From the article Background:  "Short message service (SMS) text messaging is an efficient form of communication and pervasive in health care, but may not securely protect patient information. It is unclear if resident providers are aware of the security concerns of SMS text messaging when communicating about patient care."

mFhast Implication: Opportunity to improve and explore SMS text messaging for residents as it is preferred compared with other forms of in-hospital communication when considering security versus ease of use.

General house cleaning on mFHAST status and further discussion of case management use case. Finalization of HL7 plenary slide deck.

General house cleaning on mFHAST status and further discussion of case management use case. Review of HL7 plenary slide deck.

Discussion of threading /summary use case for case manager workflows led by Susan Campbell.

Discussion of S&I eLTSS use case progress and potential for development of mFHAST use case.  Further discussion on Privacy and Security implications and scope within paper.

Discussion and drafting of mFHAST white paper outline. Particular focus on Privacy and Security implications and scope within paper.

From the PubMed article abstract: "Mobile device technology has revolutionized interpersonal communication, but the application of this technology to the physician-patient relationship remains limited due to concerns over patient confidentiality and the security of digital information. Nevertheless, there is a continued focus on improving communication between doctors and patients in all fields of medicine as a means of improving patient care. In this study, we implement a novel communications platform to demonstrate that instantaneously sharing perioperative information with surgical patients and members of their support networks can improve patient care and strengthen the physician-patient relationship."

mFHAST Implications: Opportunity for SMS use in immediate transfer of HIPAA-compliant data to patients and their designees

Authors' conclusions from the article: Low to moderate quality evidence included in this review shows that mobile phone text messaging reminders increase attendance at healthcare appointments compared to no reminders, or postal reminders. Text messaging reminders were similar to telephone reminders in terms of their effect on attendance rates, and cost less than telephone reminders. However, the included studies were heterogeneous and the quality of the evidence therein is low to moderate. Further, there is a lack of information about health effects, adverse effects and harms, user evaluation of the intervention and user perceptions of its safety. The current evidence therefore still remains insufficient to conclusively inform policy decisions.

mFHAST Implication: Mobile phone messaging applications, such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS), could provide an important, inexpensive delivery medium for reminders for healthcare appointments.