Changing Standards for Online

Just a few months ago I wrote a blog post about healthcare data on the cloud (HIPPA Cloud Storage) and the security concerns surrounding this very sensitive and valuable data. I mentioned that as with many industries, more healthcare data is being moved to the cloud, but the healthcare industry has remained a few paces behind others in terms of securing online data.

The safety of personal healthcare information on the cloud continues to be an important topic, specifically in regards to government-issued guidelines. There are new requirements going into effect this year that expand on how HIPAA and HITECH standards regulate healthcare data on the cloud.

For years, HIPAA has required healthcare organizations to maintain confidentiality of electronic health information that can be linked back to an individual. More recently, HITECH provisions further strengthened HIPAA penalties and high risk merchant account .

This year's new provision to HIPAA, known as the Omnibus final rule, has its compliance date coming up in September 2013. There are important implications for vendors that are involved in any way with storing, transmitting or otherwise handling personal healthcare records. Anyone involved in those capacities is now known as a "Business Associate" and is therefore subject to the compliance regulations put forth in HIPAA. Those not compliant with HIPAA rules are subject to various penalties, including fines, as in the case of the recently announced Wellpoint fine.

As I have written about before, both "Covered Entities" (Healthcare providers, etc.) and Business Associates looking to leverage cloud services but keep sensitive patient information within their full control have been leveraging a new class of technologies known as Cloud Data Protection Gateways. These gateways intercept sensitive data while it is still on-premise, encrypts or replaces it with a random token and protects the data whether at rest, in transit or on the cloud. Encryption and Tokenization techniques deployed within these gateways are a viable solution to help organizations stay compliant.

As industry and government regulations surrounding HIPAA and the cloud continue to impact cloud users and providers, I will keep this blog up to date on changes and on solutions to stay on top of requirements.

Currently the IPSP space is dominated by a few major players like PayPal, Google Wallet and Amazon Payments, but emerging companies like SegPay are starting to garner more interest from clients that are looking for a higher level of customer service, more flexibility, an easily navigable dashboard, and customizable features.  Beyond that, SegPay ensures multiple levels of compliance and has strong relationships with banking institutions around the world, delivering a blend of security and ease of use.

"Customer service is the key differentiator for SegPay," said Cathy Beardsley, CEO of SegPay.  "When you need to talk with someone or get an immediate answer to a question, we are there.  SegPay aims to give its customers the benefits of a full service partner, while remaining a cost competitive alternative.  That's something you won't get anywhere else."

SegPay's transaction fees are on par with its larger competitors, but the company sets itself apart by providing additional value and ease of use to its customers."Webmasters and developers have enough to worry them without trying to navigate the regulations and technology surrounding online payments," Beardsley said.  "At SegPay, we take the stress out of the equation by providing reliable, full-service payment solutions that conform to a client's business."

With Beardsley at the helm, SegPay has developed extensive expertise in affiliate marketing, often being asked by banking institutions to speak about detecting and preventing affiliate fraud.  The company's work in fraud prevention is just one more way to ensure the fulfilment of the company mantra: "You get paid before we do."

"Leaf has done a great job focusing on the needs of SMBs and building an open and accommodating platform to meet their varying needs. We're very excited to partner with Leaf and leverage our mobile SDK to add value to their solution, merchant customers, and ultimately provide flexibility of payments to consumers," says DoubleBeam CEO Ted Tekippe.

DoubleBeam's e-Check app is one of the first publicly-announced apps for the Leaf Appstore, the first app store dedicated to the needs of brick and mortar businesses.  The recently announced Leaf Appstore enables third-party developers such as DoubleBeam to extend the core features built into the LeafPresenter POS tablet and LeafBusiness, the company's cloud-based management and analytics portal.

"Running a small business has become much more complicated than it should be, and many times that's because merchants are forced to work the way their technology works," said Aron Schwarzkopf, Leaf's founder and CEO. "By building our own POS tablet that includes the latest technology, and then opening the platform for creative developers to solve common challenges merchants face, we're making sure they can work the way they want to.  DoubleBeam's e-Check app is a great example of that."

In addition to its open platform for third-party developers, Leaf maintains an agnostic approach to payment acceptance, meaning that merchants using its platform can work with virtually any payment provider of their choice – from traditional credit card and gift card processors, to next generation payment methods and a number of digital wallets. With DoubleBeam's e-Check app, they can now use the LeafPresenter to accept checks just as easily.


Click on their website austpay.com.