Secure Email Now Available to MSDC Members at Discounted Price

As a result of a partnership between Medical Society Services, Inc. (MSS), the for-profit arm of the Medical Society, and Verizon/Echoworx, MSDC members now have access to an e-mail encryption product that safeguards physician-to-patient and physician-to-physician communications. MSDC members will receive a discount as part of the agreement.

“Secure email” is something the Medical Society has been tracking for many years. In fact, MSDC created its Information Technology Task Force in 2000 to review e-health initiatives and provide guidance on how to make this burgeoning technology work for MSDC members.

And for good reason: a recent study conducted by Harris Interactive for the Wall Street Journal found that 74% of patients want to use email to communicate with their doctors, and 52 percent of those surveyed said that the availability of these services would influence their choice of doctors.

Until recently, most encryption solutions have been cumbersome, expensive and difficult to implement, which has prevented many small- to mid-sized physician practices from using secure e-mail products.

MSDC recognizes that the need for physicians to communicate securely with their colleagues and patients is growing. In order to participate in this type of communication, health care providers must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Patient records and files sent via electronic means must be protected against unauthorized access so transmission across the Internet must be secured.

MSS Secure Mail allows users to easily encrypt email messages and attachments, protecting the privacy of their contents right at the desktop as they travel from the sender to the recipient. The product is cost-effective, easy-to-use and can be set up quickly.

Each time a subscriber wants to protect sensitive patient information, he/she can simply press the "secure" icon. The e-mail along with its attachments is encrypted right at the sender's desktop and remains encrypted until the intended recipient decrypts the message. An MSS Secure Mail subscriber can send a secure email message to anyone, including contacts or patients that are not subscribers of the service. Non-subscribers will get an e-mail alerting them that they have received an encrypted email and can click on a password-protected link to retrieve it at the web-based Message Pickup Center.

Click here for more information on MSS Secure Mail.