Safe Messaging
HIPAA compliant communication, seamless physician experience and efficient workflows - all in one free messaging service
Our Safe Messaging service allows healthcare professionals to communicate with our medical answering service in a quick and compliant method.
Four reasons Safe Messaging is BETTER than regular Text Messaging?
Read Receipt
Our Safe Messaging service provides a read receipt. If the message that is sent to your on-call provider is not read within a predetermined amount of time, our dispatchers are alerted that the sent message was not read. This would immediately escalate the call to step 2 in the on-call's escalation procedures, which is usually a physical call to the provider.
Providers can show your office phone number when calling from their cell
Physicians don't want patients to have their cell phone numbers and patients aren't picking up blocked numbers anymore. To solve this problem, we added a feature to Safe Messaging that shows your office phone number when your o/c returns a call from their cell phone. Say goodbye to blocking your cell phone number!
HIPAA Compliant
With Safe Messaging, Protected Health Information (PHI) is not sent or stored on your provider's cell phone. We simply text a link that allows the user to view their urgent messages with a simple click on the link. If a provider loses their phone or is no longer employed by your healthcare facility, we can simply change their password or delete their account and the PHI is no longer accessible.
Sending PHI via Regular Text is not Legal
Sending PHI via Regular Text messaging stores unencrypted and unprotected PHI on your provider's phone and is a breach of HIPAA Compliance. The bottom line is, it's just not legal anymore to send PHI via regular text and it carries hefty fines if an audit occurs.
MOBILE
Communicate on your terms
Safe Messaging puts on-call staff back in charge of their time by allowing them to stay focused on their tasks.
Instead of facing constant interruptions when they need to pick up a call from the service, on-call nurses and clinicians can acknowledge the message with a single tap, complete their work and decide on the next steps at their convenience.
READ CONFIRMATION
Send read receipts
With regular SMSs, call agents never know if the on-call specialist has seen their urgent text message.
Safe Messaging solves this problem as it provides The Doctors Answer agents with a read receipt when the nurse or doctor taps on the received message. This way, both sides may ensure that the patients' case has been taken care of.
PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
Never miss a call
To make sure that no urgent message goes unnoticed, Safe Messaging sends push notifications that show up on the mobile phone screen even when it's locked.
The doctors have 15 minutes to acknowledge a sent message. When this time's up, the call is automatically escalated according to the established on-call dispatch instructions.
HIPAA COMPLIANCE
Protect sensitive data
Text messages put your practice at risk for HIPAA breaches which can ruin your reputation, cause bankruptcy and expose your patient's protected information.
With Safe Messaging, all exchanged data is secure and protected and no PHI is stored on clinicians' devices. When a doctor or a nurse is no longer with your facility, we automatically delete their account to block their access to PHI.
IN-BROWSER PORTAL
Work conveniently
When life happens and a doctor's battery is running low or goes dead, Safe Messaging provides a solution.
The system comes with an online platform accessible via any browser to align with your facility's communication needs. Your on-call personnel can review, verify, and acknowledge all sent messages right from their phones or desktops.
REAL-TIME COLLABORATION
Connect to your team
Many providers still rely on phone calls, emails, and paper notes to coordinate patient care. These methods are slow, outdated, and carry data exposure risks.
Safe Messaging provides a real-time, secure healthcare communication platform for you and your team. It allows every team member to communicate with colleagues and patients on the go, and in a HIPAA compliant manner.
OFFICE CALLER ID
Privately reach patients
When a doctor needs to return a patient's call, they typically have two options: block their number and risk that the patient won't pick up the phone, or show it and give their phone number to hundreds of patients.
Safe Messaging offers a way out. A premium feature allows the on-call doctors to mask their number and display their office's caller ID instead of their cell phone number. It connects patients with doctors without compromising the clinicians' private data.
Want to know more?
Or contact us:
Phone: 800-571-8280
Email: service@thedoctorsanswer.com
Built for your comfort
At The Doctors Answers, we have over 30 years of experience providing communications services and solutions for healthcare. We understand clinicians' challenges and come forward with optimized solutions to bring maximum convenience, speed, and efficiency.
Here are some features of Safe Messaging that make it easy for your teams to communicate seamlessly.
Read Receipt
Our Safe Messaging service provides a read receipt. If the message that is sent to your on-call provider is not read within a predetermined amount of time, our dispatchers are alerted that the sent message was not read. This would immediately escalate the call to step 2 in the on-call's escalation procedures, which is usually a physical call to the provider.
Call patients showing your office's phone number
After your provider clicks the acknowledge button, they will be able to dial the patient's phone number with one touch dialing. Even though the provider is calling from their cell phone, your office's phone number will automatically show up to the patient. This ensures the patient will recognize the phone number and pick up the call while protecting your on-call personnels phone numbers.
Easily and Quickly Forward messages to colleagues with the click of a button
With the simple click of a button you can forward or create new messages for your colleagues while staying within our HIPAA compliant environment. This ensures no patient's PHI is ever stored on a provider's phone and no unencrypted PHI is ever sent in a non secure manner.
For quick onboarding and ease of use, download our short user guide that provides clear instructions on making the most of Safe Messaging.
Three reasons to choose Safe Messaging
Baked-in security
Your doctors are too busy to oversee HIPAA compliance. Safe Messaging does it for them with secure data access and encryption, strong password policy, and administrative restrictions.
Setup in 60 seconds
Unlike complicated Apps, Safe Messaging requires no downloads to your provider's phones. The setup is completely stress-free, and it takes less than a minute. We also offer full user support.
Just give us a call!
Doctor's privacy
By using Safe Messaging, on-call doctors stay informed and reachable without relinquishing their privacy. No more mixing personal and work-related texts. No more exposing private phone numbers to patients and their families.
"We all use it to communicate compliantly."
Give us a call to try it our for free
Safe Messaging | Q&As
Why can't physicians receive regular text messages?
Because this would violate HIPAA regulations. When you send Protected Health Information (PHI) via standard text messages, this data is stored unencrypted and unprotected on the recipient's device, which is a major breach of HIPAA compliance. HHS views this as willful neglect of PHI, resulting in a fine of up to $50,000 for each incident and filing criminal charges. Regulations aside, our agents don't know if the message has been read or even delivered with regular text messages. Safe messaging solves this problem with read receipts
Can't your agents call o/c doctors directly to relay urgent patient calls?
Yes, they can. And some customers specifically require them to do so. However, this service is more expensive than using the Safe Messaging, as each time our agent reaches your on-call doctor via phone, you need to cover the cost of their extra time. Besides, many doctors find phone calls highly disruptive and annoying, as they pull them away from their duties. Safe messaging is an effective way to relay urgent messages that untethers your medical staff from disruptions of a phone call.
What makes Safe Messaging HIPAA compliant?
Several key factors. First off, unlike text messaging systems, Safe Messaging does not store any personal health information on the on-call specialists' devices. It allows users to view the stored message on our secured servers for centralized, HIPAA-aligned access and storage. Additionally, if a clinician loses their phone or is no longer employed by your healthcare facility, we simply delete their account, and the PHI is no longer accessible to them.
How much does the application cost?
Safe Messaging is free for all customers that already use TDA's medical call answering services. It can be quickly and easily set up without any charges. Features such as HIPAA compliant data transfer, push notifications, read receipts, single tap message acknowledgments are all complimentary with the app. The only additional and optional function is the caller ID service. It displays the office's number instead of revealing the on-call person's private number to the patient. This greatly helps to increase patient responsiveness while keeping the doctor's or nurse's personal information protected.
Do you have more questions?
Let's have a quick conversation to talk about your unique needs and concerns. Call us at 800-571-8280 or email us at service@thedoctorsanswer.com. We're here for you!
About The Doctors Answer
A Specialized Answering Service for Medical Professionals
The Doctors Answer provides specialized professional answering services specifically for the medical community at extremely low rates.
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