One of the most important health care laws in the United States is known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. One of the goals of HIPAA was to establish a set of national standards for electronic health care transactions. The idea behind the law was twofold. First, to protect patient’s privacy regarding their medical information. And second, to help the facilitation of electronic health record technology in the health care industry.

The privacy rules established by HIPAA deal with both the use and disclosure of protected health information held by groups like health care clearinghouses, employer sponsored health plans, health insurers and medical service providers that engage in certain transactions with patients. While these rules have helped to better protect patient privacy, they can also make medical communication difficult, especially with almost half of medical practitioners in the United States using electronic record keeping software. Medical communication is a vital component of medical treatment. Without it, patient care would certainly suffer.

Thus, unsurprisingly, providing HIPAA compliant communication between physicians has become one of the most important areas of development within mobile healthcare technology. This has lead to the development of Health 2.0. Health 2.0 is the use of software and mobile healthcare applications to promote collaboration and disseminate information between patients, their medical care providers and other interested parties.

A result of Health 2.0 has been the development of HIPAA messaging. HIPAA messaging works just like e-mail or text messaging but is secure messaging designed to comply with HIPAA regulations. This allows patients to get the best care while also having their privacy respected. You can use the internet to find out more information on HIPAA, Health 2.0 or HIPAA messaging.