With offices in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina, Raleigh Neurology Associates is one of the largest and most respected independent, privately- owned neurology practices in the nation, providing comprehensive neurological treatment and care for over 250,000 people in the Triangle area.
Raleigh Neurology sought a secure method for sharing sensitive data internally and with other healthcare providers, insurance agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and schools, etc. when these communications are outside the scope of their electronic health record (EHR) system. As part of their requirements, Raleigh Neurology wanted a solution that would integrate with their existing Microsoft Office email system, with as little friction as possible.
“We had a very acute and systemic need for secure end-to-end communications. We were having to resort to alternative workarounds which were incredibly arduous and slow,” commented Leeann Garms, Chief Operating Officer at Raleigh Neurology Associates.
The solution: the Egress platform
Following a review of various products, Raleigh Neurology selected the Egress data security platform, specifically Egress Protect, and Egress Secure Web Form.
- Egress Protect offers easy-to-use, flexible encryption that provides the highest levels of security. In addition to encrypting message content and attachments, it enables total control over shared information in real time, with the ability to revoke access, audit user actions, and add message restrictions to prevent mishandling of sensitive data.
- Egress Secure Web Form delivers fully customisable web-based forms that enable third parties to easily upload files and submit them to the organisation in an encrypted format.
“Egress has made it so much more convenient and efficient to interact with entities and organizations, such as schools and counselors, that are outside the medical system yet bound by HIPAA, and who do not have the secure electronic”
Easy set up and seamless integration with Microsoft Outlook
Raleigh Neurology selected Egress because of its seamless integration with the Microsoft Outlook client and ease of use. “The Egress implementation was straightforward and the intuitive integration with Outlook allowed for a simple, quick training process,” commented Garms. “I also like the option of being able to use a web interface – allowing individuals outside of Raleigh Neurology Associates to originate and send secure messages to our organisation. We can just send someone a link, and they can submit sensitive content into Raleigh Neurology without us having to the initiate the correspondence.”
Securing HIPAA data
Egress is widely used by both clinical and administrative staff at Raleigh Neurology.
“HIPAA guides everything we do, so we use Egress to communicate HIPAA-regulated data whenever a portal isn’t available or compliant. Egress also gives us audit trails which is critical for HIPAA compliance,” added Garms.
Typical scenarios where Raleigh Neurology uses Egress to secure end-to-end communications include pediatric staff communicating with a school about a patient’s care plan and coordinating with insurance companies regarding preauthorizations for procedures. The neuro-ophthalmologist even uses Egress to send detailed images to other doctors, as it’s the best way to retain the quality of the images.
“Using Egress has been a huge help with the speed of sharing information between providers. This directly translates into the speed with which we can help our patients,” said Garms.
Raleigh Neurology’s pediatrics department, in particular, has benefitted greatly from using Egress.
“Egress has made it so much more convenient and efficient to interact with entities and organisations, such as schools and counselors, that are outside the medical system yet bound by HIPAA, and who do not have the secure electronic means to communicate with us. From that perspective, Egress has given us a huge efficiency uplift.”
Compliance and efficiency
According to Garms, Egress helps Raleigh Neurology ensure and verify compliance, while improving efficiency. “Egress allows us to be more efficient without having to increase competency. We get uptick without heavy investment by the user to learn something new,” concluded Garms. “I give Egress a thumbs up for willingness to help and accessibility as a vendor. We’re perfectly happy with Egress.”
“The Egress implementation was straightforward and the intuitive integration with Outlook allowed for a simple, quick training process"
About Egress
Our mission is to eliminate the most complex cybersecurity challenge every organisation faces: insider risk. We understand that people get hacked, make mistakes, and break the rules. To prevent these human-activated breaches, we have built the only Human Layer Security platform that defends against inbound and outbound threats. Using patented contextual machine learning we detect and prevent abnormal human behaviour such as targeted phishing attacks, misdirected emails, and data exfiltration.
Used by the world’s biggest brands, Egress is private equity backed and has offices in London, New York, and Boston.