Executive Summary

Company: ABA Foundations
Industry: Healthcare
Employees: thirty
Overview: With an increasingly mobile workforce, ABA needed a technology platform that protected sensitive data and offered HIPAA compliant email. In addition, they needed a platform that encouraged employee collaboration and improved communications. So, Communication Square deployed an advanced Azure healthcare solutions that provided secure collaboration and HIPAA email encryption.
Solution: Azure Information Protection & Exchange Online.

Opportunity

ABA enhances the quality of life for families by designing specific goals that encourage appropriate behaviors and discourage challenging behaviors. They do this by making use of research-based strategies delivered by trained professionals.

ABA Foundations offers comprehensive and focused treatment. Their services are provided in natural settings, such as the home and the family’s community. Individuals’ parents, siblings, guardians, and other caretakers take an active role in treatment. They’re encouraged to share in strategies that improve the quality of life of both the individual and the family. Additionally, ABA Foundations offers consultation services that provide career experiences for adults with disabilities.

ABA Foundations

Without Communication Square, it might have cost us probably ten times more to get in compliance with HIPAA. They’ve supported us throughout the process, from our business assessment to deploying the solution for us and endless support.

Jennifer Agganis
Executive Clinical Director

ENHANCE THE SECURITY OF YOUR SENSITIVE DATA

Although ABA Foundations has never had a data breach, they thought it wise to take precautions. Additionally, ABA Foundations had to be HIPAA compliant, as do all companies in the healthcare industry. This required them to have certain data privacy and security measures in place to protect their patients. ABA Foundations consulted Communication Square LLC, a Microsoft Gold Partner, to deploy Azure Information Protection. This move ensured HIPAA compliant email with HIPAA email encryption.

The Solution

Azure healthcare solutions is a cloud-based solution used to label and secure documents, emails, and important files. This protection provides healthcare organizations with the HIPAA compliant email they need. In addition to HIPAA email encryption, AIP provides constant protection that travels with your data. This ensures health data protection regardless of where it’s stored or with whom it’s shared.

As soon as Azure Information Protection is activated, two default templates become available. These are used to restrict data access automatically or to use customized settings and policies. Whichever template is used, the result is data protection and HIPAA compliant email wherever your employee's travel.

Communication Square

We configured rules to detect sensitive data. So, whenever a user wants to send sensitive documents, they will have to apply a label. This label classifies and optionally protects the document, depending on the configuration.

Japhet Martinez
Director IT Solutions

Benefits

One of the biggest advantages ABA received from AIP was limiting access to data. This streamlined their security and made conducting business safer. For instance, when an email containing a patient’s file is forwarded, the receiver’s access can be revoked from anywhere, anytime. And with HIPAA email encryption, ABA is secure in the knowledge that they’re sending HIPAA compliant email.

ENHANCED QUALITY OF LIFE AND ACHIEVING RAPID GROWTH

ABA Foundations’ rapid growth led them to upgrade additional systems with the help of Communication Square. In addition to HIPAA complaint email, Microsoft Exchange enabled ABA to continue growing with a unified communications system.

ABA Foundations

Sharing critical data within or outside the organization has never been easier with Azure Information Protection. With the help of Communication Square, we can now securely share our business-critical documents, with complete visibility and control.

Jennifer Agganis
Executive Clinical Director

Consistent communication and coordination inside and outside the company provided ABA with a great many advantages. The improved teamwork, reduced costs and increased productivity allowed them to carry on their mission to even more people in need.

SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS AND OPTIMIZED OPERATIONS

By moving email to the cloud, ABA was able to reduce the costs of managing internal servers. This allowed their IT department to focus on more important things. Additionally, ABA’s employees were able to operate more efficiently, avoiding downtime and ensuring optimal care for patients and their families. The result was increased employee mobility and productivity, further contributing to company growth.

Finally, another major gain for ABA came in the form of overall security. By default, Microsoft Exchange has built-in protection against spam, viruses, and phishing attacks. And IT or administration can limit and control access to data, further ensuring data loss prevention.

THE TAKEAWAY

Data security is a top priority for any business, but no more so than in the healthcare industry. The need for HIPAA compliant email makes Azure Information Protection the go-to Azure healthcare solutions for every company. Additionally, companies like ABA often find that Communication Square can improve a host of other areas at the same time. With services like Microsoft Exchange, ABA was able to look toward the future fully secure and highly productive. Their new communication solutions reduced costs, promoted teamwork, and set ABA on the fast-track to rapid growth.

ABA Foundation

This search for boosting healthcare systems with the latest technologies ended with us partnering with Communication Square. They suggested we transition to the cloud and make use of Microsoft Exchange.

Brenda Liner
Clinical Director