Frequently Asked Questions

Buzz is ideal for any group or team within the medical practices and healthcare setting who need to communicate with each other securely and confidently, for their daily workflow communication and documentation needs, including the patient related or other administrative exchanges.

With Buzz you can expect to dramatically increase your productivity as all modes of communication will be at the tip of your finger in one single unified app. Since it is HIPAA-secure, you can stay compliant 100% of the time. Communicating with your colleagues has never been easier!

Being part of different medical practice environments (clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, nursing home, and more) often requires you to use different software platforms. You end up with lots of different apps and browser windows trying to stay on top of your messages and chats. Thankfully the pagers are disappearing but it is always difficult to open the right application and find the information that was communicated to you or vice versa. Driven by that we built Buzz, a one-step solution to the problem. It is not only unified in the way it allows you to communicate, it is also versatile, extensible and single environment that will make it your go-to solution for any communication. And, by the way, did we mention that it is private and keeps you HIPAA-secure!

All information sent over Buzz is encrypted using both Public and a Private key. That means only the sender and receiver can read the information.

Skyscape will not share your information with any third party.

Buzz, BUZZ, buzz, BuZZ… Easy to say, easy to pronounce and full of liveliness. Buzz is that feeling you get from a strong cup of coffee in the morning, a stroll on the beach or a hike on a beautiful mountain – that feeling that tells you that all is right with the world, and that you are ready to go out and take a bite out of it… Yes, so what if you are in the frenzy of saving lives, stressed to comply with the regulations, or connecting with the patients on the bedside – we want to capture that Buzz moment when you can as a pleasant distraction from the reality around you. Just say “I’ll buzz you” or “buzz me”!

Buzz Circle allows you to create a secure and trusted network of healthcare professionals and staff who are part of your daily workflow. You can organize your Buzz circle contacts in Groups with whom you can exchange information securely and easily.

With Buzz Phone you will get a unique phone number. You can use this number to make and receive call. You can either use that number as your Caller ID (thus, keeping your mobile number private), or create other Caller IDs (like your Clinic or Hospital number).

Buzz Chat is very powerful. It, of course, allows you to chat with another individual or a group. However, in addition to that you can share images (like a picture of a rash), take pictures, send videos, share files (such as a diagnostic image). Buzz Chat allows you to post messages to a group or reply to an individual post, thus, maintaining a ‘thread’ of that conversation. It also allows you to tag messages (e.g. tag a message as ‘lab report’)or mark as favorite. Buzz Chat has been designed to cater to a healthcare professional’s workflow!

Skyscape or Buzz does not read anything you send or receive. That’s between you and your messenger & communication service. Our only interest is to successfully deliver your messages. The messages are encrypted, so along the way, no one can snoop or intercept the messages and jeopardize the privacy of your conversations – that’s a huge win for the privacy and security!

Buzz will work whether you’re connect to the Internet or using your carrier’s service.

You can organize your conversations based on categories (or you can think of tags or labels to associate with your circle users and groups). Once you associate any conversation with categories, you can group your conversations by filters with these categories.

Quick Messages are templated messages. Quick Messages will be added to the default list of available messages for your organization and will be available to all users in the organization.

The Buzz Polling features allows you to send out surveys and polls within a chat or group, or organization.

Buzz Polls can have multiple choice or single answers.

You can customize your poll choices and keep the polling anonymous.

We are committed to having a universal and democratic experience between HCPs across different silos that prevent adoption and hence limit a seamless experience to Healthcare consumers and patients. So yes, Buzz will always be free with the current functionality that is available.

In future, there might be premium versions of Buzz that provide additional features – in that case we will charge a subscription fee for such features but the users will not be forced to use those features.

Yes. Your account will have a unique account ID, password and Pass Phrase. With these you can use Buzz on multiple devices. Your information will be synced up across all the devices.

These popular messaging platforms are missing many safety measures and controls required by HIPAA to make sure that the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI is not jeopardized. HIPAA requirements include user authentication, login access to the app, audit controls, data integrity controls, disaster recovery plans and staff trained on HIPAA policies among other things. Skyscape ensures that all HIPAA requirements are met. We have built BUZZ specifically to address the special needs of the healthcare community. Even the workflow is tailored for healthcare staff to get the most out of this HIPAA-secure messenger.

ChatGPT is not HIPAA compliant. HIPAA compliance requires specific security measures and protocols that ChatGPT does not provide. No PHI information should be sent over ChatGPT. Skyscape BUZZ Lightning Plus delivers the vision of integrating AI within the daily workflow of healthcare providers to improve efficiencies and streamline patient care overheads in a HIPAA secure environment.

Get explicit consent to text. Before sending your first text, get explicit written consent from patients. Under HIPAA, PHI can be shared if the healthcare entity obtained explicit authorization first. Buzz has Login Access Control with User Authentication. All transmitted text messages, documents, images and videos have end-to-end encryption. Buzz also provides an extra layer of security by using a passphrase whereby all transmitted messages are encrypted using a passphrase know only to the user. When consent is given a healthcare provider can communicate with patients and families. Send secure encrypted messages or raw text to emails or by SMS. Enabling communication via BuzzLink™ with non Buzz users, and the ability to handle forms and consents without patients’ requiring downloads using BuzzFlow™ increases efficiencies.

Certain features of Google Hangouts are HIPAA compliant, but not all features. Google’s BAA seems to only cover the Google Hangouts chat feature, other features (video, audio) cannot be used in conjunction with PHI. Buzz combines the simplicity of HIPAA-compliant chat with power of document sharing and e-signatures, telehealth, Skyscape’s trusted 400+ volume clinical library and communication channels including texts, dictation, private calls, audio, images, reports, file and video sharing, and EMR integration. Skyscape Lightning™ Plus – ChatGPT will mask the provider name sending the ChatGPT prompt through Buzz. However, no PHI should be included in the request to ChatGPT.

Chatbots that are HIPAA compliant are those that are designed to protect the privacy of patient information. They must be programmed to ensure that all patient data is encrypted and stored securely. They must also be programmed to ensure that all patient data is only accessible to authorized personnel. Additionally, they must be programmed to ensure that all patient data is only used for the purpose for which it was collected.

HIPAA compliant messaging is a secure method of communication between healthcare providers and patients. It ensures that all messages sent and received are encrypted and stored securely. It also requires that all messages are sent and received using a secure platform, such as a secure messaging app like Buzz. This ensures that all messages are kept confidential and that no unauthorized individuals can access them.

Buzz is a HIPAA-compliant text messaging platform that allows you to send and receive and sign intake forms, surveys, images, files, and fax plus EHR integration. Buzz has Login Access Control with User Authentication. All transmitted text messages, documents, images and videos have end-to-end encryption. Buzz also provides an extra layer of security by using a passphrase whereby all transmitted messages are encrypted using a passphrase know only to the user.

HIPAA compliant texting is a method of sending and receiving text messages that ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and security of protected health information (PHI). It is a secure way to communicate about medical information in a way that complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The text messages are encrypted and stored in a secure server that is not accessible to the public. The messages are also time stamped and can only be accessed by the sender and recipient. Date is the date that the message was sent or received.

The benefits of using a HIPAA compliant messaging app for medical or healthcare purposes are numerous. First, it ensures that all communication between medical providers or communication with a patient is secure and confidential. This is especially important when discussing sensitive medical information. Second, it allows for quick and easy communication between the medical provider and the patient. This can be especially helpful when a patient needs to ask a question or get an update on their care. Third, it allows for the medical provider to easily keep track of all communication about a patient within the caregiver group. This can be helpful for keeping records of patient care and for ensuring that all communication is documented. Finally, it allows for the medical provider to easily send reminders to the patient about upcoming appointments or other important information. This can help ensure that the patient is kept up to date on their care and that they don’t miss any important appointments. Overall, using a HIPAA compliant messaging app can help ensure that all communication between a medical provider and a patient is secure, confidential, and documented.

1. End-to-end encryption: All messages sent and received should be encrypted to ensure that only the intended recipient can view the content.

2. Authentication: All users should be authenticated to ensure that only authorized users can access the chat.

3. Audit trail: All messages should be logged and stored in an audit trail to ensure that all communications are tracked and monitored.

4. Access control: Access to the chat should be restricted to authorized users only.

5. Data retention: All messages should be retained for a specified period of time to ensure that they are available for review and audit.

6. Data security: All messages should be stored in a secure environment to ensure that they are not accessible to unauthorized users.

7. User identification: All users should be identified by name or other unique identifier to ensure that all communications are tracked and monitored.

8. Time stamps: All messages should be time-stamped to ensure that all communications are tracked and monitored.

9. Patient information: All messages should be stored in a secure environment to ensure that patient information is not accessible to unauthorized users.

10. Patient consent: All messages should be sent with the patient’s consent to ensure that all communications are compliant with HIPAA regulations.

Buzz is better than other HIPAA Compliant messaging because it offers a secure and reliable way for healthcare providers to communicate with their patients. Buzz is designed to meet the highest standards of security and privacy, and it is compliant with all HIPAA regulations. It also offers features like end-to-end encryption, secure file sharing, and audit trails that make it easier for healthcare providers to keep track of their communications with patients. Additionally, Buzz is easy to use and can be accessed from any device, making it a great choice for healthcare providers who need to stay connected with their patients. Buzz is feature rich and designed especially for healthcare workflows including home health & hospice, clinics and other healthcare facilities.

Texting a patient’s name or any other personally identifiable health information is a HIPAA violation. An example of a HIPAA violation when texting would be if a provider sent a text message to {{Patient Name}} that said, “I just prescribed you medication Zoloft for your depression. Please pick it up at the pharmacy”

No, the SMS app built in on the iPhone or other smartphones is not HIPAA compliant. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that all medical information be kept confidential and secure. The default apps shipped with the iPhones and other smartphones do not meet the security requirements set forth by HIPAA. If you need to communicate with your healthcare provider, about medical information, you should download a HIPAA-secure messaging app on your iPhone or other smartphone, or other secure communication methods.

No, SMS messages are not HIPAA compliant. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that all medical information be kept confidential and secure. SMS messages are not encrypted and can be intercepted by third parties, making them an insecure way to transmit medical information.

Yes, the entire video session is conducted using end-to-end encryption and is 100% HIPAA-secure.

A provider can initiate a BuzzVideo from a mobile platform (like iOS or Android) or from a browser on the computer. If it is a telehealth call, the patient can accept the call either from a smartphone or a computer.

No. The patient will get an SMS or an email from the provider. She/he simply needs to click on the link to join the video call.

Yes, indeed. Buzz allows you to be engage in HIPAA-secure communication with individuals as well as groups in your care team. To initiate a video call with the individual or the group simply go the chat screen and click on the video conference button and the session will start.

1. Admins of organizations can invite other users to join the organization. They can add or remove users.
   
2. Messages exchanged between members of the organization are visible to the members as long as
   they are part of the organization.
   The moment they leave the organization, they can no longer view those messages.
   
3. Groups can be linked to an organization.
   In this scenario, only members of the organization can be added as members of the group.
   Similar to 1:1 conversation above, the users can view the messages only until they are members of the
   organization.
   The moment they leave the organization, they can no longer see the group messages.
   
4. When a user leaves an organization, they are also removed from all the groups linked to the
   organization.

Yes, we do offer a BAA agreement. Our Sales Team will be in touch to execute the agreement as might be required by your organization.

Buzz is intended to be available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Skyscape will provide system monitoring using industry-standard methodologies and will monitor the time that the hosted Buzz is available each month.

Within fifteen days after the end of each month, if the Uptime outage exceeds 2 hours in the prior whole month, the customer may request a billing credit for that month.

We recognize that the technology intended to serve you can often become a nuisance if the right information is unavailable when you or your staff needs to communicate with the right person but they can’t.  Regardless of the actual reason for not being able to use the tech platform that helps to communicate, it is obvious that you need the answer from the platform provider quickly, right?  But if you have ever tried to call tech support, it can be a frustrating experience, characterized by long hold times, non-technical staff, and scripted questions that make you bang your head against the wall!  With Buzz Concierge Support we offer a live person via chat to answer your questions quickly and efficiently.

Buzz Concierge is our white-glove support feature that integrates real-time assistance within the Buzz platform. This is built into Buzz, with real-time access to Skyscapes’ multidisciplinary team of technical and support professionals, with healthcare domain expertise.  We are ready to address your queries swiftly. Our focus is to respond to you quickly, often within minutes.  Our commitment is to solve any issue for you or your staff to get on with their daily workflow.

Since we also have tech team members, often a problem leads to new insight and sparks new feature developments or automation that enhances operational efficiency and saves you time.  In the recent past, we can point to numerous enhancements triggered by the points discussed in the concierge channels.  With Buzz, secure communication is just the beginning—we’re continually evolving to meet your needs.