Title II of HIPAA requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions, such as electronic medical record keeping and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers. With that said, things like HIPAA text messaging, secure messaging healthcare apps, and mobile healthcare applications exist.

Though only about 46 percent of American medical practitioners use electronic record keeping software, the fact that it exists has helped thousands of health care professionals and patients alike. Importantly, securing employee-owned devices (BYOD) like mobile phones and tablet computers to ensure HIPAA compliance is a growing concern in the healthcare industry. The development and deployment of a BYOD program for health care providers may save money, but also requires careful planning to comply with security standards under 1996’s HIPAA legislation.

According to a study by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, Danish doctors reported, as early as the late 1990,s that they were saving an average of 30 minutes per day by prescribing drugs and ordering lab reports electronically. Overall, electronic health records, mobile healthcare apps, and secure messaging healthcare systems help doctors and everyone else involved with the health care industry.