AT&T announced two new mobile security services for healthcare providers: security services for tablets and secure messaging services that enable providers to send encrypted information in HIPAA-compliant ways. Appointment reminders, lab results, and payment notices were among the type of messages that AT&T provided as examples. AT&T is working with Soprano to power its secure mobile messaging platform.
The two new mobile security offerings are called AT&T Managed Tablets and AT&T Global Smart Messaging Suite for Healthcare.
The tablet security offering follows on the growing trend of tablet adoption among healthcare providers, especially physicians. As has been pointed out repeatedly in the past few years, tablets and other mobile devices likely increase security threats given their portable and sometimes highly desirable status. As physicians push to have better access to hospital information systems, especially EMRs, right from their mobile devices, companies like AT&T see an opportunity to provide security services and help CIOs feel more comfortable about enabling providers access to sensitive data on tablets.
AT&T says its tablet security offering can work with any tablet. Part of the offering includes remote wipe capability, so the device can be erased if it is lost or stolen. The mobile operator also says the offering works for both tablets that a healthcare facility deploys to its physicians as well as those personal devices that care providers bring in from home.
The AT&T Global Smart Messaging Suite for Healthcare, which AT&T is working with Soprano to offer, includes encrypted outbound messages that enable providers to send patients highly-secure healthcare communications when they opt-in to do so. Cipher is the part of the system that transmits the encrypted information, while a downloadable app, called AT&T Secure Messaging, decrypts the message. The offering works across mobile operators, on any smartphone platform, and on some feature phones.
“Text messaging is proving to be an effective way to engage patients in their care, improve patient satisfaction, and even improve clinical outcomes,” Dr. Joseph Kvedar, Founder and Director of the Center for Connected Health, Partners HealthCare, stated in the AT&T announcement. “Messaging programs have great potential for providing low-cost, accessible, educational messaging to patients, and we look forward to additional applications of these powerful tools for reaching diverse and large patient populations.”
For more, check out the press release below:
PRESS RELEASE: We live in a world where trillions of messages are moving across wireless and wired networks every year. The messages that contain private health information continue to be a focus area for everyone in the healthcare community.
In addition, hospitals and healthcare providers are increasingly relying upon the convenience and flexibility of tablets — particularly in light of the increasing number of healthcare related apps being developed. The challenge facing the healthcare industry is how it can use messaging and tablets in a way that protects their patients’ confidential information.
AT&T* is bringing two highly-secure offers to market to help healthcare providers manage regulatory compliance and the protection of patient privacy in deploying tablets and using messaging.
AT&T Managed Tablets – a highly-secure, end-to-end management solution bundling software and services with any tablet that is easy to purchase and deploy.
The offer enables customers to better regulate the use of tablets by controlling their introduction into the networked environment, ensuring that the devices have the appropriate security capabilities and can be remotely erased if the device is lost or stolen.
By using AT&T Managed Tablets, healthcare systems and hospitals can provide highly-secure access to resources, records and information at the fingertips of healthcare professionals kept in the facility’s information infrastructure — which can provide patients’ information within seconds.
AT&T Managed Tablets meets a variety of needs; options range from a fully procured and managed model to a bring-your-own-device model, where AT&T enables an employee’s personal tablet to be ready for use in the healthcare field.
AT&T Global Smart Messaging Suite for Healthcare, Powered by Soprano – the mobile messaging platform now includes encrypted outbound messages in support of HIPAA compliance, so patients can opt to receive highly-secure healthcare communications, such as appointment reminders, payment notices and test results.
A new messaging application called Cipher enables the transmission of encrypted information.
A downloadable application called AT&T Secure Messaging allows for decryption of the message.
The platform is available across carriers and on any smartphone or select feature phones.
“Text messaging is proving to be an effective way to engage patients in their care, improve patient satisfaction, and even improve clinical outcomes,” said Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar, Founder and Director of the Center for Connected Health, Partners HealthCare. “Messaging programs have great potential for providing low-cost, accessible, educational messaging to patients, and we look forward to additional applications of these powerful tools for reaching diverse and large patient populations.”
“AT&T is overcoming barriers in mobile healthcare,” said Randall Porter, Assistant Vice President, AT&T ForHealth. “Highly-secure mobile solutions make it simple for providers and patients alike to adopt new mHealth technologies.”
Healthcare providers can see demonstrations of these solutions at booth #3829 at HIMSS12 in Las Vegas from Feb. 20 - Feb. 24, 2012.
1CTIA's Wireless Industry Indices: Semi-Annual Data Survey Results, A Comprehensive Report from CTIA Analyzing the U.S. Wireless Industry, Mid-Year results, November 2011
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T |DIRECTV brands. The company’s suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.
Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT.
