Not long ago, a report from the Institute of Medicine warned that in terms of manpower, geriatric care is stretched precariously thin, a situation that stands to worsen as more and more baby boomers contend with the symptoms and diseases of aging. Currently, according to the U.S. Social Security administration, the population of older Americans already measures 41.9 million, and it's predicted to double by 2030.

The next big problem in healthcare as we see it is overcoming the information barriers among practices, hospitals and other providers. Nowhere may this be felt more acutely than among those practitioners trying to coordinate care for the elderly, a group of patients often with multiple needs for which resources are in short supply. From managing referrals to sharing patient information to communicating about broader issues, physicians, nurses and physicians assistants working in this field have a tremendous need to interact in a safe, HIPAA-compliant environment. Easier said than done.

Before we started Doximity, the only way doctors were able to communicate securely was via phone or fax. Email and SMS are not, in fact, considered secure. They can easily leak private patient information. To underscore this point, just recently the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations issued a ban on physician texting on grounds that it risks violating HIPAA regulations.

One recent article about Doximity said that if LinkedIn is the office of the Internet, we're on our way to becoming the hospital. To that we'd add that we're doing it all with HIPAA compliance. We're addressing the need to establish direct, protected, real-time lines of communication through text messages, emails, discussion on our site and electronic faxes. All so our users can coordinate care and find the right referrals.

By offering our service on the iPhone and Android, as well as on the Web, we've also ensured that those interactions can always happen efficiently, simply and quickly. Our site is also pre-populated with names and contact information for all U.S. physicians with a National Provider Index. This means that medical professionals who sign up are not limited to just the contact info of other registered users, they get an entire national directory.

Doximity is exclusive to verified healthcare professionals. Patients can't access it. Pharma reps can't access it. We don't spam our users and there's no advertising on our application. Not only do we require all members to pass a three-step verification process, but for every message sent we also employ dual passwords for each user so the message will be encrypted end to end. 

In the eight months since we launched, Doximity has already become the largest medical professional network in the U.S. As we continue to grow, we're keeping HIPAA compliance at the top of our priority list. We're also looking forward to even more of your feedback for how we can securely facilitate and expedite professional communication for you.

Jeff Tangney is the CEO of Doximity.