“Encrypting emails that contain patient records is the responsible thing to do. But more importantly, it’s the law. Legally, we have to take measures to protect our patients’ privacy. Thankfully, Virtru has made that simple for us.”
– Abe Bejjani, IT Director at Massena Hospital
Patient Protection that Exceeds HIPAA Requirements
The Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) holds healthcare providers to high patient privacy standards. Privacy issues are paramount in healthcare and, if not properly addressed, can have serious legal ramifications. Massena Hospital takes HIPAA mandates particularly seriously. That’s why finding a data protection solution they could actually trust was so important to Massena.
In addition to PHI, Massena handles non-medical data that still must be secured. “There are a lot of billing and insurance transactions to be protected,” says Bejjani. “Credit card information, social security numbers, and so forth—much more than just patient medical histories.”
Massena has 260 total Gmail users, each of who use Virtru email encryption. These users span multiple departments and job titles, and Virtru provides them the flexibility to encrypt communications on an email-by-email basis. “Some days,” says Bejjani, “only ten of the 260 might be working with information that needs to be encrypted. Other days, it might be over 50. But if users need it, if the information calls for encryption, they have it at the ready.”
An Easy Choice
Massena chose Virtru for the simple fact that their service was easy to use and enforce. Bejjani recalls when a customer service provider was unable to work with Massena because of how difficult the hospital’s previous encryption tool was. “We couldn’t force partners to encrypt their servers, which our former product required,” he says. But Virtru makes it easy for recipients to read secure emails. And since Virtru allows email recipients to encrypt their replies, Massena’s partners can safely protect patient’s records in their communications with the hospital.
In addition to this ease of use, two other distinctions made Virtru the obvious choice for Massena:
“It’s good to have someone we trust to keep our data safe. And when we discuss these issues
with our board members—or anyone with an interest—we feel confident in our processes. Virtru’s security is something that we’re proud of, something that we stand behind.”- Abe Bejjani, IT Director at Massena
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