Are all Chat Platforms safe for Healthcare ?

In our present healthcare system, communication and sharing of patient information among our colleagues is very important for prompt clinical decision making. We use many chat platforms like Whatsapp, Telegram in our work place for our sharing patient details to discuss on treatment options, to get opinions - for the benefit of our patients.

 

We need to look into certain important factors - how safe in terms of Data security and Privacy when we use Open chat platforms in our hospitals / clinics. 

- All information about the patient which are shared in the chat,  is stored in everyone's mobile and there is more chance of getting forwarded outside - like patient clinical information, clinical photographs.

- Even if a person leaves an organization, still he carries all the information from his workplace which was shared through the open source chat platform all these days.

When it comes to Healthcare,  it is ideal that we should have a better control over the group members (with their defined roles and permissions) and the data shared (as not to download, forward the information without permissions).

Hence it is always appropriate to use customized platforms for communication in Healthcare which are compliant with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and assures data security and privacy.