(Reviewed and updated May 18, 2016)

Recently, we've shared our suggestions on how to share patient files securely and the best ways to take medical photos. From those posts, an additional question came up from our readers who are using technology but still trying to stay HIPAA secure...

How do I send medical photos securely over the internet?

Good question! Many of the tactics for staying HIPAA-safe while sending medical photos over the internet came up in our recent posts, but there are a couple of specific things to keep in mind.

When sending medical photos on the internet, don't make these HIPAA mistakes:

• Texting from your phone. As with texting patient information, you can't text photos unless you use a secure service. Merely texting from your smartphone definitely won't do the trick when it comes to HIPAA, even if it's just a patient photo (without their record.) 
• Saving photos on your camera roll. Few people realize that the camera roll on your smartphone is not HIPAA-secure. ClickCare uses a HIPAA-secure camera roll for that very reason.
• Sending photos via email. Email isn't HIPAA-secure, even "secure" email. If you're looking for the kind of sharing that email and photos can give you, consider doing medical collaboration with a hybrid store-and-forward telemedicine platform, which can let you share photos while not running afoul of HIPAA. 
• Leaving them on your data card. A final thing to be careful of is the data card in your digital camera. If you store your data card in a place where people can get to it, or you're sharing your camera with other people, that data card is not HIPAA secure. The system we recommend is to erase the data card as soon as you've uploaded your photo to the secure sharing platform you're using. 
• Saving them on your hard drive. As safe as it may seem, in most contexts it is not HIPAA-compliant to leave patient photos on your computer's hard drive. So use the same protocol as with a data card -- erase the photos as soon as they're uploaded to your telemedicine platform. Did you know your copier also has a hard drive - the old way may not be so safe either!

For an in-depth look at HIPAA mistakes you might not know about, get our guide:

Image courtesy of ben_grey on flickr.com, used under Creative Commons rights.

I'll admit it: I love cameras.

I'm the guy that buys (and actually reads) the geeky magazines about new camera gadgets. I go to camera stores just for fun. And I've been known to bring a 15-pound video camera to my children's school plays.

Plus, as a surgeon, I've found medical photography to be a crucial part of my practice. Since the '70s, I've used photos to show patients their progress, teach medical students, and support my own learning and progress. And once we started experimenting with telemedicine and medical collaboration -- eventually founding ClickCare -- photos became not just helpful, but a fundamental part of what it means to practice medicine. I've found incredible satisfaction and powerful patient outcomes from using telemedicine to send simple photos and collaborate with other providers.

Because of my passion for using photos in medicine, I'm sometimes tempted to search out the best or most high-tech cameras for medical and clinical photography. The truth, however, is that you don't need a fancy camera to take great and effective medical photos.

When someone asks about the best camera for medical photography, I recommend 3 things:

1. Use your iPhone. Most of us have a pretty high-tech camera in our pockets at all times-- our smartphone. Because of the convenience factor alone, I recommend that medical providers start taking pictures with their iPhone. In addition to the convenience, ease of use, and ever-improving quality, the connectivity of these devices makes it incredibly easy to make the small jump to medical collaboration with telemedicine. However, the is one very big caveat here. Saving pictures on your camera's camera roll is not HIPAA-secure. So you need to use a platform like ClickCare that allows you to save photos on a separate, HIPAA-secure, protected camera roll.
2. Use whatever you already have. If you don't have a smartphone with a camera that you use regularly, my next suggestion would be to use whatever camera you do already have. Maybe it's your daughters snap-and-shoot or the camera of a provider down the hall, but I suggest using what you have, getting in the habit of taking pictures, and then using that experience to decide if you want to upgrade. Remember that one place a patient's health information can be exposed is on the card inside your camera, so that should be treated with the same care as you would a patient's record.
3. Use whatever is easiest. Finally, I encourage everyone to keep it simple! Instead of getting a 1% increase in photo quality by spending $3,000 on a camera and taking 3 full weeks to learn how to use it, choose a camera that feels easy and accessible. The important thing is using medical photography in your practice -- not necessarily taking gallery-ready photos.

Finally, get our guide on taking effective medical photos in less than 5 minutes:

Image courtesy of auggie_tolosa on flickr.com, used under Creative Commons rights.

We are excited about our brand new iClickCare® iPad app and updated iPhone app -- and how they can help you with healthcare collaboration. ClickCare® was formed for one reason: to help medical providers (17 years ago, we called them doctors, nurses and allied health professionals) help each other to help their patients. The iClickCare for the iPad app is about to ship to the Apple iTunes Store where it will join iClickCare for the iPhone. Both apps can be evaluated free for 14 days.

We use the guiding Mantra:

• Access -- for the patient to the right care, at the right time, in the right place
• Collaboration -- for those who care for patients on behalf of the patients and themselves
• Education -- for those who join us anew or follow in our footsteps

We also have design goals of Simple, Secure and Spectacular.

With the hard work of our lead team, Marc Norman, Greg Born, and Nathan Uno, we are pleased to announce the new "iClickCare for the iPad" and upgraded "iClickCare for the iPhone" apps.

The new app features include even more:

• Simple:
• Easier to read.
• A calming relaxing visual presentation.
• A page design that mimics your workflow as a medical professional.
• Secure
• Backend enhanced security when images are served up.
• A private, secure password-protected camera roll.
  
• Continued high level SSL.
• Firewall friendly.
• Spectacular
• Nothing really new to learn. iClickCare for the iPad is intuitive and integrated with our Web and iPhone apps.
• Carefully chosen colors to highlight the patient and soften the intrusion of a form.
• Maximum use of the Retina Display which supercedes our common encounters with imaging today.

We love this technology and are especially proud of iClickCare®. We need to make note, though, that for good patient care, efficient and cost effective healthcare, and a satisfying career, each of us needs to have the attitude that we want to collaborate. It takes effort on our part, no doubt, but the effort is worth the gain. To use iClickCare, we must do something different and take one step away from ourselves. The alternative is tedious telephone tag and reams of paper to be read and signed. The other alternative, “doing nothing”, is not acceptable.

We will be updating our book Medical iPhone Photography to INCLUDE being able to take pictures on the iPad as well as the iPhone. Stay tuned. In the meantime, to celebrate, we are offering an electronic copy of "Medical iPhone Photography" when you schedule an iClickCare demo.

Download Chapter 1 for your reading pleasure:

Startling images were released this week by NASA.  They are a continuation of the theme Blue Marble, the first in a series being released from Apollo 17. The current set was taken from 28,000 miles away by the Suomi NPP satellite on October 2011.

Attribution: NASA  http://visibleearth.nasa.gov

Red, Blue, Green and more, combine to make a greater whole.

Pictures, Words and a collabortive attitude, combine to give: 

Access, Collaboration, Education

The images are awesome and inspiring. Not only a model of graphic explanation of data, but also the collaboration of color (red, green, blue) and of thermal infra-red imagery, two types of ocean data, radiotelemetry and observations of Antarctica -- they all combine (collaborate) to make a whole greater than its parts.

Telemedicine and telehealth are two names that elicit thoughts of technology. Medical collaboration is far more than technology.  Medical collaboration is an attitude, an attitude that values results and substance over regulation, stimulus and reimbursement. This attitude can be successful without technology. But, in this complicated world, technology can make it easier.  

This diagram clarifies a complex process, and the process shows us a new view of our world. We feel that pictures and words supported by a strong technology can do the same for our patients. Carry on the conversation with us. 

 You can't produce these incredible pictures with your iPhone, but download this first and other chapters for free, or buy our book Medical iPhone Photography online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or iBooks.

We thank Goddard scientist Norman Kuring  for compiling these images.

Telemedicine, particularly Store and Forward Telemedicine, is extremely valuable for taking care of patients with wounds.

We are pleased and proud to announce and support the Dallas Wound Care Symposium 2012. Presentations will be done by true leaders in wound care, research and teaching: