12 Key Questions to Ask Before Sending HIPAA-Compliant Marketing Emails

HIPAA Compliant Email, HIPAA Email Marketing
LuxSci
October 30, 2024

So – you’ve just been told that your email marketing program is putting your company at risk of violating HIPAA.

Ok. What now?

If you want to continue your email-based patient engagement efforts – without the risk of the financial, operational, and reputational risk that accompanies the exposure of sensitive patient data, you must implement HIPAA compliant email marketing practices.

This is comprised of two components: becoming HIPAA-compliant, setting up the required systems and procedures to ensure your PHI (PHI) and EPHI (EPHI) are protected, and your marketing objectives, who you want to reach and what to communicate.

However, you don’t have to let your marketing objectives suffer for the sake of security.

Implementing a HIPAA-compliant marketing program can actually help you achieve better marketing results.

Asking yourself these 12 questions ensures your email marketing campaigns align with your business goals and are HIPAA-compliant.

———

HIPAA-Compliant Marketing Emails

1. Do you have security controls to protect access to your email marketing system?

2. Do you have a documented procedure to guide you HIPAA-compliant email marketing?

3. Can you send encrypted emails?

4. Do you have a complete understanding of your organization’s PHI and ePHI?

5. Do you have a required training process for anyone sending HIPAA-compliant marketing emails?

6. Do you have effective protection against malware?

7. Do you have valid Business Associate Agreements (BAA) in place?

8. Why am I sending this email?

9. Is my email’s subject line standing out?

10. What is the recipient’s brand and product awareness level?

11. Have I tested my message for readability?

12. Have I sent my message to a test email account?

HIPAA-Compliant Marketing Emails

If your organization requires HIPAA-compliant email, start by using these questions to inspect your email marketing for compliance. Note that while we can’t provide legal advice, the below questions will help you identify some of the most common points of vulnerability and non-compliance.

1. Do you have security controls to protect access to your email marketing system?

Email security is an essential component of being HIPAA-compliant. As a starting point, check your internal security processes for access restrictions. This includes:

A robust password policy, i.e., changed frequently (e.g., 30 days), has to contain a mixture of characters, etc.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA), i.e., users verifying their identity in multiple ways, e.g., username/password and sent number codes (text, email, key fob, etc.), biometrics, etc.
Role-based access controls, i.e., granting access to individuals based on the responsibilities of their job role.
Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), i.e., “never trust, always verify” – where users are required to reconfirm their identity on a case-by-case basis, as opposed to once when logging on, which mitigates session hijacking and similar threats.

2. Do you have a documented procedure to guide you HIPAA-compliant email marketing?

“Winging it” simply doesn’t cut it when it comes to HIPAA-compliant email marketing; you must develop a comprehensive documented process detailing how you intend to safeguard PHI throughout your email marketing campaigns.

This should include:

Specifying the HIPAA-compliant email delivery service you’ll use to execute your marketing campaigns

The processes and controls you’ll use to encrypt data for ePHI at rest and in transit

The access and authentication controls you have in place

How you’ll implement data minimization: only using the minimum necessary PHI in communications – and not including sensitive PHI unless it’s essential.
How you’ll securely dispose of data: Implement a process for securely deleting emails containing ePHI once they’re no longer needed, to comply with retention policies.
Staff training: educating employees involved in email marketing on how to securely handle PHI and other HIPAA requirements.
Incident response plan, i.e., an additional documented plan for how you’ll respond to data breaches and other cyber attacks; this also includes notifying any affected parties as mandated by HIPAA.

If you’re starting from scratch, the information contained in the answers to the questions in this article provides a useful starting point for creating your first procedure.

3. Can you send encrypted emails?

If you are sending highly sensitive data or PHI in your emails, be aware that HIPAA requires the data to be encrypted a rest, i.e., the storage medium where it resides, and in transit, when being sent to recipients.

To the surprise of many healthcare organizations, most major email marketing providers, such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact are unable to provide encryption for data in transit and only protect data in their systems. To avoid falling foul of HIPAA regulations, ensure that the email delivery platform you use to transmit messages containing PHI offers end-to-end encryption.

4. Do you have a complete understanding of your organization’s PHI and ePHI?

Much of the time, when we, as well as healthcare providers, talk about PHI, we’re actually referring to electronic protected health information (EPHI). While PHI is a catch-all term to account for all sensitive health information, in truth, in the digital age, the vast majority is stored electronically in data centers – and the patient data handled is EPHI.

You can discover “PHI” and “ePHI” within the context of your organization’s context by identifying and categorizing the PHI and ePHI typically handled in your business. It’s an absolutely crucial tenet of data protection that you simply can’t protect what you’re not aware of.

Comprehensive PHI categorization will help your staff navigate HIPAA-compliant email requirements.

5. Do you have a required training process in place for anyone sending HIPAA-compliant marketing emails?

Your HIPAA compliance program, as with your company’s overall cybersecurity posture, is only as strong as your weakest link. In light of this, it’s essential to educate the staff within your company who are involved in your healthcare engagement campaigns on the secure use of ePHI and HIPAA-compliant marketing practices.

Additionally, this needs to be reflected in your onboarding process, so new hires are made familiar with HIPAA regulations, should their role require it.

6. Do you have effective protection against malware?

In the unlikely event you need any further encouragement to revisit your company’s anti-malware (viruses, ransomware, Trojans, etc.) measures, there are always HIPAA compliance requirements!

To better protect your sensitive customer data against a slew of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, start with these three key considerations:

Do you have anti-malware protection running on all of your organization’s devices? Additionally, does this extend to your employee’s personal devices on which they handle PHI?
How frequently do you update your anti-malware solution?
Does your email marketing provider have sufficient protection malware mitigation measures in place, as per HIPAA requirements?

7. Do you have valid Business Associate Agreements (BAA) in place?

It’s normal to outsource activities like email marketing to a third party, but for the service they provide to be HIPAA-compliant, you must have a business associate agreement (BAA) in place.

A BAA documents how two organizations will share PHI and under what circumstances. A BAA also details the legal responsibilities of each party in the event of a serious issue. With a BAA being a core component of HIPAA compliance, failure to have one in place with your email service provider is an immediate HIPAA violation – and one that can result in serious consequences for a healthcare company.

Getting Better Results from HIPAA-Compliant Email Marketing

Now that you’ve confirmed your systems are HIPAA-compliant, let’s move on to making sure your email marketing strategy aligns with your overall business objectives.

In pursuit of this, the following questions serve as a handy “monthly review” for refining the effectiveness of your email-based patient outreach efforts .

8. Why am I sending this email?

First and foremost, for the best results, each email you send should have a single, clearly defined purpose.

I know what you’re thinking – “my customers and patients are smart, they can handle multiple points in a single message.” And while that’s true, at whatever point your email reaches a recipient, they’re already juggling several different priorities at once. While they’re capable of juggling multiple points in a message – they’re unlikely to want to; when it comes to email marketing, a single goal is the best way to go.

Similarly, it’s important to remember that your email is one of dozens – or hundreds – received by your patient that day. So, if your message is long and overly complicated, the reader will likely skip over or delete it.

9. Is my email’s subject line standing out?

Following on the above point, is your email subject line impactful enough to stand out amidst the pile of messages that will land in the patient’s inbox that day? The email subject line is the most important part of your email because it’s responsible for persuading the reader to open your message.

Despite this, many marketers still use terrible, ineffective subject lines and wonder why their emails are failing to produce results!

For the best results, write up three to ten subject lines for your next email, step away for 5-10 minutes, and then choose the headline you determine as best.

Consider these examples to check your understanding:

Ineffective Email Subject Lines

Blank (no subject): writing nothing in the subject line
Clinic Newsletter (tell them more, e.g., the subject or theme for the month)
Overusing exclamation marks!!!

Effective Email Subject Lines (examples based on a dental practice)

BRAND-NEW Dental Product Released Today
How to Cut Down on Your Health Insurance Paperwork
[Case Study] How We Helped 3 Ex-Smokers Get White Teeth

10. What is the recipient’s brand and product awareness level?

Whether promoting medical devices, new digital solutions technology, or any healthcare product or service, understanding the prospect’s awareness level is essential.

If your email is designed to introduce a brand-new product, stick to high-level features and benefits while avoiding technical jargon and granular product details. Conversely, if you’re writing an email to experienced, highly knowledgeable readers, going into greater depth makes sense.

Advanced list management and segmentation tools, as offered by Luxsci Secure Marketing, are key for ensuring the communications you send match the reader’s awareness level.

11. Have I tested my message for readability?

Do you know one of the reasons that Hemingway was popular? He was skilled at writing short phrases and phrases. Consequently, his writing was easy to understand and appealed to a wide variety of people. When in doubt, keep your writing short and free of jargon, abbreviations and “insider” terms.

When you’re deeply involved in the details of your business, it’s so easy to overlook just how much specialized jargon and language you frequently use. However, if you want your communications to engage with patients and customers, they need to be as accessible as possible.

Fortunately, there are simple solutions to this, with tools like the Text Readability Calculator that are designed to quickly enhance the readability of your emails.

12. Have I sent my message to a test email account?

Finally, if you’ve followed all of the above advice, you’re almost ready to hit SEND…there’s just one more thing you need to check.

Determine how your email will look to recipients, including its clarity, and readability by simply sending a test email to one of your own email accounts once it is received.

In particular, pay attention to how the subject line looks and test all the links in the email to ensure they take the reader through to the intended destination, such as a product or service page. A broken link will only frustrate the recipient – who was interested enough to click through, no less – and lower your conversion rate.

Better still, send the test email to a colleague somebody and ask for their opinion about the quality of the message and whether it creates the desired impression.

Demystifying HIPAA-Compliant Email Marketing

As the most experienced HIPAA-compliant email provider, LuxSci specializes in providing secure and HIPAA-compliant solutions for companies aiming to send hundreds of thousands – or millions – of emails. Our hypersegmentation tools allow you to precisely target an unlimited number of patient sub-populations to maximize the efficacy of your messaging.

Are you interested in discovering how LuxSci’s secure email marketing platform will streamline your healthcare engagement efforts?

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LuxSci Earns 19 G2 Spring 2026 Badges

March 23, 2026
Pete Wermter

LuxSci continues its strong performance in the G2 Spring 2026 Reports, earning 19 badges that reflect real customer satisfaction and consistent product excellence across multiple areas, including email encryption, HIPAA compliant messaging, email security and email gateways.

G2: A Highly Reputable Peer Review Platformn

In a crowded software landscape, it’s easy for bold claims to blur together. That’s where G2 stands apart. Its rankings are based entirely on verified user feedback, giving buyers a clearer picture of how solutions actually perform in day-to-day use, not just how they’re marketed.

For Spring 2026, LuxSci earned recognition across multiple categories, including Leader, Best Customer Support, and Best ROI. Together, these awards show that LuxSci delivers leading technology and a best-in-class customer experience.

What the Badges Represent

Each G2 badge reflects direct input from customers using LuxSci in real-world environments. These evaluations cover usability, onboarding, support responsiveness, and long-term value. LuxSci’s Spring 2026 badges span leadership, customer satisfaction, ROI, and ease of implementation, demonstrating consistent strength across the full customer lifecycle.

Leader Badge: Market Leadership Validated

The Leader badge is awarded to companies with high customer satisfaction and strong market presence. LuxSci’s placement reflects reliable performance, strong security, and continued trust from organizations operating in highly regulated environments like healthcare.

Best Customer Support: A Standout Strength

In secure healthcare communications, timely and accurate support is essential. Issues must be resolved quickly to avoid operational or compliance risks. Customers consistently highlight LuxSci’s fast response times, deep expertise, and a hands-on approach, showing that our technology and our people deliver meaningful, real-world solutions.

Best ROI: Proven Business Value

ROI includes reduced compliance risk, improved efficiency, and scalable operations, not just cost. Customers report measurable benefits from LuxSci’s reliability, built-in compliance, and streamlined workflows, leading to strong long-term value and a solution that keeps you ahead of security and compliance risks.

What This Means for LuxSci Customers

These awards show LuxSci’s ability to serve organizations of varying sizes, from mid-market to enterprise. All reviews are from verified users, ensuring authenticity and transparency. Customers consistently mention reliability, security, and responsive support, along with overall peace of mind. The recognitions validate LuxSci’s ability to deliver secure, dependable communication solutions backed by strong support, including HIPAA compliant email, marketing and forms.

LuxSci’s 10 G2 Spring 2026 badges—including Leader, Best Customer Support, and Best ROI—demonstrate consistent excellence across performance, usability, and customer satisfaction. These results reinforce its position as a trusted provider in secure communications.

Traditional MFA No Longer Qualifies as “Reasonable” Security

March 17, 2026
Pete Wermter

For years, multi-factor authentication (MFA) was considered one of the most effective ways to protect sensitive systems. By requiring a second verification step, such as a text message code or push notification, organizations could significantly reduce the risk of compromised passwords.

But the threat landscape has changed.

Today, attackers routinely bypass traditional MFA using techniques such as MFA evasion, token replay attacks, and consent phishing. These methods are no longer rare or highly sophisticated. They are widely used, automated, and increasingly effective.

As a result, regulators, auditors, and security frameworks are raising expectations for authentication security. For healthcare organizations in particular, traditional MFA alone may no longer satisfy the HIPAA requirement to implement “reasonable and appropriate safeguards.”

In the near future, email systems that rely only on basic MFA, without conditional access or phishing-resistant authentication, may increasingly be viewed as security gaps during risk assessments.

Why Traditional MFA Is No Longer Enough

Traditional MFA still improves security compared to passwords alone. However, many common MFA methods were designed before today’s phishing techniques and cloud authentication attacks became widespread.

Common MFA methods include:

SMS verification codes
Email-based authentication codes
Push notifications to mobile apps

While these mechanisms add friction for attackers, they can still be intercepted or manipulated during sophisticated phishing attacks. Because modern attackers now target authentication workflows directly, organizations relying solely on traditional MFA may be more vulnerable than they realize.

How Attackers Bypass MFA Today

Cybercriminals increasingly rely on tools that capture credentials and authentication tokens during login sessions. Three attack techniques are now especially common.

MFA Evasion and Phishing Proxies – Attackers frequently deploy adversary-in-the-middle phishing kits that sit between the user and the real login service. When users enter their credentials and MFA code on a phishing page, the attacker forwards the information to the legitimate site and captures the authentication session. The user successfully logs in—but the attacker gains access as well. If attackers capture those tokens, they can reuse them to access the account directly.
Token Replay Attacks – After successful authentication, systems typically issue session tokens that allow users to remain logged in without repeated MFA prompts. This technique has been widely observed in attacks targeting cloud email platforms such as Microsoft 365, allowing attackers to access email data even when MFA is enabled.
Consent Phishing – Consent phishing bypasses MFA entirely. Instead of stealing passwords, attackers trick users into granting permissions to malicious applications that request access to their mailbox or files. If users approve the request, the attacker’s application receives persistent access to the account through APIs—often without triggering security alerts.

Why Email Authentication Matters Most in Healthcare

Email remains one of the most critical systems in healthcare organizations. It supports patient communication, internal collaboration, and the exchange of sensitive information. Unfortunately, it is also the most frequently targeted entry point for cyberattacks.

Once attackers gain access to an email account, they can:

Impersonate healthcare staff
Launch internal phishing attacks
Access sensitive patient communications
Extract protected health information (PHI)

Because of this, email authentication controls are becoming a major focus for security teams and compliance auditors alike.

Evolving Regulatory Expectations

HIPAA does not prescribe specific technologies, but it requires organizations to implement safeguards that are “reasonable and appropriate” based on risk. As new attack methods emerge, the definition of reasonable security evolves.

Today, many security frameworks and regulatory bodies are emphasizing stronger identity protections, including:

Phishing-resistant authentication
Conditional access policies
Monitoring for suspicious login behavior
Controls for third-party application permissions

Organizations that rely solely on basic MFA may increasingly struggle to demonstrate that their authentication protections are sufficient.

The Shift Toward Phishing-Resistant Authentication

To address the weaknesses of traditional MFA, many organizations are adopting phishing-resistant authentication technologies, which can be enabled with tools like Duo and Okta. These solutions rely on cryptographic authentication tied to trusted devices, which prevents attackers from capturing or replaying login credentials.

Examples include:

Hardware security keys
Passkeys
Certificate-based authentication

Because authentication is tied to both the device and the legitimate website domain, these technologies significantly reduce the success rate of phishing attacks.

Why Conditional Access Is Becoming Essential

Conditional access adds another layer of protection by evaluating context and risk before granting access. Instead of treating every login the same, conditional access policies analyze signals such as:

Device security status
Geographic location
Network reputation
User behavior patterns

If something appears unusual, such as a login from a new country, the system can require stronger authentication or block the attempt altogether. This risk-based approach to authentication helps prevent many account compromise scenarios.

The Future of HIPAA Risk Assessments

As authentication threats evolve, healthcare security assessments are increasingly focusing on identity protection maturity. Organizations may begin seeing findings related to:

Weak or outdated MFA methods
Lack of conditional access policies
Insufficient monitoring of login activity
Unrestricted third-party application permissions

In particular, email systems without advanced authentication protections may be flagged as high-risk vulnerabilities, especially when PHI is accessible.

LuxSci’s Modern Approach to MFA

Modern threats require more than a simple second login factor. LuxSci approaches authentication security with layered identity protection designed specifically for healthcare environments.

Instead of relying solely on basic MFA methods like SMS codes or email verification, LuxSci supports stronger authentication controls and policies that align with evolving security expectations. These protections can include:

Strong multi-factor authentication options
Monitoring for unusual login behavior
Enhanced identity verification mechanisms

By combining multiple security layers within its HIPAA-compliant secure communications email and marketing solutions, LuxSci helps healthcare organizations protect sensitive email communications while maintaining usability for providers, health plan administrators, payment providers, and patient engagement teams.

Conclusion

Multi-factor authentication remains an important security control—but not all MFA is created equal. Attack techniques such as phishing proxies, token replay, and consent phishing have demonstrated that traditional MFA methods can be bypassed. As a result, regulators and auditors are increasingly expecting stronger identity protections.

For healthcare organizations that rely heavily on email communications, the implications are significant. Weak authentication controls can expose sensitive patient data and may soon appear as high-risk findings during HIPAA risk assessments. The organizations best positioned for the future will be those that modernize authentication strategies now, moving toward phishing-resistant methods, conditional access policies, and layered identity protection.

Reach out to LuxSci today to learn how HIPAA compliant email can support both your organization’s engagement and cybersecurity needs.

FAQs

1. What is traditional MFA?

Traditional MFA refers to authentication methods that require a second verification step, typically SMS codes, email codes, or push notifications.

2. Why can attackers bypass MFA today?

Modern phishing tools can intercept authentication sessions or steal login tokens, allowing attackers to access accounts even when MFA is enabled.

3. What is phishing-resistant authentication?

Phishing-resistant authentication uses cryptographic methods tied to trusted devices, preventing attackers from capturing login credentials.

4. Why is email security especially important for healthcare organizations?

Email systems often contain patient communications and sensitive information, making them a common target for cyberattacks.

5. How can organizations improve authentication security?

Organizations can strengthen identity security by adopting phishing-resistant authentication methods, implementing conditional access policies, and monitoring login activity.

Encryption Optional Email Will Fail Audits in 2026 and Beyond

February 24, 2026
Pete Wermter

For years, healthcare organizations have relied on click-to-encrypt email workflows and secure portals as a practical compromise between usability and compliance. Or in some cases, they simply thought most of their emails did not need to be compliant. In regulated industries where data security and privacy are paramount, this approach was still considered “good enough.”

That era is ending.

As we progress into 2026 and beyond, regulators, auditors, and cyber insurers are sending a clear and consistent message: encryption that depends on human choice is no longer acceptable. It’s already happening. Encryption optional email isn’t merely raising concerns, it’s failing audits outright.

An Email Threat Landscape That’s Changing Faster Than Email Habits

Historically, email encryption was treated as a best practice rather than a hard requirement. If an organization could demonstrate that encryption tools existed and that employees had access to them, auditors were often satisfied. The box was checked, everybody moved on.

Today, the questions auditors ask are fundamentally different. Instead of asking whether encryption is available, they are asking whether sensitive data can ever leave the organization unencrypted. If the answer is yes, even in rare cases, or even accidentally, that’s no longer viewed as an acceptable gap. It’s viewed as inadequate control.

Why 2026 Is a Tipping Point for Email Security

Several forces are converging here in 2026 that make optional encryption increasingly untenable. Regulatory scrutiny around PHI and PII exposure continues to intensify. Breach costs and litigation are rising, with email remaining one of the most common vectors for data exposure and breaches. AI is also changing the game for cybercriminals, and attacks will continue to increase and be more sophisticated. As a result, cyber insurers are tightening underwriting requirements and demanding stronger, more predictable controls.

At the same time, email user behavior is unpredictable and inconsistent, which is a non-starter for data security in today’s world.

Taken together, these trends and behaviors point to a single requirement: email security controls must be automated. They must be enforced by systems, not dependent on employee memory, judgment, or good intentions.

The Reality of “Encryption Optional” in Practice

On paper, optional encryption can sound reasonable. In practice, it creates gaps large enough to open you up to a breach.

Secure portals are a good example. They require recipients to click a link, authenticate, and access content in a controlled environment. While this protects data in transit, and is a better approach than no security at all, it also introduces friction. And people don’t like friction. Senders forget to use the portal. Recipients ask for “just a quick email instead.” Shortcuts are taken to save time. And every shortcut becomes a risk.

Click-to-encrypt systems suffer from a similar problem. They rely on users to correctly identify sensitive data and remember to take action. But people often misclassify information, forget to click the button, or assume someone else has already secured the message. From an auditor’s perspective, this isn’t a training failure. It’s a set-up and control failure.

Email Security Defaults Are the New Normal

The latest message from regulators, auditors, and insurers is clear. If encryption is optional, data vulnerabilities become inevitable.

What can you do?

Below is a quick email security checklist to help you get started. Cyber insurers may require or recommend the following safeguards during the underwriting process, such as:

Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Endpoint protection
Encrypted backups
Incident response planning
Encryption protocols for sensitive data in transit and at rest, including PHI in emails

In 2026 and beyond, healthcare organizations and regulated industries will be judged not by what they allow, but by what they prevent. Automated, encrypted email is the new. normal.

Want to learn more about LuxSci HIPAA compliant email? Reach out today.

LuxSci and Oiva Health Combine to Form Transatlantic Healthcare Communications Group

February 12, 2026
Pete Wermter

Boston & Helsinki, February 12, 2026 – LuxSci, a provider of secure healthcare communications solutions in the United States, and Oiva Health, a Nordic provider of Digital Care solutions in social and healthcare services, today announced that the companies are joining forces. Backed by Main Capital Partners (“Main”), the combination brings together two complementary platforms and teams, forming a strong transatlantic software group focused on secure healthcare communications.

Founded in 1999, LuxSci is a U.S. provider of HIPAA‑compliant, secure email, marketing, and forms solutions. Its application and infrastructure software enable organizations to securely deliver personalized, sensitive data at scale to support a broad range of healthcare communications and workflows including care coordination, benefits and payments, marketing, wellness communications, after care and ongoing care. Certified by HITRUST for the highest levels of data security, LuxSci serves dozens of healthcare enterprises and hundreds of mid‑market organizations.

Founded in 2010, Oiva Health is a provider of digital care and communications solutions in the Nordics. Headquartered in Finland, with additional offices in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Oiva Health offers digital care and digital clinic solutions – including digital visits, secure messaging, online scheduling and appointments, and caregiver communications – serving the long-term care, especially elderly care, and occupational healthcare verticals. The company employs approximately 60 people and has recently expanded across the Nordic region, with a growing presence in Norway and Sweden.

The combination of LuxSci and Oiva Health creates a larger, cross Atlantic group with complementary solutions, serving the U.S. and European markets. Together, the companies offer healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers a comprehensive suite of tools to communicate securely and compliantly, spanning communications, workflows, and virtual care delivery.

Daan Visscher, Partner and Co-Head North America at Main, commented: “We are pleased to announce this cross Atlantic transaction, creating an internationally active secure communications player within the healthcare and home care space. The combined product suite enables healthcare organizations to drive much needed efficiency gains in healthcare provision addressing a global trend of rising costs, aging population, and increasing pressure on resources needed to provide high-quality care.”

Mark Leonard, CEO of LuxSci, said, “We are thrilled to join forces with Oiva Health and believe that together we can truly make a difference in healthcare coordination, access, and delivery. We see an exciting path forward with our customers benefiting from an end-to-end, secure and compliant approach to optimizing both healthcare communications and today’s frontline workers, which we need now more than ever.”

Juhana Ojala, CEO at Oiva Health, concluded, “We look forward to this new chapter together with LuxSci. We are very excited about the strong alignment between our solutions, which especially strongly positions us to expand our flagship Digital Care offering to the high-potential U.S. care market – from care coordination to care delivery to in-home and institutional care.”

Nothing contained in this Press Release is intended to project, predict, guarantee, or forecast the future performance of any investment. This Press Release is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or an offer to buy or sell any securities or to invest in any funds or other investment vehicles managed by Main Capital Partners or any other person.

[END OF MESSAGE]

About LuxSci

LuxSci is a U.S.-based provider of secure healthcare communications solutions for the healthcare industry. The company offers secure email, marketing, forms and hosting, delivering HIPAA‑compliant communication solutions that enable organizations to safely manage and transmit sensitive data. Founded in 1999, LuxSci serves more than 1,900 customers across healthcare verticals, including providers, payers, suppliers, and healthcare retail, home care providers, and healthcare systems, as well as organizations operating in other highly regulated industries. LuxSci is HITRUST‑certified with example clients being Athenahealth, 1800 Contacts, Lucerna Health, Eurofins, and Rotech Healthcare, among others.

About Oiva Health

Oiva Health is a Digital Care provider in the Nordics, offering a comprehensive Digital Platform for integrated health and care services to digitalize primary healthcare, social care, hospital healthcare and long-term care services. The company was founded in 2010 and currently employs approximately 60 people in Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden serving domestic municipalities, customers and partners, such as City of Helsinki, Keski-Suomi Welfare Region, Länsi-Uusimaa Welfare Region in Finland, and Viborg municipality in Denmark with its Digital Care platform. Annually over 5 million customer contacts are handled digitally through Oiva Health’s Digital Care and Digital Clinic platforms.

About Main Capital Partners

Main Capital Partners is a software investor managing private equity funds active in the Benelux, DACH, the Nordics, France, and the United States with approximately EUR 7 billion in assets under management. Main has over 20 years of experience in strengthening software companies and works closely with the management teams across its portfolio as a strategic partner to achieve profitable growth and create larger outstanding software groups. Main has approximately 95 employees operating out of its offices in The Hague, Düsseldorf, Stockholm, Antwerp, Paris, and an affiliate office in Boston. Main maintains an active portfolio of over 50 software companies. The underlying portfolio employs approximately 15,000 employees. Through its Main Social Institute, Main supports students with grants and scholarships to study IT and Computer Science at Technical Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences.

The sender of this press release is Main Capital Partners.

For more information, please contact:

Main Capital Partners
Sophia Hengelbrok (PR & Communications Specialist)

sophia.hengelbrok@main.nl

+ 31 6 53 70 76 86

Overcoming Barriers To Successful Digital Health Engagement

March 24, 2025
Pete Wermter

Effective patient engagement is increasingly becoming a top priority for many healthcare organizations – and for good reason.

First and foremost, the more a patient or customer is engaged in their healthcare journey, the better their health outcomes and quality of life. With increased communication and engagement, patients are more likely to have potential conditions diagnosed sooner, take preventative measures to prevent illnesses, and educate themselves on ways to manage and improve their health.

However, the benefits don’t end there and aren’t restricted to the patient. Engaged patients pay bills faster, are more open to new products and services, and report higher levels of satisfaction with the companies that contribute to their health and well being. For healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers, this results in higher revenue, more opportunities for growth, and the attainment of long-term organizational goals.

Digital Patient Engagement Is Easier than Ever

Fortunately, advances in technology and their rapid adoption by patients and customers (expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic) have made it easier for healthcare organizations to achieve successful digital interactions and engagement. Healthcare companies have more tools and channels than ever before to help conduct personalized engagement campaigns that meet patients on their terms, making it easier to capture their attention. Secure email takes it even further with the ability to include protected health information in messages to personalize

Despite these advancements, however, there are still several barriers that prevent healthcare companies from engaging with patients and reaping the associated benefits. Fortunately, each barrier can be overcome to help patients and customers feel more included and instrumental in their healthcare journeys.

With this in mind, this post discusses the main barriers to digital patient engagement and how to overcome them to drive better healthcare outcomes for your patients and growth for your organization.

The Main Barriers To Digital Health Engagement

The four key barriers to digital health engagement that we’ll explore in this post are as follows:

1. Low Health Literacy

1. Privacy And Security Concerns

1. Age And Cultural Differences

1. Lack Of Personalization

Let’s review each barrier in turn, while offering potential solutions that will contribute to greater digital health patient engagement for your healthcare organization.

Low Health Literacy

The first barrier to successful digital health patient engagement is your patients having insufficient health or medical knowledge. Healthcare is laden with terminology, including medical conditions, pharmaceuticals, the human anatomy, and many patients simply don’t understand enough to get more involved with their healthcare journey. Worse still, few patients will admit they don’t understand, as people are often embarrassed at their lack of knowledge.

Consequently, if your digital health patient engagement campaigns are heavy with medical jargon and lack personalization, patients won’t act on the information to drive better outcomes.

Solution: Create Educational Health Content

Develop simple educational resources for your patients that apply to their unique needs and condition. This will help them understand their state of health and make better sense of subsequent communications they’ll receive from you and their other healthcare providers.

This educational content could be in the form of periodic email newsletters, giving you a great reason to keep in touch with your patients. Alternatively, they could take the form of blog posts or articles on a patient portal, which could be supported by an email marketing campaign to let patients know about the article. In helping to increase your patients’ health literacy, you offer additional value as a healthcare provider, payer or supplier.

Additionally, keep the medical jargon in your email communications and other patient engagement channels to a minimum. Empathize with the fact that some patients won’t understand as much as others when it comes to healthcare provision and explain things as plainly as possible.

Data Privacy And Security Concerns

Unfortunately, due to its sensitivity and critical nature patient data, i.e., protected health information (PHI) is highly prized by cybercriminals. Subsequently, there have been many high-profile healthcare breaches, such as the Change Healthcare breach, in early 2024, which affected 100 million individuals, that make patients increasingly wary about sharing health-related information via email, text, or other digital communication channels.

That said, their wary attitude is the right one to adopt, but not at the expense of enhancing engagement and improving their health outcomes.

Solution: Invest In HIPAA Compliant Communication Tools

Ensure that the digital tools you use to engage with patients possess the security features required for HIPAA compliance. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provides a series of guidelines that healthcare organizations must comply with to best safeguard PHI. Consequently, solutions that promote their commitment to HIPAA compliance, such as LuxSci, will understand the privacy, security, and regulatory needs of healthcare companies and have developed their tools accordingly.

Most importantly, a HIPAA compliant vendor will sign a Business Associates Agreement (BAA), the legal documentation that outlines your respective responsibilities regarding the protection of PHI. Safe in the knowledge that the patient data under your care is secure, you can concentrate your efforts on personalizing your digital communication campaigns for maximum effect.

Age And Cultural Differences

Ineffective patient engagement efforts (or a complete lack of engagement, altogether) can reinforce cliches about the use of digital tools within particular patient groups. The reality, however, is that many healthcare organizations don’t account for age differences and channel preferences in their patient engagement strategies.

Subsequently, if you only engage with patients on a single communication channel, you risk alienating others because it’s not their medium of choice.

Solution: Adopt a Multi-Channel Engagement Strategy

Instead of focusing on one communication medium, diversify your approach and adopt a multi-channel engagement strategy. This could encompass email, SMS, and phone outreach, for instance. This covers the more proverbial bases and gives you a chance to engage with patients on their preferred terms.

Lack Of Personalization

One of the main reasons that healthcare organizations fail to engage with their patients is that they adopt a “one-size-fits-all” approach, attempting to craft communications that appeal to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, this has the opposite of the desired approach, not connecting anyone in particular and engaging few patients as a result.

Solution: Personalize Your Patient Engagement Campaigns with PHI

With a HIPAA compliant solution, you can use PHI to personalize patient engagement, leveraging their health data to craft messaging that reflects their specific condition, needs, and where they are along their healthcare journey. PHI also can be used to segment patients into subgroups, grouping them by specific commonalities such as age, gender, health condition, and lifestyle factors.

Successful Digital Health Patient Engagement with LuxSci

With more than 20 years of experience in delivering secure digital healthcare communication solutions to some of the world’s leading healthcare providers, payers and suppliers, LuxSci is a trusted partner for organizations looking to boost their patient engagement efforts, while protecting patient data and remaining compliant at all times.

LuxSci’s suite of HIPAA compliant solutions include:

- Secure Email: HIPAA compliant email solutions for executing highly scalable, high volume email campaigns that include PHI – millions of emails per month.

- Secure Forms: Securely and efficiently collect and store ePHI without compromising security or compliance – for onboarding new patients and customers and gathering intelligence for personalization.

- Secure Marketing: proactively reach your patients and customers with HIPAA compliant email marketing campaigns for increased engagement, lead generation and sales.

- Secure Text Messaging: enable access to ePHI and other sensitive information directly to mobile devices via regular SMS text messages.

Interested in discovering more about LuxSci can help you upgrade your cybersecurity posture for PHI and ensure HIPAA compliance? Contact us today!

LuxSci Provides Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Customers Secure High Volume Email Solution to Protect Healthcare Data

April 18, 2023
LuxSci

LuxSci Secure High Volume Email Sending is Powered by Oracle Cloud and Available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace

BOSTON, MA– LuxSci, a HIPAA-compliant and HITRUST certified email service provider, and member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), is pleased to announce its Secure High Volume Email Sending solution has achieved Powered by Oracle Cloud Expertise and is now available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace, offering added value to Oracle Cloud customers.

Protected health information is highly valued by cybercriminals, which puts healthcare organizations at serious risk of ransomware and other cyberattacks. In 2020, 60% of all ransomware attacks targeted the healthcare industry. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is a deep and broad platform of public cloud services that enables customers to build and run a wide range of applications in a scalable, secure, highly available, and high-performance environment. OCI’s security-first design, encryption by default, and computing model proactively addresses common cybersecurity threats posed to the healthcare industry. Powered by Oracle Cloud, LuxSci provides highly secure and custom healthcare communications solutions for customers of all sizes.

“Our mission is to protect healthcare communications through highly secure solutions that are also highly flexible. OCI’s configuration options allow us to architect custom deployments for our customers that meet their unique security and compliance needs,” said Erik Kangas, CEO of LuxSci.

Before working with OCI, LuxSci used several public and private cloud providers, but they needed many customizations and upgrades to meet LuxSci’s stringent security standards. Combining OCI’s best-in-class cloud infrastructure with LuxSci’s best-in-class security solutions for healthcare communications creates a highly secure environment for any compliance need.

In addition to the security advantages of OCI, LuxSci has recorded measurable performance improvements to its systems, including memory that is 10 to 20 times faster than other public clouds and markedly improved CPU performance. These benefits are delivered directly to its customers, whose email and web services are speedier and more responsive.

“The cloud represents a huge opportunity for our partner community,” said David Hicks, vice-president, Worldwide ISV Cloud Business Development, Oracle. “LuxSci’s commitment to innovation and security with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure can help our mutual customers with cloud-enabled encrypted communications solutions designed for healthcare and compliance and ready to meet critical business needs.”

As ransomware threats increase, so does the demand for digital patient communication. Healthcare organizations must invest in the patient experience to keep patients satisfied and engaged in their healthcare journey. 60% of consumers expect their digital healthcare experience to mirror the consumer experience of retail. Healthcare organizations must adopt digital communication technology that is secure enough to send PHI and can engage patients at scale.

Together, Oracle and LuxSci are providing their customers with the highly secure environment needed for healthcare data. LuxSci Powered by Oracle Cloud enables secure, scalable, and reliable communications designed to meet the healthcare industry’s unique needs.

The Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a one-stop shop for Oracle customers seeking trusted business applications offering unique business solutions, including ones that extend Oracle Cloud Applications. Powered by Oracle Cloud Expertise recognizes OPN members with solutions that run on Oracle Cloud. For partners earning the Powered by Oracle Cloud Expertise, this achievement offers customers confidence that the partner’s application is supported by the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure SLA, enabling full access and control over their cloud infrastructure services as well as consistent performance.

About Oracle PartnerNetwork

Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) is Oracle’s partner program designed to enable partners to accelerate the transition to cloud and drive superior customer business outcomes. The OPN program allows partners to engage with Oracle through track(s) aligned to how they go to market: Cloud Build for partners that provide products or services built on or integrated with Oracle Cloud; Cloud Sell for partners that resell Oracle Cloud technology; Cloud Service for partners that implement, deploy and manage Oracle Cloud Services; and License & Hardware for partners that build, service or sell Oracle software licenses or hardware products. Customers can expedite their business objectives with OPN partners who have achieved Expertise in a product family or cloud service. To learn more visit: http://www.oracle.com/partnernetwork.

Trademarks

Oracle, Java, MySQL, and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company–ushering in the new era of cloud computing.

Is Microsoft Forms HIPAA Compliant?

December 9, 2024
Erik Kangas

Microsoft Forms is considered HIPAA compliant only when properly configured within a Microsoft 365 Enterprise or Business environment with an executed Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Unlike various competing products, Microsoft includes Forms among its covered services in its BAA, allowing healthcare organizations to collect protected health information when implemented with proper security controls and organizational policies.

Microsoft Business Associate Agreement Coverage

Microsoft offers a BAA that covers Microsoft Forms when used within a properly licensed Microsoft 365 environment. This agreement establishes Microsoft as a business associate under HIPAA regulations and defines responsibilities for protecting healthcare information. The BAA covers Microsoft Forms along with other Microsoft 365 services such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Teams. Healthcare organizations must execute this agreement before using Microsoft Forms to collect protected health information. The BAA establishes contractual protections beyond standard terms of service and the requirements of becoming HIPAA compliant.

Required Configuration for HIPAA Compliance

Making Microsoft Forms HIPAA compliant requires specific configuration beyond simply signing a BAA. Organizations must implement appropriate access controls using Microsoft 365 administrative settings to restrict form creation and data access to authorized personnel. Enabling audit logging through the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center helps track who creates, modifies, and accesses form data. Organizations need to configure retention policies that align with HIPAA record-keeping requirements. Multi-factor authentication adds an essential security layer for employees accessing protected health information. These technical controls work together to create a compliant environment for collecting patient information.

Security Features in Microsoft Forms

Microsoft Forms includes several security capabilities that support HIPAA compliance requirements. The platform encrypts data both during transmission and storage within Microsoft’s infrastructure. Access controls integrate with Microsoft 365 identity management to restrict form data visibility. Audit capabilities track form creation, modification, and response activities. Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure meets various compliance certifications beyond HIPAA, including FedRAMP, ISO 27001, and SOC standards. These underlying security measures provide the technical foundation for compliant form implementation when properly configured.

Limitations and Compliance Considerations

While Microsoft Forms can be HIPAA compliant, certain limitations require attention from healthcare organizations. The standard form templates do not include healthcare-specific authorization language required by the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Organizations must customize forms to include appropriate patient consent statements and privacy notices. Certain advanced features like form branching may create complexity in tracking what information appears to which respondents. Organizations need policies governing form creation and approval to ensure all necessary compliance elements appear consistently. These limitations require procedural controls beyond technical configuration.

Implementation Best Practices

Healthcare organizations implementing Microsoft Forms for collecting protected health information can benefit from following established best practices. Creating standardized form templates with pre-approved compliance language helps maintain consistency. Limiting form creation permissions to trained staff members reduces compliance risks. Regular privacy and security training for all employees who handle form data improves organizational awareness. Conducting periodic audits of form content and access patterns identifies potential compliance issues. Integrating forms with secure document storage in SharePoint improves information governance. These practices can enhance the security of patient information collected through electronic forms.

Alternative Form Solutions and Considerations

Microsoft Forms can be considered HIPAA compliant, but organizations should evaluate whether it provides the optimal solution for their needs. Specialized healthcare form platforms may offer additional features like electronic signature capture, direct EHR or CDP integration, or healthcare-specific templates. Microsoft Forms works best for organizations already invested in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem who need integrated form capabilities. The decision between Microsoft Forms and alternatives like LuxSci depends on factors including existing technology investments, integration requirements, complexity of form needs, and organizational resources for configuration and maintenance.

How Can I Prove an Email was Sent to Me?

January 16, 2024
LuxSci

Almost everyone has been in this situation: someone claims to have sent you an email message, but you look in your inbox and don’t see it. As far as you know, you never got it. How can you prove an email was sent?

How to Prove That an Email was Sent

So, where do you start? As the purported recipient of an email message, the easiest way to prove that a message was sent to you is to have a copy of that message. It could be:

In your inbox or another email folder
A copy in your permanent email archives

Sometimes, missing emails are caused by simple user errors. The obvious place to start the search is in your inbox and email folders. It’s also a good idea to check your email filtering and archival services. It’s possible that your email filtering system accidentally flagged the message as spam or sent it to quarantine. If it’s not there, check your email archival system. That should capture a copy of all sent and received messages.

Hopefully, that will solve the issue. If it doesn’t, it’s worth stepping back to understand where the email could have gone and where you should turn next to solve the problem.

What happened to the email?

In reality, there are only a few things that could have happened:

The recipient never sent the message.
The recipient did send the message, but it did not reach you.
The message did make it to you, but it was accidentally or inadvertently deleted (or overlooked).

Let’s begin with what you can check and investigate. Start your search soon. The more time that elapses, the less evidence you may have, as logs and backups get deleted over time.

Did the recipient actually send the message?

First, you should know that the sender could have put tracking on the message so that they were informed if you opened or read it (even if you are unaware of the tracking). In such cases, the sender can disprove false claims of “I didn’t get it!” If you are concerned about an email being ignored, use read recipients or tracking pixels to confirm email delivery.

If you never saw the message, do what we discussed above and start searching your email folders for it. It could have been accidentally moved to the wrong folder or sent to the Trash folder. If you have a folder that keeps copies of all inbound emails (like LuxSci’s “BACKUP” folder), check there too. Check your spam folder and spam-filtering system. Your spam-filtering system may also have logs that you can search for evidence of this message passing through it. Finally, check any custom email filters you may have set up with your email service provider or in your email programs. If you have filters that auto-delete or auto-reject some messages, see if that may have happened to the message in question.

The searches above are straightforward; you can do many of them yourself. Often, they will yield evidence of the missing message or explain why you might not have received it.

Maybe the email was sent but didn’t make it to you?

Email messages leave a trail as they travel from the sender to the recipient. This trail is visible in the “Received” email headers of the message (if you have it) and in the server logs at the sender’s email provider and your email provider. If you know some aspects of the message in question (i.e., the subject, sender, recipient, and date/time sent), you can ask your email service provider to search their logs to see if there is any evidence of such a message arriving in their systems. This will tell you if such a message reached your email provider. However, email providers can typically only search the most recent one to two weeks of logs. So, if the message in question was from a while ago, your email service provider may be unable to help you (or may charge you a lot of money to manually extract and search archived log files if they have them).

If your email provider has no record of the message or cannot search their logs, you (or the sender) can ask the same question of the sender’s email provider. If they can provide records of such an email being sent through their system, that will prove the email was sent.

The log file analysis provided by the email providers could also explain why you didn’t get the message. Your email address might have been spelled wrong, there could have been a server glitch or issue, etc. However, if the message was sent long ago, the chance of learning anything useful from the email provider is small. Also, if you use a commodity email provider such as AOL, Yahoo, Outlook, Gmail, etc., you may find it impossible to contact a technical support person and have them perform an accurate and helpful log search. Premium providers, like LuxSci, are more likely to support your requests.

The last thing you can do is have the sender review their sent email folders for a copy of that message. If they have it, that can indicate that they sent it and can reveal why you didn’t get it (i.e., wrong email address, content that would have triggered your filters, etc.). However, be wary. It is easy to forge a message in a sent email folder, so it should not be considered definitive proof that the message was sent. And, even so, just because the message was sent, it does not prove it ever made it to your email provider or inbox.

The recipient never actually sent the email message

If the sending event was recent, then the data from your email service provider can prove that the message did not reach you, but that doesn’t prove that it was not sent. The sender may claim that they do not have a record of sent messages and that their email provider will not do log searching, and that may also be true. At this point, you are stuck without a resolution.

While email is a reliable delivery system, there are many ways for messages not to make it to the intended recipient. Whether it was not sent or was sent and never arrived, the result is the same- no message for you. As a result, it’s best not to send legal notices or other important documents only by email. Using read receipts and other technologies when sending important messages can help increase confidence that an email was sent and received. Still, there is no foolproof way to guarantee email delivery.

How Do I Prove the Email Sender’s Identity?

A separate but related question is, how can I be sure the sender is who they say they are? Social engineering is rising, and cybercriminals can use technology to impersonate individuals and companies. If you are questioning whether the sender actually sent the message to your inbox (or if it is from a spammer or cybercriminal), it is necessary to perform a forensic analysis of the email headers (particularly the Received lines, DKIM signatures, etc.) and possibly get the sender’s email provider involved to corroborate the evidence. To learn more about how to conduct this analysis, please read: How Spammers and Hackers Can Send Forged Email.