protect client’s personal health information that all medical professionals must abide by.
Standard SMS messaging, email (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc), and video-conferencing options such as Facetime and Skype are not HIPAA secure options for telecommunications and tele-mental health. Approved options are encrypted and secured to a federal standard. For example, the platform I use for video-conferencing is a third party platform called We counsel; and there are several options such as Counsel, Thera-Link, Vsee, Doxy.me, etc.
My clients e-sign consent forms, participate in video calls, can securely message and live chat with me, and billing is also completed here. Before using Wecounel, they provided me with a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) that details their legal requirement and commitment to keep my client’s information safe and secure. We counsel has a mobile app and can be accessed through a smartphone, tablet, or web browser on a laptop or desktop computer.
*Disclaimer-I was not engaged in a live session on either of the photographs as it would have been a breach to my client’s privacy. They are used for simulation and promotional purposes only.
Daunte Henderson, founder of the MADEMAN Foundation, author, and educator based in Chicago. You can follow him at @brotherhenderson on IG