Mobile technology in medicine has gotten very popular, very quickly. Doctors, nurses and other medical professionals already, as a matter of course, typically refer to their mobile devices during patient visits. They commonly take medical history and make notes on a laptop or tablet and may also share that information with colleagues, or even to look up drug interactions while seeing patients. Since medical experts generally are not IT gurus, you probably do not think about security risks as you race from patient to patient with your tablet.

1. Using Mobile Devices
as Tools for Patient Care Security
Mobile technology in medicine has gotten very popular, very quickly. Doctors, nurses
and other medical professionals already, as a matter of course, typically refer to their
mobile devices during patient visits. They commonly take medical history and make
notes on a laptop or tablet and may also share that information with colleagues, or even
to look up drug interactions while seeing patients. Since medical experts generally are
not IT gurus, you probably do not think about security risks as you race from patient to
patient with your tablet.
Mobile has Arrived — along with Concerns about Security
Risks
Along with the rest of society, the practice of medicine is going mobile in a big way.
Although there is significant risk associated with digital and mobile communication in
medicine, doctors, nurses and other clinicians are very familiar with weighing benefit vs
risk when considering the effect of treatment vs side effects. Mobile brings such a huge
increase in productivity that its use, in a practical sense, is inevitable. Fortunately, when
properly balanced with tight security; mobile is a win for patient care and data security.
Making Mobile Tools and Networks Safe for Patient Care
As a dedicated clinician, you want to make patient care time-efficient, accurate and
effective—mobile devices can help you with that. But you also want to ensure you don’t
accidentally reveal secure patient information or violate HIPAA rules. You can protect
your patients and yourself with carefully designed and followed protocols for mobile
device usage. At your own practice, you have email appointment scheduling, digital
communication with pharmacies and more. When seeing patients in the hospital or
clinic setting, you may use a different set of devices and different mobile networks.
The good news is that, as time passes, using mobile devices as patient care tools will
get easier with standardization. The Joint Commission Center for Transforming
Healthcare is working to make digital networks, mobile communication tools and

2. software both secure and user friendly for medical staff, industry wide. One such project
is their Patient Hand-off Communications Toolkit.
For successful mobile use in patient care, it’s important that technology not get ahead of
security. Until more standard protocols are developed for the healthcare industry, risk
management suggestions include:
 Do your best to get proper training on each device and network (and schedule
the same for your staff). Training should come from the person responsible for
creating the network or running it: such as the software maker (for software and
mobile devices used in your office and practice) or the medical group, hospital or
larger organization in which you work.
 When selecting devices for your own practice (not issued by a hospital or
medical group) be sure to select tools carefully. Try software before
committing/contracting to use it. Ask about data security and how it is maintained
by the network or software maker from which you are purchasing. If possible,
choose software developed with physician input—this way you can be
reasonably sure it is user-friendly for medical staff.
 When using a network or mobile communication tool run by your medical group
or hospital, make sure you clearly understand how and when it may be securely
used. Be clear on which type of information may be shared by mobile phone,
email, etc.; protect passwords; and make sure you are signed into the right
network when you share that material.
For more information on liability insurance coverage or keeping secure with electronic
health records, contact MedMal Direct today at MedMalDirect.com!

3. For a recent example of medical data breach and settlement, visit the National Law
Review article by Joseph Lazzarotti, published on September 8, 2015.
For tips on staying HIPAA compliant on mobile, read the AmericanBar.org article by
Catherine Barrett of the Federal Working Group, Washington, DC published in October
2011.
For more ways to use mobile technology for patient care visit
the HITConsultant.com article by Dr. Barreau, co-founder of Doc Halo, published
December 16, 2014.
For tips on choosing text messaging vendors visit the article by Fred Pennic, published
on January 29, 2014 on HITConsultant.com.
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