Using modern technology, Nod Specialists delivers fast and effective healthcare via telemedicine, which is especially needed in underserved communities such as rural areas.
Nod treats and educates patients about infectious diseases to help them prevent and/or recover from illness swiftly and completely. The company also works with healthcare facilities to maintain a strict handwashing protocol and compliance, as well as sharing best practices for safe building construction.
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Company snapshot
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Paubox customer since 2019
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Industry
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Use case
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Send encrypted emails to patients and vendors
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Goals
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- Effectively communicate with patients during COVID-19
- Encrypt all PHI sent via email
- Communicate with vendors and the public without fear of a HIPAA violation
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Used solution
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Favorite features
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- Ease of use
- Encryption by default
- Protection of PHI
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Challenge
A lot of Nod's patients prefer to communicate via email, especially the elderly.
Dustin Hoyman, Nod's Director of Marketing, explained, “Elderly patients, they’re not apt to download any new software. If they have to log into a secure portal to do some messaging, it’s always just a different layer of issue for them, and so if they have to email . . . we know that we’ve got Paubox behind us to make sure that everything is secure.”
Logging into patient portals isn’t just difficult for seniors, however. Dustin himself has had issues with other providers he’s had to work with.
He explained, “Some times, they have a goofy password. There’s a hospital system that I had to work with . . . I’m a fairly savvy guy, and I was so confused about this system to read this janky email that came through their system . . . It was super secure because I couldn’t read it!”
Nod Specialists uses Paubox to communicate with vendors as well as patients
Nod Specialists recognizes that protected health information (PHI) is a broad term. Covered entities that must abide by HIPAA regulations must be careful when sharing any personal information about patients, including their email addresses.
Nod builds a lot of software internally using an outsourced projects and development team. Dustin explained, “If there’s any sort of issue – let’s say a patient can’t log in and we need to debug that issue – our business analysts and projects team do use Paubox to communicate via email if we need to send screenshots back and forth or if there’s any sort of information to communicate there.”
Nod Specialists on the front lines of educating the public about COVID-19
One of Nod Specialists’ missions is to help healthcare facilities maintain an effective sanitation protocol. As such, the company has published COVID-19 preparedness guidelines on its website, available freely to the public.
“Everybody gets really lax when everything is going well, and now everyone is panicking,” said Dustin. “None of this would be a problem if everyone did everything right originally.”
As experts in infectious diseases, Nod has been very involved with the media locally near its headquarters in Phoenix. If not done carefully, this is an opportunity for a HIPAA violation.
As Dustin explained, “Just saying that we have a patient in a facility starts getting tricky as far as identifying that patient, and having Paubox as a resource makes sure that if something does slip, we’re protected.”
Solution
In contrast to other HIPAA compliant email providers, Dustin’s experience with Paubox has been seamless and easy. He went on to say, “Your system is so easy – it’s easy to install, it’s easy to get set up. That’s ultimately one of my favorite things about you guys.”
