Approved and unapproved collaboration tools for remotely working

Tools for Exchanging and Storing PHI

Click here to access a list of permitted and approved tools for exchanging and/or storing  Protected Health Information in accordance with HIPAA 

University Approved Tools 

• WebEx
  • Video meetings, group messaging, file sharing and white boarding.
    Install Webex Meetings | Get started with Webex
• Microsoft Teams  

  Microsoft Teams is a tool for Online meetings in which you can host audio, video, and web conferences with anyone. Microsoft Teams has features such as scheduling assistance, meeting note taking, screen sharing, meeting recording, and instant messaging..

  More information about Microsoft Teams can be found here: Office 365 - Getting Started with Microsoft Teams.

• Jabber (The UW's implementation of Jabber for Cisco has voice only features)
• Blackboard Collaborate

Faculty and staff using any of these approved collaboration tools should utilize VPN while working remotely, especially if working from places with unsecured public internet access.

Not Approved

1. Zoom
2. Google Suite Tools (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Calendar, Google+, Hangouts)
3. Personal Email Accounts
4. Personal File-sharing Accounts (DropBox, GoogleDrive, OneNote)
5. Personal Instant Messaging Accounts
6. Microsoft Office 365 – Calendar Entries with PHI
7. Amazon Web Service (AWS)
8. Canvas (UW-Madison Learning Management System)
9. Google Cloud Platform
10. Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat)**In some situations, an IRB may approve a research protocol involving the use of social media; if so, social media may only be used as stated in the approved protocol
11. Text Paging
12. Texting **In some situations, an IRB may approve a research protocol involving the use of texting; if so, texting may only occur as stated in the approved protocol
13. Virtual Assistants (Alexa, Echo Dot, Siri, Bixby, Alice)
14. VoIP Phone Services not provided by UW Health or UW-Madison (Google Voice, WhatsApp)
15. Other Apps, Software, Tools from Cloud Service Providers unless reviewed and approved by UW Health or UW-Madison, as appropriate