physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology.
Home Care services may also include medical social services or assistance from a Home Health Aide. To receive these services, a doctor must first order a person’s home health care. A Home Health Care Provider then coordinates these services for the patient.
Certified Home Health Aides provide a range of services that include light housework, meal preparation, bathing, and assistance with getting dressed.
Home Health Care is also known as:
Home Care
Home Care Aide
In-Home Care
In-Home Senior Care
In-Home Personal Care
Residential Care Homes
Residential Care Homes are private homes that typically serve residents who live together and receive care from live-in caretakers.
Residential Care Homes offer assisted care services for seniors who want a more private, home-like community. Assistance with activities of daily living such as bathing and dressing are also typically provided.
Amenities and nursing services can vary greatly between Residential Care Homes.
Residential Care Homes are also known as:
Board and Care Homes
Group Homes
Adult Family Homes
Respite Care
Respite Care provides a temporary break for caregivers by allowing a resident to have a short-term stay in a community that can meet their needs. Many Assisted Living Facilities and Skilled Nursing Homes have a Respite Care program.
Respite Care residents typically stay from a week to a month, depending on their situation. They receive all of the services of the community.
Respite stays may also serve as a “get acquainted” period for the senior. Many residents find that they enjoy their stay and decide to move in soon after the short-term visit.
Respite programs are available for Assisted Living and Alzheimer’s residents.
Respite Care is also known as:
Short-Term Stay Programs
Adult Day Care
Memory Care
Memory Care residences offer 24 hour personal care assistance as well as meals, social activities and other amenities.
Memory care is intended for persons with dementia, usually related to Alzheimer’s Disease. Memory care homes also service those with dementia from Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and most other forms of dementia.
Security in memory care is both a priority and cost center. To prevent wandering, external access is often restricted. Recreational activities tend to offer fewer offsite outings.
As a result, memory care is about 25% more expensive than Assisted Living Care.
Memory Care is also referred to as:
Alzheimer’s Care
Dementia Care
Services Offered at a Senior Care Home
Here are some common services offered at Senior Care Homes.
Occupational Therapy deals with learning or relearning basic daily living skills. These skills include bathing, grooming, dressing and using the toilet. Occupational therapy allows the patient to return to a functional level of mobility and independence.
Physical Therapy services help the patient relearn how to walk and use tools such as a cane, wheelchair, walker, or artificial limbs. Physical Therapy prepares the patient to return to work status.
Speech Language Therapy services teach the patient to relearn their language abilities. This in turn improves their quality of life.
What is HIPAA Compliant Email?
The HIPAA Privacy Rule created, for the first time, a set of national standards for the safeguard of certain health information. It allows Covered Entities to disclose PHI to a Business Associate if they receive assurances that the Business Associate will use the information only in the scope of which it was engaged by the Covered Entity.
The HIPAA Security Rule was added to set out what safeguards must be in place to protect electronic PHI (ePHI), which is health information that is held or transferred in electronic form.
In regards to email, this means that covered entities are required to take reasonable steps to protect PHI from their computer and as it’s transmitted electronically, all the way to the recipient’s inbox.
If you are using a third party to transmit or host PHI, they are required by law to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with you. The BAA establishes that certain administrative, physical and technical safeguards are in place.
While there’s no certification that makes an email provider achieve HIPAA compliant email status, meeting the requirements set by the HIPAA Privacy & Security Rules is the best place to start, along with strong technical security measures to make sure PHI is protected inbox to inbox.
HIPAA Compliant Email for Senior Care Homes
Many Senior Care Homes face problems with HIPAA Compliance and employee productivity. Since they often deal with patient names, diagnoses and summaries, they are required by law to encrypt their data when sending information to team members and people outside of their organization.
Senior Care Home Providers typically send Protected Health Information (PHI) via fax or use code names via unencrypted email. Both practices however, are prone to error and HIPAA violations.
A fax can be sent to the wrong number or an employee can forget to use a code name. These methods are also terribly inefficient when used outside the office.
Hookele Health Navigators is an In-Home Care Provider in Honolulu. By choosing Paubox as their HIPAA Compliant Email provider, they were able to encrypt all of their outbound email without changing any settings on their computers, smartphones, or tablets. In addition, Hookele gained robust inbound email encryption and protection against ransomware attacks.
In a nutshell, Hookele Health was able to reap the benefit of secure HIPAA compliant email without changing the way they interact with email.
Bonnie Castonguay, Co-Founder of Hookele Health Navigators, recently had this to say about Paubox:
“We’re better now because we’re protecting our clients’ information. Thank you for the great service with Paubox.”
HIPAA Compliant Email for Senior Home Providers
Holistic Care at Home, a Home Health Care provider in Oakland, also gained security and operational efficiency with Paubox.
Holistic Care at Home is a Medicare-certified Home Health Agency that helps patients transition from facilities like hospitals or nursing homes to their home. Once orders are received from a doctor, Holistic Care at Home provides services to help patients manage and recover from their illness.
Zenaida Penetrante, CEO of Holistic Care at Home, recently had this to say about Paubox:
“You [Paubox] helped us a lot with HIPAA communications because you provided the service for HIPAA regulated email… We use it for all our clinicians.”
Every paid account includes the Paubox Business Associate Agreement.
For enterprise customers, we are willing to review and sign other organizations’ BAAs.
Today we received an inbound inquiry from an Employee Insurance Benefits provider in Champaign, Illinois.
They had a simple question for us:
Hi, can you tell me how I can sign a BAA with Paubox?
Thanks.
We thought the answer to their question would be useful to others out there so we created a blog post around it.
The goal of this post is to explain how you can sign a Business Associate Agreement, or BAA, with Paubox.
Business Associate Agreement (BAA)
As we’ve covered before, a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a written contract between a Covered Entity and a Business Associate. It is required by law for HIPAA compliance to ensure security and privacy.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
As a recap, HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is a federal regulation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information.
Here at Paubox, our sole focus is servicing the HIPAA Compliant Email space. Our unique value proposition is that we eliminated the extra steps (friction) from reading secure, HIPAA compliant email. In other words, we got rid of the cumbersome portals that everyone hates while still maintaining security and compliance.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Mizan Rahman: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
On Tuesday we attended the Redox social mixer at Uno Dos Tacos in the SoMa district.
While there, I got a chance to catchup with RightPatient CEO Mizan Rahman.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Mizan Rahman: I think in 2018, the biggest concern everybody needs to pay attention to is securing everything. Our communication need to be secure and our access need to be secure. I mean you know that nowadays anybody can walk in and pretend to be someone and can walk out with your medical record from hospitals. That’s the problem we are talking about.
So I think in 2018, it has to be a complete lockdown from you know, intrusion prevention, from our email security, from portal security, our app security, even the physical security.
If a patient walks in, we really need to know who the hell this guy is. He can pretend to be anybody else and walk out with the data. So I think 2018 is the year of total security.
Hoala Greevy: Sounds great!
About RightPatient
RightPatient offers an innovative and comprehensive patient identification solution. It increases patient safety, reduces costs, improves the quality of care, and enhances the patient experience.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Cesar Castro: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
On Tuesday we attended the Torreya Partners social mixer at Jones.
While there, I got a chance to interview Salesforce Community Cloud Senior Director Cesar Castro.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Cesar Castro: My biggest concern for digital health is accessibility to information. I’m actually personally going through an experience right now where I’ve injured myself. I injured my knee playing sports and I’m very anxious to get my hands on the information and all these tests that they’ve done.
So for me, how do we get this into the hands of the patient as quickly as possible? Not just you know, have that intermediary of the doctor looking at information, interpreting it for you, and having to wait. Because right now I’m waiting to hear from my doctor to tell me what’s going on with me, and in my condition, and what I need to do then.
So that for me it’s about disintermediation and how I can get access to the information as quickly as I want it.
Hoala Greevy: Wow, that’s a very relevant story.
Salesforce Community Cloud
The Salesforce Community Cloud is an online social platform that enables companies to connect customers, partners, and employees with each other. It combines the real-time collaboration of Chatter with the ability to share any file, data, or record anywhere and on any mobile device.
Community Cloud allows people to streamline key business processes and extend them across offices and departments, and outward to customers and partners.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Katie Kirsch: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
On Tuesday we attended the Redox and Rx.Health social mixer at Uno Dos Tacos in the SoMa district.
While there, I got a chance to catchup with Rx.Health CEO Ed Berde.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Ed Berde: You know as we look at digital health and where it’s going, we like to to actually use the term digital medicine. So there’s there’s digital health, which is the 300,000 health, wellness and fitness apps that you see in the App store. Many of those are unproven: They haven’t been through clinical trials, they haven’t shown efficacy.
I think that what’s now happening, what you’re seeing is that health systems are understanding that they can’t just bring in solutions that haven’t gone through clinical trials, and prove that they either improve patient outcomes or reduce the cost for health systems. We’re seeing a definite change.
When you talk about digital in health systems, so at JPM here last year and even the years before that, when you saw people presenting about digital, it was about what was going on inside of the health system. What were the changes around surgery and what were the changes around the EMR, what were the changes throughout some of the solutions doctors could use.
Now you’re seeing a shift where people are starting to understand and the presentations are about digital medicine outside of the health system. What are the apps that we can use to treat patients, how can we engage with the patient either through telemedicine or other solutions to really bring that together into comprehensive care for the patient.
Hoala Greevy: That’s great! Thank you.
Ed Berde: It’s an exciting time and I think that it’s gonna stay exciting for the next few years as we continue to bring those solutions together.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Santosh Mohan: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
On Tuesday we attended the BetterDoctor social mixer on the Embarcadero.
While there, I got a chance to catchup with Santosh Mohan of athenahealth’s More Disruption Please Labs.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Santosh Mohan: I’m a little bit concerned that we still have a lot of administrative waste in our industry. We lose a lot of money to it- about $190 billion each year, which is crazy.
We still lack practical and tactical solutions to address that. At the same time, our providers are very disengaged with the work and with the profession that they’ve taken up.
I think it’s important for us to work on freeing them up and getting them less bogged down, so that they can be more informed in the moment of care, to do the right thing and focus on the patient care.
It’s important to do this work. It’s not a cool moonshot that will blow your hair back. But it’s important to do this, not only because it’s the most humane thing to do, but because what freed up can look like and what additional space it can make for us to think about moonshots.
Hoala Greevy: That’s great man, thanks for sharing!
About Santosh Mohan
Santosh Mohan is the Head of More Disruption Please Labs with athenahealth. We first met when he attended a HealthTech Fireside Chat we hosted at 500 Startups in 2016.
Santosh has a Masters in Business Management, Clinical Informatics from Duke University. He’s also a Fellowship recipient from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Omar Shaker: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
On Tuesday we attended the BetterDoctor social mixer on the Embarcadero.
While there, I got a chance to catchup with Omar Shaker, Healthcare consultant with Clarity Insights.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Omar Shaker: My biggest concern is interoperability. I think it’s one of the biggest concerns of American healthcare in general.
A lot of our insurance companies have the will and the resources to bring in clinical data from all the hospitals they work with. There’s a lot of problems with standardization and with incentives that make this really hard.
I think this is really where the potential in digital health lies. Where you can be able to integrate data from a lot of different sources and being able to kind of look at a patient through all these different layers of data. I think that’s the single biggest challenge right now.
There’s so many EMR’s out there and there are so many standards. I think with the new HL7 FHIR standard it might get much more interoperable very soon. But it’s obviously going to require a lot of effort, a lot of resources, and a lot of know-how. I think that’s kind of the bottleneck right now.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Kevin Krauth: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
On Tuesday we attended the BetterDoctor social mixer on the Embarcadero.
While there, I got a chance to catchup with Kevin Krauth, Co-Founder & CEO of Orderly Health.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Kevin Krauth: My concern is that with all that’s changing on the political scene,the ACA going away and all the all the political battles over the ACA, I think it’s actually gonna give a lot of opportunity for us to realize how important it is to make sure that everybody is insured.
My hope is that the outgrowth of that will be that healthcare will be more driven by the consumer side. So you’ll have a lot more individuals who are taking ownership over their own care, realizing that their spending decisions actually matter and looking for insurance that’s important to match their needs.
Then ultimately getting to a place where we can revamp our insurance policy at the federal and state level in a way that actually makes sense for everyone, rather than having it be a political football that it’s been for the last several years.
Hoala Greevy: That’s great!
About Orderly Health
Orderly Health is a service that allows individuals to easily get their healthcare questions answered.
Whether people are looking for a highly rated doctor in their area, trying to find the cost of a prescription, or even speak directly with a board certified physician – their bot Louie has got things covered.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Vanessa Carmean, PhD: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
On Tuesday we attended the BetterDoctor social mixer on the Embarcadero.
While there, I got a chance to catchup with Vanessa Carmean, PhD of Zayo.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Vanessa Carmean, PhD: I think I’m concerned about our ability to keep the United States as a leader in health care and about the quality of outcomes for health care.
But what I’m really excited about for 2018 is all of the data that we’re generating from genomic studies and electronic medical records and the amount of faith and organizations that are getting into sequencing the human genome and what we can do with that data.
So bringing that data together for precision medicine in order to really have better outcomes than we’ve had before. To have more precise medicine, to have the right treatment the first time, so that our patients can have a better quality outcome.
Hoala Greevy: Thank you!
About Vanessa Carmean, PhD
Vanessa Carmean received her PhD in Neuroscience and has focused her career at the intersection of science, healthcare, technology, and business strategy.
She has started two companies and now leads the healthcare and finance segments at Zayo Group. Her work focuses on the data needs of health systems, life science, digital health companies, and driving Zayo’s growth in the healthcare and finance industries.
About Zayo
Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) provides communications infrastructure services, including fiber and bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud infrastructure to the world’s leading businesses.
Customers include wireless and wireline carriers, media and content companies and finance, healthcare and other large enterprises.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Dale Beermann: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
On Tuesday we attended the Redox social mixer at Uno Dos Tacos in the SoMa district.
While there, I got a chance to catchup with Pacifica Labs CEO Dale Beermann.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Dale Beermann: One of the things that we have to see are a lot of these digital therapeutics establishing very rigorous efficacy standards. I think what what is really exciting is that we’re starting to see this consumerization of healthcare happening.
But what I’m concerned about is that a lot of the tools that you see are developed for the consumer, but with the provider or the payer in mind. Ultimately if we aren’t addressing the pathways through which these consumers are addressing, in our case mental healthcare, but really it’s every aspect of healthcare.
If we aren’t taking a look at how that individual is receiving access to care and what that continuum really looks like, I feel like we are going to continue losing people every single step of the way.
We just have to find better ways to incorporate them into the healthcare setting and address their needs, not the needs of every single healthcare institution out there.
Hoala Greevy: Got it! Thanks Dale.
About Pacifica Labs
Pacifica Labs is a mobile application that empowers individuals to take control of their stress and anxiety by moving care into their daily lives.
Quick, engaging exercises teach users to manage and cope with their anxiety, in turn reducing the financial burden of payers, both individual and institutional.
Otherwise known as JPM Week, it’s an opportune time to get out and network amongst our peers in the Health Care industry.
Niko Skievaski: Biggest Concern for Digital Health in 2018
Tuesday evening we attended the Redox social mixer at Uno Dos Tacos in the SoMa district.
I got a chance to catchup with my friend Niko Skievaski, co-founder of Redox.
Here’s the transcript from our conversation:
Hoala Greevy: Howzit! This is Hoala Greevy, Founder CEO of Paubox. We’re here at Uno Dos Tacos, south of market, San Francisco. It’s JPM week 2018 and we’re here with our friend Niko Skievaski and we’re gonna ask a question during JPM week.
Niko, what’s the biggest concern for digital health in 2018, in your opinion?
Niko Skievaski: Good question. So what we’ve seen over the past few years is an amazing amount of innovation in digital health. There’s so many great companies coming out with amazing products that can actually make a difference in patients’ lives and making health care more efficient and transforming the the way we deliver healthcare.
I think the biggest challenge that we have this year and the biggest risk is that these technologies don’t actually get adopted by the health systems they were meant for. That’s a huge gap in the market right now: We have a lot of stuff on the innovation side but nothing that has made it over the chasm into the mainstream.
And if we don’t get some big wins, we’re gonna see the winds taken out of the sails of entrepreneurs and innovation might stifle.
So we are hoping that we can get more and more adoption of these digital tools, get health systems to open up more, do more pilots, take more experiments, learn from that, and iterate on it. You know, actually transform healthcare the way we know it should be.
Hoala Greevy: And that’s exactly what Redox does, isn’t it?
Niko Skievaski: We help to integrate, we’re a piece of that. But the innovations on the front-end are the things that are actually the magic, making lives better.
