In the healthcare sector, fax machines are a vital tool that enable stakeholders (medical practices, hospitals, testing laboratories) to exchange exponential amounts of data. According to a study conducted by IDC, the world leader in IT market research, more than 2.5 trillion gigabytes of data were generated by the healthcare sector in 2020. As surprising as it may seem, fax is the preferred communication tool for healthcare professionals because it ensures secure information exchange that complies with medical confidentiality rules. Docoon offers a solution that directly integrates fax via the simple integration of its API.
A fundamental obligation: ensuring compliance with health data protection
All stakeholders in e-health or digital health are faced with the complex issue of health data protection. Article L.1110-4 of the Public Health Code requires all healthcare professionals, institutions, health data hosts, and their subcontractors to respect the right to medical confidentiality.
E-health start-ups and traditional information system providers must therefore implement IT security measures and technical protection measures that comply with current requirements and state-of-the-art technology, as set out in particular in the General Health Information System Security Policy (PGSSI-S), namely:
– Implement all necessary precautions regarding personal authentication measures for healthcare professionals (e.g., controlled access to servers, such as the healthcare professional card provided for in Article L.161-33 of the Social Security Code) and patients.
– Ensure the traceability of all access to personal data
– Ensure the organization of deployment, monitoring, and maintenance of information security in all its aspects: logical (firewall, encryption, passwords), physical (smart cards, etc.), organizational, etc.
The CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) regularly calls hospitals to order for failing to respect data confidentiality.
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Fax meets security requirements for communicating health results
The exchange of information between healthcare professionals involving the processing of personal data is therefore subject to complex regulatory legislation. This is why email is limited to customer relations and is not used (or very rarely used) for the exchange of health data. Conversely, faxes comply with medical confidentiality rules.
Furthermore, unlike a fully encrypted information system, which is often time-consuming and difficult to set up, in which the hospital, clinic, or medical analysis laboratory are the senders and the attending physician is the recipient, fax integration via an API can be completed in just one afternoon!
For example, medical analysis firms need to send blood test results to doctors in a completely secure manner. By integrating fax directly into their software, results are sent to doctors automatically according to the following pattern:
3. Opt for a multi-channel API that distributes and automates faxing
Fax is one of the only tools that is truly secure, affordable, and fully compatible for exchanging medical information in a secure environment. In the healthcare sector, it is used to communicate sensitive data such as:
- Paper medical records
- Laboratory results
- Nursing orders for patients
- Emergency orders
- Information about patients between practitioners
- Medical information to insurance companies
- Clinical pharmacy records
- Pharmaceutical product specifications
- …
Fax is therefore an effective solution as a first step toward digitizing exchanges between healthcare professionals. Its integration enables the transition to a 100% paperless, secure, and encrypted messaging system. What's more, by relying on a multichannel communication platform, you can be sure that you have a partner who will evolve with you and meet your future needs.
The Docoon by Odyssey solution provides a cloud-based communication platform and a unique multi-channel API that can be used to distribute and automate all types of messages, including those in fax format.
Please feel free to contact our team to find out how to implement this solution.
