Many of the applications that are being developed as part of this class have run into the same dilemma: how can we have doctors communicate with patients in a HIPAA compliant and secure environment? There are secure doctor networks like Doximity, and in my last post I mentioned an idea for a secure patient doctor portal based on Doximity.
Well here’s another option. Cyber Dust.
Cyber Dust (http://cyberdust.com/) is a Mark Cuban backed startup that is described as “Whatsapp meets Snapchat”. The mobile application allows members to communicate with one another in a secure environment in which all messages are automatically and permanently erased after 30 seconds.
The impetus for this technology has absolutely nothing to do with medicine. Cuban talks about situations like Alex Rodriguez’s incriminating text messages that were part of the case leading to his history making MLB ban; private discussions he wanted to have with investors without worrying about the SEC prying; and confidential discussions between clients and lawyers.
With current text messaging however that just isn’t a reality; cyber dust allows individuals to communicate without leaving a digital footprint.
The common denominator here is that all of these conversations were supposed to be confidential, which is exactly what communication between doctors and patients is supposed to be. So then could Cyber Dust be modified in a way that facilitates secure patient doctor communication?
I see a lot of promise in the idea. But there is also a risk. Without a digital footprint it could be hard to hold doctors accountable.
I guess the real question for patients, doctors, Cyber Dust, and Mr. Cuban is do the benefits outweigh the risks?