New App Allows Doctors To Communicate With Each Other ‘On The Go' Securely And With Hipaa Compliance
When Dr. Tracey Haas and Dr. Tim Gueramy, got married a few years ago, they both knew their schedules would be a real challenge, but being interrupted in the middle of really special occasions (like their first wedding anniversary) got to be too much. ‘When you’re a doctor, you expect that your plans will be cut short, but the vast majority of times, the interruption isn’t an emergency. When you’re married and you’re both doctors, well, we felt that something had to be done to approach the issue more effectively,” explains Dr. Tim Gueramy.
“It was during our first wedding anniversary dinner,” explains Dr. Tracey Haas. “Tim was on call, but didn’t know he was on call when he was paged by a resident on a case and had to leave right as the appetizers were being served. Later that night, Tim came back and when I asked what happened, he said it wasn’t an emergency and if he’d been able to get an x-ray of the fracture on his iPhone, he would have been able to finish dinner with me.”
So DocBookMD was born. The app the doctor couple created allows doctors to send and receive secure HIPAA compliant patient information right from an iPhone or iPad. “We can send and receive things like X-Rays, lab results, or EKG’s and get a response back from another physician that uses DocBookMD in minutes. The app allows us to more effectively communicate which means we can more effectively treat our patients.”
The app is free for physicians who are members of their county or state medical societies. All activity is run through a secure server, with multiple encryption levels, and the data is stored on the server, not the physician’s mobile device. Dr. Gueramy explains, “JCAHO reports that the Number One contributor to a sentinel event or complication in a hospital is the lack of effective communication between medical staff.”
Currently doctors in approximately 23 states use the DocBookMD app. “The most important benefit of the app is for the patients,” explains Dr. Haas “We support doctors so they can better serve their patients.” DocBookMD runs on iPhone, iPad and Android. Medical liability companies fund the app for doctors who belong to a medical society in their county or state.
About The Founders:
Dr. Tim Gueramy (DocBookMD Founder) earned his medical degree from Wayne State University and is board-certified in Orthopedic Surgery. He is the recipient of the Austin Business Journal’s 2010 Healthcare Heroes Award for his work in Haiti. He was a nominee for the 2011 Tech Innovation Award.
Dr. Tracey Haas (DocBookMD Co-Founder) earned her medical degree from The University of North Texas Health Science Center. She is board-certified in Family Medicine and is a candidate for her Master’s in Public Health. She is the Medical Director of The Miracle Foundation; an Austin Texas based non-profit benefitting orphans in India. She is the 2011 winner of the ‘Austin Under 40’ Award in the Healthcare category.
SOURCE: DocBookMD