As convenient as gmail may be and shared documents, contacts everywhere, and cloud based services may be, we still have to consider regulations. HIPAA poses some very important questions when it comes to usability of open communication in the medical service industry.
Many small medical providers are left with self-hosting their email services or licensing services from HIPAA compliant medical service firms when Google’s services may be more secure when tuned properly. This Google provided document details how to configure Google Apps services from an administrator level and ensure your users are locked from certain sharable resources like youtube and other non-PHI (Protected Health Information) compliant services. Enabling 2-factor authentication further secures your account and data.
Ask Tidewater Techs how we can configure your Google Apps services to be HIPAA compliant.
For more have a read: hipaa_implementation_guide