Medical Documentation Hipaa

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Created Jun ’15

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i am a psychiatrist. I got into iPad swift coding because I want to write a Medical progress note documentation app.

Some thoughts I have is: to always have internet connection at my work locations (meaning I will be using a mi-fi device / 4G to connect to the cloud. The cloud will be in the form of carbonite. This way, not much info is stored locally on the iPad, as there is always internet connection. And Carbonite is supposedly HIPAA compliant (HiPAA is the privacy laws that govern Health records).

I want to write an app that is split onto to iPads. The doctor has an iPad that he marks his notes and dictates parts of the note using siri. The patient also holds and ipad. The patient's iPad will ask survey like questions such as: In the last month have you thought about Hurting yourself / Wished you were not alive, etc (these are sensitive questions that has to be asked of every patient).

Via the cloud, I want the patient's answers to get to the doctor's iPad, such that any screened questions can be further evaluated during the patient visit. At the end of the visit, I want the integrated information from both ipads to coalesce into one sigle coherent, integrated note and printed via airprint.

My question is:

Do you think Carbonite with their supposed HIPAA (ie Health record encryption) compliant servers will serve me well to integrate the two iPads via cloud? Will such a cloud server allow two iPads to share info in real time like I described in my patient encounter scenario?

I want all the demographics information and Historical information to be stored on Carbonite. That way, any medical problems, Medicaton list, past history and other information such as family history, etc is all readily available via the cloud.

Thx for any input and if you foresee any problems, please let me know. I am early in learing swift and iOS development. I haven't written any apps before, but I do know a bit of python, C#, C++ (I have coded for my own entertainment before, but app and graphical interface is new to me).

cheers.

update: I called Carbonite: Carbonite is not set up for immediate, real time in app communication. It is more of a file back up and restore protocol. So, apps will not be able to communicate using carbonite. Completed files can be backed up and restored, but on the fly iPad to iPad communication cannot be so done.

I guess the other idea is to use blue tooth to communicate between the two ipads.

. . .

to be continued.

Any input is appreciated.

thank you

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Answer 1

RLKingSoftware OP

Aug ’15

You should check with HIPAA but, I'm fairly certain neither iCloud nor Siri are HIPAA compliant.

So, using either would be a violation of HIPAA guidelines. The HIPAA guidelines are very complex

and nearly impossible to implement in an environment such as you've described. Essentially, to

be compliant, all patient data, communications and anything else, has to be end to end encrypted

and cannot use an open network of any kind. To use the internet, you'd need a monitored, encrypted

vpn between both devices. To use bluetooth, you'd also need encryption on both ends. HIPAA also

requires regular reporting of the monitored connections, continuous password changes and more.

This is not something for someone without serious experience in secure networking matters to

take on.

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