Download OmniJoin Compliance Statement

OmniJoin Compliance Statement
Brother International Corporation (“Brother”) understands and appreciates the importance of providing
customers with services that comply with laws applicable to their business. Healthcare entities and providers,
including our customers, use web and video conferencing to improve efficiency and reduce travel costs for
both themselves and their patients. The practice of telehealth (or telemedicine), where consultations are held
as online meetings between providers, or between providers and their patients, afford privacy, security and
real-time interaction, without the inconvenience of traveling or waiting.
Wherever healthcare and technology overlap, questions about the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) inevitably arise. Title II of HIPAA deals with the privacy and security of electronic
healthcare transactions and sets out criteria for compliance. Brother does not consider itself to be a Covered
Entity or a Business Associate as defined under HIPAA, as the OmniJoin web and video conferencing service,
when properly configured, does not access or store protected health information when a telehealth or
telemedicine meeting takes place, and acts only as a conduit for such information. As stated in the Federal
Register, Vol. 75, No. 134, p. 40873, “…entities that act as mere conduits for the transportation of protected
health information but do not access the information other than on a random or infrequent basis are not
business associates”.
Covered Entities and their Business Associates may securely and privately use OmniJoin web conferencing in
healthcare-related video conferences. While control over the selection of content shared by users in an online
meeting rests with those Covered Entities and Business Associates, OmniJoin web conferencing provides
safe and secure capabilities to help them meet their compliance obligations. Brother offers a pre-configured
OmniJoin for Healthcare version which is recommended for customers in the healthcare industry, in which
features such as cloud storage, recording, live contact list, save, and print are deactivated. OmniJoin’s Public
Cloud customers not using the OmniJoin for Healthcare version are responsible for disabling content caching
and storage capabilities when using the OmniJoin web conferencing service to ensure that no protected health
information can be stored on the Cloud.
HOW HIPAA RELATES TO VIDEO CONFERENCING
The HIPAA Privacy Rule governs the ways in which information about a patient’s health status, treatment
and payment is used and disclosed. The rule applies to Covered Entities and Business Associates — not to
providers of video conferencing, phone, fax or email services — and requires Covered Entities and Business
Associates, among other things, to take reasonable steps to ensure confidentiality in communicating this
information.
The HIPAA Security Rule sets out standards for keeping Electronic Protected Health Information (EPHI)
safe. Of note is its Technical Safeguards provision, setting rules for access to computers and the secure
communication of EPHI over public networks to protect it from interception by anyone other than the intended
recipient. Again, compliance with these safeguards rests squarely with the Covered Entities and Business
Associates who, under 45 CFR 164.312, must “implement technical security measures to guard against
unauthorized access to electronic protected health information that is being transmitted over an electronic
communications network.” As they relate to video conferencing, these measures include “a mechanism to
authenticate EPHI,” “a mechanism to encrypt and decrypt EPHI,” and “policies and procedures to protect EPHI
from improper alteration or destruction.”
Although Brother does not consider itself to be either a Covered Entity or Business Associate and thus not
subject to HIPAA, the OmniJoin™ service can help Covered Entities satisfy their compliance obligations by
providing a superior level of security for their online meetings. With its high security standards, OmniJoin™
web conferencing exceeds the Technical Safeguards of HIPAA’s Security Rule related to authentication and
encryption.
We can help you navigate the issues around security compliance and web conferencing usage, so Contact Us
today to schedule a demo or learn more at www.omnijoin.com.
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