![]() Under the good faith provision of telehealth during the COVID-19 national emergency period, covered healthcare providers can use Apple FaceTime® ³ to provide telehealth without the risk of HIPAA non-compliance penalties. Apple® is not willing to sign a BAA therefore, its services, including FaceTime®, are not technically HIPAA compliant. Will Apple Sign a BAA?Ī BAA is a contract between a covered entity and a business associate that requires both parties to protect personal health information under the rules and regulations of HIPAA. Apple® is therefore considered a business associate and is required to sign a BAA. Cloud service providers (CSP) that provide cloud services to a covered entity or business associate that involve creating, receiving, or maintaining ePHI meet the definition of a business associate, even if the CSP cannot view the ePHI.Īpple® does not store any information sent via FaceTime®, which is a peer-to-peer communication channel that transmits voice and audio communications between users and cannot decrypt sessions. Recommended: Is Skype® is HIPAA Compliant?īusiness associates are organizations or persons that create, transmit, receive, or maintain PHI on behalf of any covered entity. A conduit is not required to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Telephone and internet service providers are considered conduits, but cloud service providers are not. A conduit is a service that transmits ePHI but does not store it or access encrypted data. It could be argued that Apple FaceTime® may be considered a conduit or a business associate in the eyes of HIPAA. HIPAA compliance normally pertains to covered entities (health plans and providers, health care clearinghouses), which Apple FaceTime® obviously is not. ![]() Is Apple FaceTime® a Conduit or a Business Associate?īefore we can determine whether Apple FaceTime® is HIPAA compliant telehealth software, we must ascertain if it is responsible for keeping electronic protected health information (ePHI) safe. Providers are also asking if prominent video conferencing software products such as Apple FaceTime® can be considered HIPAA compliant telehealth software. Since the recent pandemic did so much to popularize telehealth services ¹, healthcare providers are turning to telehealth companies for the convenient online services that patients now appreciate and expect ². ![]() ![]() Telehealth may have gotten much more attention since COVID-19, but in reality, it has been around for many years with steadily growing popularity. ![]()
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