DirectTrust has announced that it is convening the so-called Interoperable Secure Cloud Fax Consensus Body, with the aim of developing a new standard to enhance and improve the existing security features of fax-based exchange in healthcare and elsewhere.
WHY IT MATTERS
The goal is to improve faxing by adding cross-platform and cross-organization identity assurance, standards-based metadata exchange and federated standards for security, DirectTrust says.
The standard is intended to enable industries that still use fax communications extensively – of which healthcare is of course one of the largest – to “leverage the benefits of modern interoperability frameworks without causing disruptive and transformative changes to existing workflows.” and infrastructure are needed. .”
As described in ANSI Standard Actionsdefines the Interoperable Secure Cloud Fax Standard “a proposed U.S. national standard that establishes the protocols and mechanisms to enable the exchange of documents via fax across multiple Cloud Fax platforms while providing enhanced security, identity assurance, and non-repudiation between participants. “
DirectTrust is currently seeking stakeholders to join the consensus body – from healthcare providers, as well as payers, government, consumer, social care, IT, telecommunications and others.
The nonprofit, vendor-neutral alliance will hold an information session about the new consensus body on Wednesday, March 6 at 1:00 PM ET. Participants interested in helping with its development and maintenance can do so Register here or contact Standards@DirectTrust.org.
THE BIG TREND
Despite previous ambitious calls from CMS to end the use of fax machines by physicians by 2020 (a deadline that has clearly come and gone), and more recent predictions that faxing will no longer exist by 2024, the use of paper-based information continues Exchange is still widespread and common in healthcare, thanks to old habits, outdated workflows and a sense of trust in the technology.
But there are also security risks associated with fax machines (and their misuse can lead to HIPAA violations).
That’s why secure exchange standards are important, and why Direct Trust – which has worked on many other security and interoperability initiatives – is leading this effort.
“Faxing remains a critical link in so many healthcare workflows, from the smallest rural clinic to the largest hospital groups, and an Interoperable Secure Cloud Fax Standard will enable communications to be delivered with the security, reliability and usability we all expect in healthcare. modern interoperable solutions,” said Jeffrey Sullivan, CTO of Consensus Cloud Solutions and chairman of DirectTrust’s Interoperable Secure Cloud Fax Workgroup, in a statement announcing the new consensus body.
ON THE RECORD
“We have recently seen that cloud fax can fit into the interoperability ecosystem by enabling broader participation in the healthcare environment, and we believe improved security and identity assurance can accelerate adoption in healthcare,” DirectTrust President and CEO Scott Stuewe said in a statement .
“If the cloud fax industry can come together to develop a technical standard to deliver this added value, there is the potential that we can do for fax what the Direct Standard did for email in healthcare communications. Five cloud fax vendors participated in the initial discussions around this potential for a standard, and we unanimously agree that there is potential here. We are excited to expand the group of participants in the conversation with the launch of this new ANSI standard development effort.”
Mike Miliard is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.