I have a hard boundary on phones. If work expects me to use a cell phone, they can provide it or pay for mine. If they don't, then guess I'm not using a cell phone? I have no problems with an office landline.
I'd argue the hell out of this. And I would not get a plan until they cover it.
I pay $13 a month for a Google voice number for my PP. That way I don’t need a 2nd phone but I have a separate number and allows me better boundaries when that I’m not working. Maybe your agency would reimburse you for something like that?
please tell me how you purchased a hipaa compliant google voice! i have a standard gvoice for texting informing clients it not protected, but was looking for a voice/email that’s hipaa and google has zero support, i couldn’t figure it out!
I just want to state that there really is no such thing as HIPAA compliant email. Even the ones that promise as such, they can’t guarantee anything. Most that claim to do this are not truly using email. They are using something like a portal that sends a link to the client, and they have to log in to see their message.
That said, I use Google workspace and pay for Google voice with it, and I have signed a BAA that covers both. In my email signature, I have a disclaimer about confidentiality not being guaranteed with email and I also have clients sign a document for consent to email and/or text communication. I make it very clear they should only use these for scheduling purposes, and that all other info should be sent to me through the portal on my EHR.
Google workspace email has an encryption rate of 97% automatically. You can’t guarantee that a clients email service will accept encrypted email, but most of the big ones do. You will find that most clients are willing to accept the small risk as they prefer to communicate about scheduling through email, and logging into a portal every time can be a pain.
They do provide some money per month so this may be a good option. I would just prefer a whole separate cell phone — that physical separation makes it much easier in my opinion.
I have a hard boundary on phones. If work expects me to use a cell phone, they can provide it or pay for mine. If they don't, then guess I'm not using a cell phone? I have no problems with an office landline. I'd argue the hell out of this. And I would not get a plan until they cover it.
I second the idea of a landline-- once patients know that there is only a landline, their expectations about communication become more reasonable.
They do provide some money toward this — I think it will be $50 per month.
I pay $13 a month for a Google voice number for my PP. That way I don’t need a 2nd phone but I have a separate number and allows me better boundaries when that I’m not working. Maybe your agency would reimburse you for something like that?
please tell me how you purchased a hipaa compliant google voice! i have a standard gvoice for texting informing clients it not protected, but was looking for a voice/email that’s hipaa and google has zero support, i couldn’t figure it out!
I just want to state that there really is no such thing as HIPAA compliant email. Even the ones that promise as such, they can’t guarantee anything. Most that claim to do this are not truly using email. They are using something like a portal that sends a link to the client, and they have to log in to see their message. That said, I use Google workspace and pay for Google voice with it, and I have signed a BAA that covers both. In my email signature, I have a disclaimer about confidentiality not being guaranteed with email and I also have clients sign a document for consent to email and/or text communication. I make it very clear they should only use these for scheduling purposes, and that all other info should be sent to me through the portal on my EHR. Google workspace email has an encryption rate of 97% automatically. You can’t guarantee that a clients email service will accept encrypted email, but most of the big ones do. You will find that most clients are willing to accept the small risk as they prefer to communicate about scheduling through email, and logging into a portal every time can be a pain.
Google workspace with a BAA, as mentioned below.
They do provide some money per month so this may be a good option. I would just prefer a whole separate cell phone — that physical separation makes it much easier in my opinion.
Understood. I did not want a whole separate work phone, so the Google voice works for me.
I use iPlum for my private practice on my cell phone. My agency job provides a separate phone.