SMTP represents Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. SMTP is widely utilized for e-mail transmissions across Internet Protocol (IP) networks.
The SMTP protocol started out purely ASCII text-based, it did not deal well with binary files or characters in many non-English languages. Because of this, standards such as Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) were developed to encode binary files for transfer through SMTP.
In healthcare, the MIME standard CCDContinuity of Care Document (CCD) The HL7 CCD is the result of a collaborative effort between the Health Level Seven and American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) to “harmonize” the data format between ASTM’s Continuity of Care Record (CCR)... More documents can be treated as a MIME package in an SMTP e-mail. To make the SMTP e-mail secure, a secure version of MIME, called S/MIME, can be utilized. S/MIME along with certificates can be combined with SMTP to keep patient health information safe. The Direct ProjectThe Direct Project was launched by the ONC within Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 1, 2010. It was initially called NHIN Direct. The object of the Direct Project is to replace the use of faxes, phones, and paper transactions with a simple and... More provides the specifications for accomplishing this.
