MedTunnel
Secure Communication for Healthcare

A typical day at an MRI center can be pictured as a room full of discouraged faces waiting for their turn to either get their scans done as prescribed by their physician or pick-up their test reports. As HIPAA regulations in the U.S. stipulate that patient information be kept discrete and protected, the center either relies on time-consuming delivery methods such as postal mail or requires its patients to drive back to the center to pick-up their reports in-person. Faxing, another common option, although HIPAA-compliant and considered as an accepted method by providers, is slowly becoming less popular due to its clunky and outdated process. Addressing these shortcomings that physicians and healthcare providers are experiencing while exchanging protected health information with patients, physician and programmer - Kishore Tipirneni brings to the market a revolutionary HIPAA-compliant communication platform, MedTunnel. Providing a free communication platform, MedTunnel helps doctors and patients to exchange health information securely over the internet.

“Being an orthopedic surgeon myself, I am aware of the limitations of healthcare communication,” says Kishore Tipirneni, M.D, CEO of MedTunnel. Oftentimes, doctors require a quick consultation with another physician but there are no secured electronic means to share the patient data instantaneously. With MedTunnel, a doctor can easily sign-up free of charge and message using his or her MedTunnel ID just like any other texting or email service.

What makes MedTunnel unique is its universal integration capability to operate from any platform–desktop, smartphones or web application. The architecture of the communication platform does not have several interfaces for different vendors and software; instead, MedTunnel utilizes a universal integration point that is available for any operating system. For instance, MedTunnel uses a simple printer driver in order to convert a document into a PDF file and share that document with the recipient via their MedTunnel ID.

MedTunnel is a free communication application platform that helps doctors and patients to exchange health information securely over the internet

To receive incoming documents, the application uses an auto-downloader to download and save them in designated folders.

Additionally, the company also offers to build custom mobile apps for individual medical practices. Through this custom application, a medical practice is able to securely receive questions, manage appointment requests and send push notification messages from a single platform. The custom app also allows practices to post reference material for their patients to easily access.

Every message, which may include documents and reports, sent and received via MedTunnel is encrypted and secured with three keys. The first key is randomly generated by the system for every message; while the second and third keys are manually entered. “Since the keys are never stored electronically, it makes the MedTunnel system extremely secure,” states Tipirneni. Moreover, MedTunnel is contractually obligated to not store or have access to any of the keys. The server, which is the only entity to have access to all the keys, automatically encrypts data while sending and decrypts while receiving. MedTunnel only acts as a conduit through the Internet for secure Winformation delivery.

Offering the service for free, MedTunnel is beginning to capture the US healthcare market which accounts for 20 percent of the total GDP and growing its user base while simultaneously leveraging existing users to provide premium paid services. MedTunnel is currently working on expanding their application architecture and building more side apps that would be provided as a paid service. With pioneering solutions to connect the healthcare world, MedTunnel is at the forefront of secured communication gateways for doctors and patients and envisages emerging as the gold standard for healthcare communication in the U.S in the coming years.