The version of Zoom used by The Family Institute is encrypted and HIPAA compliant
A Message to Our Clients:
The Family Institute takes your privacy and security very seriously. We understand and are humbled by the confidence you place in us to protect your confidentiality.
As you know, on March 18th for your safety and the safety of our community, we moved our practice to 100% teletherapy for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, The Family Institute was prepared to make this necessary transition as quickly as was required. We have been able to ensure continuity of care for our clients and to respond to the increased demand in mental healthcare at a time of crisis.
The Family Institute has provided teletherapy to a small portion of our practice for more than two years. Prior to launching teletherapy services, we completed an extensive search and evaluation of various teleconferencing providers. We selected Zoom because they are the most committed to serving the unique security and privacy needs of healthcare providers and patients.
The version of Zoom used by The Family Institute is encrypted and HIPAA compliant. Encrypted means your data is transmitted as a code and HIPAA compliant means the version meets the healthcare requirement for technical, administrative, and physical safeguards of your data. The Family Institute takes additional measures in how we use Zoom to prevent unintended participants from accessing a session or having data related to a session. These measures include:
- Each therapy session utilizes a unique client-specific meeting access link to enter a session. These client-specific links are only shared between client and clinician.
- Clinicians are required to password protect each session to provide an additional layer of security for our clients.
- And, a “waiting room” has recently been added to all sessions so that the therapist figuratively “opens the door” for a client to enter the “therapy room.” Participants must be allowed into the session by the therapist.
We are aware of the challenges some industries are facing as they begin to utilize Zoom and the need for Zoom to be constantly improving their security especially as the usage of the tool has skyrocketed in the last three weeks. Although any online program is potentially vulnerable to breaches, The Family Institute is staying abreast of the situation. As always, we are monitoring our security and privacy practices to meet best practice standards and ensure the highest level of protection.
Warmest Regards,
Jana L. Jones
President and CEO
