Cirius Whitepaper for Dental Clinics

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1 Cirius Whitepaper for Dental Clinics Reputation management, increased efficiency and cost savings: How secure messaging is enabling far more than HIPAA regulatory compliance for dental practices. Summary In this age of heightened patient information regulation, secure messaging, including encryption, is a critical solution for dental practices to ensure regulatory compliance with HIPAA and the Omnibus Final Rule. But secure messaging platforms have evolved far beyond traditional encryption. Today, many dental practices are taking advantage of powerful, yet easy-to-integrateand-use, cloud-based information management platforms that enable greater communication, collaboration and productivity in a secure environment. In addition to protecting their reputation and bottom line, these dental practices are seeing improved patient experiences, increased efficiency and reduced business expenses. Introduction Dental practices are among the fastest growing adopters of cloud secure messaging because of the need to comply with HIPAA and the Omnibus Final Rule. However, where secure messaging has even greater impact for dental practices is when it becomes a core communication tool that encompasses secure , including mobile messaging, data loss prevention and rapid large file transfer. The result is a differentiated dental practice that delivers a superior patient experience, has more productive employees, lower business expenses, and less security risk.

2 The Impact of the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule on Dental Practices By now, every dental practice should be aware that HIPAA holds them responsible for the protection of patient health information (PHI). It is every dental practice s responsibility to implement safeguards to ensure the security of their patient information. However, the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule, which came into effect in 2013, has left many dental practices scrambling to find effective methods to remain HIPAA compliant. These changes make it particularly important for dental practices to implement secure messaging as a solution. The changes are as follows. Change #1: Patients now have the right to ask for a copy of all their medical records in an electronic format. This includes dental records. These documents must be sent using a secure method. Compliance: Secure messaging empowers practices to quickly and easily provide electronic patient records through a fully secure platform. In addition to regulatory compliance, research shows that an increasing number of patients prefer electronic patient records over paper records. Change #2: All patient information breaches must now be reported, even if the information does not contain birthdates or zip codes. Financial penalties have increased to as much as $1.5 million per violation. The HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule of 2013 has left many dental practices scrambling to find ways to remain compiant. Compliance: Secure messaging prevents unsecured information from accidentally being shared. With these capabilities, dental practices are far better equipped to avoid the fiasco of a patient data breach. Given the potential legal costs, penalties and the devastation to the reputation of the practice, savvy dental practices understand how core secure messaging is to the foundation of their practice. Change #3: If a dental practice can demonstrate a low probability that the patient information has been compromised, breach notification is not necessary. The following four risk factors are assessed to determine whether the incident meets this threshold of low probability: 1. The nature and extent of the PHI involved, including the types of identifiers and the likelihood of reidentification. 2. The unauthorized person who used the PHI or to whom the disclosure was made. 3. Whether the PHI was actually acquired or viewed. 4. The extent to which the risk to the PHI has been mitigated. Compliance: Secure messaging plays a pivotal role in helping practices meet this low probability threshold for PHI breaches with advanced control features that include real-time tracking, message recall, forward/ reply freeze and For Your Eyes Only (F.Y.E.O) password protection.

3 The Real Value of Secure Messaging For Dental Practices While secure messaging is essential for HIPAA security and compliance, the true value of the solution lies in its ability to help dental practices differentiate themselves from the competition. Improved Patient Experience Reputation is everything for a dental practice and word-of-mouth is still a practice s most valuable marketing tool. Secure messaging is a reputation insurance policy that gives your patients confidence that their information will be safe with your practice. Secure messaging can empower your practice to build and maintain a reputation of trust. In addition, patients will appreciate the increased efficiency of communications, knowing these communications are fully secured. With secure messaging, you and your patients can securely exchange information using regular or through a web browser, smart phone or tablet. Patients will no longer have to fill out or print out paper forms prior to an appointment. With secure messaging, patients can safely fill out web form on your website. With secure messaging, your practice can easily and securely prescriptions to a pharmacy. No more cumbersome and time-consuming paper prescriptions. With secure messaging, both you and your patients can have real-time knowledge about whether s were received and what subsequent actions were taken. This type of transparent communication can be a big competitive differentiator for your practice....word-of-mouth is still a practice s most valuable marketing tool. Improved Employee Productivity Secure messaging helps dental practices become far more efficient at managing their information by vastly reducing dependence on paper-based processes. With secure messaging: Employees no longer have to fax or mail dental records, invoices, prescriptions and other documents. Instead, employees can securely these documents to expedite communications with patients, other providers, pharmacies and insurance companies. Employees no longer have to transcribe handwritten patient forms that can sometimes be difficult to read, thanks to the secure web forms through secure messaging. Employees are equipped with better information and are less likely to make needless follow-ups with patients and providers. Secure messaging enable employees to know whether an has been read and what action was taken. For example, an employee can send an appointment or payment reminder to a patient and know exactly when the message was read. Employees can easily and securely large files including dental x-rays and patient records. Secure messaging also enables recipients to easily and securely send back any large files. Employees can use any device, including smart phones and tablets, to send and receive secure messages using any web browser at any location. Reduced Business Expenses The cost savings of secure messaging is a welcome surprise for many dental practices. In fact, secure messaging easily pays for itself with the following unexpected cost savings: Postage and parcel Fax lines and fax machines Paper shredding and storage SMS and voice services used for automated appointment reminders

4 A Huge Step Beyond Traditional Encryption Traditional encryption solutions have earned a reputation for being difficult to use and deploy, for having low user adoption (because they are not user friendly), and for ultimately providing little net value to a practice over and above compliance. Today, cloud-based secure messaging solutions like Cirius are changing the game by providing bottom-line business value and return on investment that go far beyond encryption for regulatory compliance. And because these tools integrate with existing systems that employees are already using and are hosted in the cloud, they are much more user friendly and don t require any extra technical know-how or resources to implement and support them. Cirius is one of the fastest growing secure messaging platforms on the market. It is being adopted rapidly by dental practices not only because it is remarkably easy to use and deploy, but also because it delivers essential business value and a competitive advantage beyond compliance. Cirius secure messaging goes beyond traditional encryption in the following ways: Simple to use: Cirius integrates with existing infrastructure including Microsoft Outlook, Office 365, Gmail, Yahoo and other standard platforms using existing addresses. Doesn t require technical know-how: No need to bring on IT staff to implement or support Cirius secure messaging. As a cloud-based solution, Cirius has no hardware to install, deploys in minutes, and uses existing infrastructure so it is virtually transparent to the user. Custom branded environment: Cirius can be customized to fit the branded look and feel of your practice to ensure a consistent employee and patient experience. Reputation protection: Cirius enables practices to build a reputation of trust in which patients feel confident their information is safe and secure. Controlled communications: Cirius patented user-friendly Delivery Slip feature empowers employees to track when an is received and read and control whether it can be replied to or forwarded by the receiver. Employees can recall a message after it has been sent and apply password protection for sensitive information. Conclusion Although dental practices initially adopt secure messaging to comply with HIPAA and the Omnibus Final Rule, these practices soon discover that secure messaging lays the foundation for an efficient and successful practice. Cirius secure messaging enables practices to improve the patient experience, increase employee productivity and lower business costs. To experience the ease and power of secure messaging, go to cirius.com/trial to start a free trial.

5 About Cirius Cirius is a simplified, secure communications and information management solution that enables companies to protect and control and valuable company data. More than 5,000 customers worldwide from small businesses to global enterprises, in every industry sector depend on Cirius innovative platform to communicate securely on any device, rapidly transfer larger files and prevent sensitive data loss. Cirius is a cloud-based solution that is easy to use and deploy, yet powerful in its many applications. In this age of growing regulatory oversight and increased pressure to safeguard customer data, Cirius is helping companies gain a competitive edge through better relationships, increased productivity, lower overhead, and a reputation of trust. Visit cirius.com for more information.