Imprivata Announces Cortext, The Healthcare Industry's First Free HIPAA Compliant Text Messaging Solution for Smartphones and Desktops

LEXINGTON, Mass., Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Imprivata^®, the leader in healthcare IT security, today announced the general availability of Imprivata Cortext™, the healthcare industry's first free Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant text messaging solution for Apple iPhone and Android smartphones as well as Web-based chat for nurses without smartphone access. Designed in collaboration with and tested by care providers and hospital IT, Cortext enables efficiency and security to optimize clinical communications and workflows, empowering care teams to easily collaborate and make rapid, accurate decisions about diagnoses and treatments. Eighty-two hospitals have already enrolled in Cortext, including Beaufort Memorial Hospital, Memorial Healthcare and Sonoma Valley Hospital.

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"The majority of hospitals we spoke to told us that standard, unsecured text messaging in the clinical environment was a major concern," said Omar Hussain, President and CEO, Imprivata. "Cortext is a great opportunity for hospitals to leverage a technology that care providers are already comfortable with to more efficiently communicate and collaborate with care teams and improve patient care. It literally puts healthcare in the palm of their hands."

Imprivata Cortext is an iPhone, Android and Web-based application that uses its own secure cloud based architecture to send text and picture messages between care providers. The Cortext application uses a number of encryption technologies, both at rest and over the wire, to ensure information is sent and stored securely while delivering care providers a user experience that is as simple as their device's native texting application. Unique enterprise directory support provides synchronization to the hospital's active directory and robust data archiving. Developed for the pace of clinical workflows, Cortext includes features like the ability to contact any care provider in the hospital directory and quickly send call back requests. Imprivata Cortext also enables timely care team collaboration by expediting both text and picture communication of patient information, including test results, discharge process, second opinions, prescription clarification and more, to support quick clinical decision-making while complying with HIPAA.

"I believe that Cortext not only satisfies the need for a HIPAA compliant text messaging system, but also facilitates prompt communication between physicians, nurses and pharmacists.  We are no longer left waiting on the phone to speak to another physician, or worse, left with no response at all," said Dr. Robert Cohen, Chief Medical Officer and a practicing Emergency Physician at Sonoma Valley. "The 'envelope' icon is an elegant solution to inform the sender that the message has been received and read. I look forward to deploying Cortex throughout our hospital."

Text messaging among care providers has been on the rise according to a recent Spyglass report that revealed 42 percent of physicians are using personal Smartphones to text message colleagues and medical staff to support patient care activities. However as texting continues to increase, so do compliance concerns, according to Imprivata's 2012 Text Messaging in Healthcare Survey that found an overwhelming majority (95.4%) of hospitals are concerned about HIPAA compliance and communicating protected health information (PHI) through the device's native, unsecured standard short message service (SMS).

These findings come as no surprise, considering that the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently increased scrutiny of HIPAA breaches and is requiring risk management plans for PHI in text messages. Cortext helps alleviate this concern by making it easier for hospitals to meet HIPAA regulations and avoid the costly consequences – both fiscal and reputational – that come with such breaches by not only providing secure text messaging but also encrypting, archiving and audit reporting PHI to comply with HIPAA.

"As a practicing ER doctor, I've experienced many instances where the bidirectional communication and convenience of text messaging would have resulted in a more efficient care and treatment plan," said Sean Kelly, Chief Medical Officer, Imprivata. "The ability to instantly text message the on call cardiologist a picture of a patient's electrocardiogram (EKG) would allow me to more quickly mobilize the catheterization laboratory than with traditional hospital communications systems. This saves critical time for the patient and can result in a better recovery, and in some cases, even saves a life."

Cortext is supported on a majority of smartphones and devices including both the iPhone and Android.  If you want to learn how to get your hospital enrolled in Cortext, visit us at www.cortext.com.

Industry Quotes:

Barry Runyon, Research VP at Gartner
"Texting is the most widely used mobile application and presents real opportunities for Healthcare Delivery Organizations (HDOs) to enhance provider communications and engage patients. Gartner believes that mobile devices will increasingly become peer devices with desktop PCs, laptops and tablets and HDOs will soon move toward a choice-oriented mobile management style that seeks to satisfy the needs of clinicians, without incurring excessive risk."

Ed Ricks, Vice President of information technology, CIO, Beaufort Memorial Hospital
"As physicians look to use technology to improve communications and efficiencies in the care delivery process, we found that many were tempted to rely on text messaging when they needed a quick response from other care providers. Our challenge was to help our physicians leverage the convenience and efficiency of texting, while also keeping our protected health information secure and confidential. The ability to accomplish this with Cortext will be a key component of our communications platform going forward. Working with a trusted partner like Imprivata that has a long history in healthcare IT security has made the implementation and user adoption process very successful for us."

Frank Fear, VP of Information Services, Memorial Healthcare
"We set out using Cortext with the initial goal of helping our Obstetrics (OB) nurses more efficiently communicate with an OB physician when a patient comes to the hospital in labor. Right now the nurses page the doctor and then have to wait for a call back.  We expect the secure texting and additional clinical enhancement features Cortext provides, like active directory synchronization and single tap call back requests, to be much more efficient."

Jason Welsh, Senior Systems Analyst, West Jefferson Medical Center
"When evaluating HIPAA-compliant texting solutions, it was important to us that we engage a trusted partner with a reputation in healthcare IT security, so we are pleased to be in early testing with Imprivata Cortext.  We have already experienced the security and efficiency benefits of Imprivata OneSign, which we've paired with VMWare View virtual desktops and zero clients to save doctors up 20 minutes per day of login/logout time in our clinics, so it made sense for us to turn to Imprivata to improve clinical communications and workflows and to secure protected health information via smartphones."

About Imprivata
Imprivata, the leader in healthcare IT security, enables secure access and collaboration for two million healthcare users worldwide. As the #1 independent provider of single sign-on and access management solutions for healthcare and other regulated industries, Imprivata OneSign^® Single Sign-On is exclusively endorsed by American Hospital Association's (AHA) and recognized by Gartner and KLAS. The company hospitals trust with securing their patient information now offers Imprivata Cortext™, the healthcare industry's first free, HIPAA compliant text messaging solution designed for physicians and nurses. Headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, Imprivata serves 1,300 hospitals in partnership with over 200 EMR and technology infrastructure vendors around the world. For more information, please visit www.imprivata.com.

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