Microsoft launched Office 2016, the latest version of its Office suite, in September. Packed into the latest version were three health privacy features of note for healthcare customers, according to Medical Practice Insider.
1. Protected health information recognition. Microsoft's email service Outlook can recognize when an email or attachment contains PHI and signals this to the user. When the user receives the warning, he or she can double check the message is being sent to the correct recipient. Additionally, one may set up Outlook in such a way that prevents users from sending PHI at all, according to the report.
2. Smart attachments. Instead of sending a number of documents, users can instead send a link, which authenticates the user and allows the user to determine if a recipient clicked on the link. This feature could come in handy in the event that data is inadvertently sent to the wrong recipient to determine what happens to the data.
3. Encryption, single sign-on and authentication. Office 365 now encrypts documents and emails. Additionally, users have a single sign-on feature, and third-party apps are using Windows Passport for facial recognition. Windows Passport replaces passwords and uses instead two-factor authentication.
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