Zoom gives healthcare organizations and providers access to more HIPAA-compliant features and capabilities

Zoom Video Communications has announced enhanced features for healthcare customers to communicate even more efficiently with the platform. The company’s HIPAA-compliant healthcare license has helped providers, hospital administrators, and health systems use video in various ways, from conducting virtual doctors’ visits to connecting medical communities.

The expanded offering gives healthcare organizations and providers access to more HIPAA-compliant features and capabilities — along with the ability to customize what features they allow or disable within their network.

New enhancements being offered

Organizations with a Zoom for Healthcare license can now access features and products like Zoom Chat, cloud recording for clinical applications, and Zoom Phone under the company’s updated business associate agreement (BAA). This means they can leverage more of the platform, while still maintaining privacy, security, and compliance says a statement from the company.

With Zoom’s BAA license, organizations can:

• Enable Zoom Phone, Zoom cloud VoIP phone solution featuring secure HD voice; call forwarding, recording, and delegation; and voicemail transcription.
• Use Zoom Chat to quickly and securely communicate with colleagues, onsite or on the go
• Record Zoom sessions to the cloud.
• Provide a secure location for patient health information and reporting on the administrator dashboard.

Additionally, administrators have the flexibility to turn these settings on and off at the organization level depending on specific policies. This allows them to give employees what they need when they need it, without worrying about granting access to unnecessary features.

Healthcare providers need to trust in the technology they’re using in order to meet HIPAA standards. Here are just a few safeguards that can help to protect the security and privacy of personal health information (PHI):

• Data in motion is encrypted at the application layer using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
• When enabled, Zoom’s advanced chat encryption allows for a secured communication where only the intended recipient can read the secured message.
• Other features allow you to control session attendee admittance with individual or group entry, Waiting Rooms, required meeting passcodes, and locked room functionality.