Massachusetts General Hospital Automates Release of Information with Biscom SFT

Mass General Retools its ROI for Medical Records

Massachusetts General Hospital now sends more than 50,000 requests for patient records through Biscom SFT. Traditionally, MGH sends medical records via mail or fax machines—an outdated, inefficient process. 

Mark Haas, Associate Director of Health Information Services, “set out to develop our own secure system for electronic patient record retrieval. We pay hefty fines if we don’t share information in an appropriate manner that’s compliant with HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996).”  

MGH also wanted the ability to track all document activity, maintain the highest levels of security and encryption, and the flexibility to brand the system with its own look and feel. The hospital found all of this and more in Biscom Secure File Transfer (SFT).

SFT Transforms Mass General’s Document Delivery Process

Biscom designed SFT specifically for institutions like Mass General, which require the utmost security, scalability, and flexibility when sharing patient information. SFT offers distinct advantages such as encryption of files both at rest and in transit, Active Directory for user management and authentication, unlimited file sizes, and APIs for integration with existing applications. 

MGH leverages Biscom SFT’s security feature of a secondary password that enables the hospital to further lock down its delivery of patient information. Once a recipient views a package, the sender receives an email notification that the delivery has been accessed. 

Since its implementation, the hospital has experienced a 104% increase in productivity compared to its previous paper-based methods. This translated into a 65% cost savings in all aspects of the hospital’s process, from materials and postage to supplies and personnel.  

Not only has SFT had a major impact on MGH’s bottom line, but it has also reduced the potential for error in the file transmission process. “When we ‘send’ a record via SFT, the transmission does not contain any PHI (protected health information),” says Haas. “So if we mistakenly enter the wrong email address, the recipient will not know the password to unlock the file. But if we mistype a fax number or write the wrong address on a paper file, it results in a potential HIPAA breach. This is a critical level of protection for us that goes over and above sending records on paper.” 

Mass General’s SFT Success Attracts Attention of More Harvard Hospitals

“By partnering with Biscom, we were able to meet pending meaningful use objectives, all in a user-friendly, easy-to-install, and easy-to-train-on system, right out of the box,” Haas maintains. “Instead of going with an outside vendor, SFT allowed us to keep this work in house, where we can exercise greater security and quality control—at a much more reasonable price.”