Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Appointment scheduling

This may seem a bit strange to post on the AC board, but everybody seems so knowledgeable, so:

Any experience with / suggestions for appointment scheduling that can be accessed on the web and that doesn't use AC's built in scheduler (other doc here doesn't use an EMR)?

Google calendar is apparently not HIPAA compliant, but is there anything vaguely similar to it that is? We don't really need patient-initiated online scheduling at this point, just a shareable office calendar.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Michael Jacobson
New York

there are other threads on this. I use appointment quest.

Thanks, Wayne.

Interestingly, when you look at AppointmentQuest's info on their website, there is the following statement:

"Many doctors and their office staff are looking for the right HIPAA-compliant services and software that will somehow transform their medical practice into being HIPAA-compliant. The fact is that software tools and software services can not be HIPAA-compliant, simply because software is a tool and not a business practice. It is important to understand that the term "HIPAA Compliance" refers to an organizational obligation and procedural integrity, but not to a technical specification or particular software tool.

HIPAA regulations do not apply to Appointment Quest scheduling services since Appointment Quest does not perform insurance, payment or related transactions (HIPAA transactions), and does not collect any medical history from patients. Nevertheless, Appointment Quest Online Appointment Manager implements multiple features that help with HIAA-related issues, such as timed auto-logouts, protected passwords, strong 128-bit secure SSL encryption, patient registration and login options, just to name a few. Patient contact and appointment information is kept private and shared only with account administrator and authorized personnel."

This makes sense to me, though I think there is a huge amount of unclarity in the world of HIPAA.

From what I have found online about Google Calendar, there is also some controversy about whether or not it could be used in a HIPAA compliant fashion.

I also stumbled on a website that claims to be able to make Google Apps, including email, HIPAA compliant. ZSentry www.zsentry.com.

Michael
New York, NY