The HIPAA guidelines, also known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, specify privacy and security requirements to safeguard the privacy of protected health information (PHI). The solution and security architecture for unified communications systems must adhere to the relevant standards, implementation guidelines, and specifications with regard to electronic protected health information (ePHI) of a covered entity.
Telehealth, or video conferencing, for medical and mental health treatments, has rapidly spread into the rural area during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, telemedicine was only beginning to gain popularity, particularly among individuals and families that reside in rural areas. Medical services, including mental health examinations, counselling, and treatment, have shifted online in response to the global instructions for people to take shelter in situ. Zoom is the most well-known and reputable live video conferencing platform for HIPAA-compliant telehealth medical appointments.
How is Zoom HIPAA Compliant?
By using the Zoom Platform and Zoom Phone, organizations can provide healthcare clients with services and still adhere to HIPAA regulations. In its capacity as a business partner, Zoom complies with the HIPAA Security Rule standards that are necessary and applicable to it in order to provide and manage the Zoom HIPAA Services. Protected health information (PHI) in the Zoom environment must be protected against unauthorized access and disclosure by administrative, technical, and physical measures that must be enforced by Zoom.
The primary goal of the HIPAA compliance is to ensure that each person's private health information is appropriately and safely protected. In order to secure the flow of health information and support the provision of high-quality medical treatment for the patient, it also supports the idea that each person's health information should be accessible to all necessary medical parties.
Zoom encrypts data in motion using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) at the application layer. Owner, administrator, and member access controls with several layers. Zoom verified email address and password are required for access to websites and applications. Meeting access is password- or waiting room-protected which follows HIPAA compliance guidelines.
Zoom follows HIPAA compliance as it has a distributed and redundant design to provide a high level of availability. For data in motion to your account, organizations can choose the areas of data centres. This parameter has no impact on where the data is stored at rest. Zoom uses end-to-end encryption to ensure that no one may intercept the data shared during video calls between healthcare professionals.
Zoom uses access measure restrictions, which are mandated by the HIPAA Security Rule, to restrict who has access to shared data. This is crucial because only individuals with the proper authorization and access may view the information. This is how Zoom follows the HIPAA standards and regulations.
Other factors have also supported the use of Zoom for mental health therapy. The effects of the epidemic have led to an upsurge in depression, anxiety, and addiction. Many people have found themselves in need of counselling from a psychiatric professional due to uncertainty about their career, their ability to make ends meet, and their own personal health and safety. More mental health practitioners are using Zoom to assist their patients now that it is HIPAA compliant. On the internet, Zoom is used by mental health doctors, counsellors for substance use disorders, cognitive-behavioural therapists, social workers, and marriage counsellors.
The general security criteria of HIPAA are completely met by Zoom for Healthcare. To top it all off, PHI was taken into consideration when designing the security system for the HIPAA-compliant Zoom for Healthcare, assuring that even if it sends PHI, Zoom is not granted accessibility to it.
Like Zoom, Xeven Solutions offers Mental Health telemedicine platform called Talk Psychiatrist. It is a telemedicine platform that complies with HIPAA regulations that connects patients and clinicians in real time with audio and video conversation.