> Sending medical images to Microsoft seems like a major HIPAA violation.
Without sounding to condescending: Bro... this entire Industry still relies on using fax or snailmail for records. Using slow, leaky, non-private/seure channels for sensitive information is not as much of a concern to this field than one thinks if you've been in the belly of the beast.
Ask anyone who has spent anytime doing IT work at a hospital, or better yet a disgruntled nurse who works the counter after a 12 hour shift.
You ever try requesting an MRI in the US?
After needing several during COVID and being turned a way and having lots of time on my hands I've actually learned a hack to get it the same week (or in my case the same day recently) now that we're out of the pandemic because I knew who to press for a physical paper trail and get it submitted (via fax) and have it approved by all parties: it cost me a day off of work, and tons of leg work on the phone but it was done and I literately didn't care so long as it was done and prove my method was sound. I got it done after business hours, too!
I'm starting to think that the issue with it being so archaic is not because a better solution doesn't exist, but because it's made this way in order for them to justify the long delays in procedures and increase membership duration on their policies and they use things like HIPPA and other acts to justify the lengthy process and obscene amounts of money needed to be able to modify the way things are done, which is why software people just move on and the same mediocrity continues to the detriment of us all.
Try talking to healthcare workers too. They think there is some magic about faxes.
>They are so fast(no they arent, something can be ahead of them)
>They are safe compared to email(literally anyone can walk by the fax and take it)
>They are faster than a phone call, because doctors don't pick up the phone. (What...)
You can mention the US government has ultra high security communication that uses the internet, you can mention the value of finance information, you can talk about the secrets your billion dollar company sends over email/web. But noooo, patient information is too sensitive and urgent to be sent over email/web....
I know 3 people off the top of my head that have gotten in trouble for looking up people's health information because it was physically stored on premises.
All 3 still work in the medical field to this day, one of them is a doctor...
I imagine this is a huge issue in the medical field.
Fax is still a magical thing in healthcare specifically because of how easy it is to use under HIPAA.
HIPAA has all of these crazy rules for anything digital, but the second you switch to good ol’ telephony the rules all become “there’s no rule because hacking a telephony system would be a federal crime.” I’m not joking. Telephony is considered a “mere conduit” while the internet is not.
It really is stupid. HIPAA has all of these controls, but phones are just fair game.
It would be great if the US also considered internet to be a mere conduit and went after those messing with it. The we wouldn't need to break backwards compat for entirely static public content and waster energy in forcing everything under TLS.
What specifically did you do to get an MRI quickly? Your personal doctor didn't want to give you one? Or the hospital/MRI place didn't want to give you one?
Waaaaait! In the US also the FAX is still a thing?! Seriously?!
I have heard terrible stories from Germany and Japan, but did not know that also the US…
I work for an insurance company that for a long time didn't trust digital signatures. So we accepted docs from our agents via fax. They were there four decades ago, and they're still there (of course they're fax servers). They'll probably be there when I retire.
The US has a zillion healthcare providers. Some are so huge and well resourced that they literally have $100 million+ digital record systems. Some are so tiny that it's one doctor operating out of an old house with pen and paper. A fax machine is the least common denominator.
> In the US also the FAX is still a thing?! Seriously?!
Yep. My current employer, as well as the two prior to this one, all have and use fax machines despite being tech companies. Not because they want to, but because so many other companies out there still require it.
Without sounding to condescending: Bro... this entire Industry still relies on using fax or snailmail for records. Using slow, leaky, non-private/seure channels for sensitive information is not as much of a concern to this field than one thinks if you've been in the belly of the beast.
Ask anyone who has spent anytime doing IT work at a hospital, or better yet a disgruntled nurse who works the counter after a 12 hour shift.
You ever try requesting an MRI in the US?
After needing several during COVID and being turned a way and having lots of time on my hands I've actually learned a hack to get it the same week (or in my case the same day recently) now that we're out of the pandemic because I knew who to press for a physical paper trail and get it submitted (via fax) and have it approved by all parties: it cost me a day off of work, and tons of leg work on the phone but it was done and I literately didn't care so long as it was done and prove my method was sound. I got it done after business hours, too!
I'm starting to think that the issue with it being so archaic is not because a better solution doesn't exist, but because it's made this way in order for them to justify the long delays in procedures and increase membership duration on their policies and they use things like HIPPA and other acts to justify the lengthy process and obscene amounts of money needed to be able to modify the way things are done, which is why software people just move on and the same mediocrity continues to the detriment of us all.