Sharing sensitive Protected Health Information (PHI) securely

Using Tresorit, the Community Psychotherapy Network protects sensitive health data with end-to-end encryption

The Community Psychotherapy Network is an East-London based social enterprise. They offer psychotherapy services for groups, individuals, couples, and families. To help make therapy affordable for all, they apply a sliding-scale methodology. This means they adjust treatment fees depending on the income of patients and clients.

“With the sliding-scale, we can provide long-term therapy for those who would not be able to afford it. Our aim is to make therapy accessible for people who are diagnosed but not treated thoroughly”, says Janos Verebes-Weisz, Individual and Group Analytic Psychotherapist, and founder of the Community Psychotherapy Network.

The team consists of 7 colleagues who speak and work in 4 different languages. In the future, they are planning to offer sessions in more languages and include various therapy methods like movement or drama therapy and therapeutic play for children.

The challenge: Health data needs high-level protection

“Data protection requirements for health data and medical records are very strict in the UK. We don’t have the resources to maintain our server infrastructure, so we needed a secure cloud solution to store our clients’ sensitive data and share files within our team”, says Verebes-Weisz.

They chose Tresorit because of the ease-of-use and high level of security. “Tresorit ticked all the boxes. It has enough storage space, an adequate level of security and privacy, is available on tablets and phones, and is also user-friendly. This is important for colleagues who might be less flexible when it comes to starting to use new services”.

The solution: Sharing therapy notes securely with Tresorit

Being in sync is important for the team because all colleagues are working from home or their practice premises using their own devices. “We couldn’t afford to rent an office. Our colleagues are scattered across London, working from home and on the road using own laptops and tablets. We need to be able to work securely on our files on all of these devices”, Verebes-Weisz adds.

The team uses Tresorit to do their daily job securely. “I record notes after therapy sessions, then use Tresorit to file these notes or share with my colleagues. Sometimes they are working more than 80 kilometers from me at home. Our supporting service often types them and then shares the written notes through Tresorit safely with us”, the therapist explains.

Data protection is a top priority for the team at the Community Psychotherapy Network. Beyond cloud storage, they use end-to-end encrypted emailing, too. “We use other secure services like Protonmail for emailing. Now we have started to look for encrypted alternatives for video chats as well. We often use group chats for supervision and meetings, and I am worried about the privacy of these sessions”, he adds.

Interested in learning more about sharing Protected Health Information (PHI)? Check out the following material:

• Learn more about HIPAA Compliance with Tresorit
• Learn how to keep sensitive healthcare and patient data safe