United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius called healthcare via mobile devices “the biggest technology breakthrough of our time” and says it’s being used to “address our greatest national challenge.”

Ann Arbor, Michigan-based data hosting company Online Tech finds itself in the center of those two powerful statements as the only independently HIPAA audited hosting provider in the country offering a complete range of hosting options.

The recent proliferation of health apps for mobile devices – referred to as mHealth – has been extraordinary. For instance, MobiHealthNews reports that consumer health apps available via the Apple Store increased from 2,993 in February 2010 to 13,619 in April 2012.

A majority of those apps are focused on fitness or diet, MobiHealthNews editor Brian Dolan told the Washington Post. Online Tech appeals to the inventors of the growing number of more meaningful applications – ones with direct medical use that show promise to reduce healthcare costs and revolutionize healthcare with improved care outcomes and protected patient interests.

Why? Quite simply, security and HIPAA compliance.

Balancing the benefits of outsourcing data center and hosting services with the risks of engaging an off-premise business associate is daunting in the wake of penalties and fines levied by the Department of Health & Human Services and the Office of Civil Rights for breaches in protected health information.

Online Tech’s three Michigan data centers and its entire staff meet HIPAA compliance standards. An independent Certified HIPAA Security Specialist found the company to be 100% compliant across all 54 standards detailed in the HIPAA Security Rule.

The third-party independent audit is a step often avoided by Online Tech’s competitors, but one CEO Yan Ness finds essential for his company’s business model.

“It’s worth it. In today’s world, data is your business,” Ness said. “You can’t operate without it, so we welcome the protections prescribed by the HIPAA Security Rule in order to provide compliant hosting.”

In recent months, Online Tech has announced data hosting partnerships with three mHealth collaborators looking for secure and compliant options:

• HipaaCat is a HIPAA compliant communication system for healthcare providers to exchange data and images between their smartphones. The brainchild of Dr. Gregory Dumanian and created by Illinois-based I.T. consulting firm SD3, HipaaCat is a complete solution that can transfer data and images to and from multiple mobile application devices (including iPhones, iPads, Android and Android tablets) via a secure central server with data encryption at every stage.
• ForaCare recently contracted with Online Tech for HIPAA compliant managed cloud hosting for its TeleHealth System. This interactive, Internet-based platform allows healthcare providers and patients to communicate via home monitoring devices. Healthcare providers and physicians can track patients' vital signs every day and make recommendations or adjustments quickly. By closely monitoring their patients’ conditions, physicians can delay complications and potentially avoid patient hospitalization.
• iRounds, a physician-owned provider of mobile and web platforms for patient care communication in a secure and HIPAA compliant format, selected Online Tech as its trusted hosting business associate. By using Online Tech’s cloud hosting services, iRounds can avoid the burden of purchasing and maintaining HIPAA compliant facilities and servers. It can also add servers very quickly and inexpensively as its business grows.

Online Tech’s mobile healthcare IT experts are headed to Washington D.C. to discuss their independent third-party HIPAA audit and the company’s hosting options at the mHealth Summit, held December 3-5 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Find them at Booth 1031 on the exhibit floor.

The mHealth Summit shares best practices in the implementation, business, finance, policy and technical perspectives of healthcare via mobile devices – which it claims is “spreading more rapidly than any other technology in history.”

About Online Tech

Online Tech is the leader in secure, compliant hosting services including private cloud hosting, managed cloud hosting, hybrid cloud hosting, managed dedicated servers, disaster recovery, offsite backup services, and Michigan colocation. Online Tech’s Midwest data centers assure mission critical applications are always available, comply with government & industry regulations, and continue operating after a disaster. Backed by independent HIPAA, PCI, SAS 70, SSAE 16 Type, SOC 2, and SOC 3 audits, Online Tech delivers the security, privacy, and availability expected from world class data center operators. For more information, call (877) 740-5028 or email contactus@onlinetech.com.