Email Marketing Best Practices for Healthcare

Healthcare Email Marketing, Healthcare Marketing, HIPAA Compliant Email, HIPAA Email Marketing
Pete Wermter
November 14, 2023

Email marketing can be a powerful tool for healthcare organizations, but it requires careful planning and execution because of HIPAA compliance requirements. In this blog post, we will discuss email marketing best practices to help healthcare marketers achieve their goals.

1. Define Your Campaign Goals

The success of any email marketing campaign depends on the goals you want to achieve. However, because healthcare organizations are often not selling products to their patients, marketers can be confused about how to set measurable goals for their campaigns that aren’t tied to revenue generation.

Healthcare marketers want to use email marketing campaigns for various purposes, including patient engagement, education, and retention. Some possible objectives of your campaigns could be:

New patient acquisition
Re-engaging lapsed patients
Spreading awareness about vaccines, treatments, or medical conditions
Increasing treatment or medication adherence
Collecting survey responses or patient-reported outcomes

All of these campaign objectives will correlate with different metrics. Identifying the campaign goal and the corresponding metrics you need to track is critical before selecting the audience and crafting the content.

2. Select Your Audience

Gone are the days of sending giant email blasts to your entire contact list. The best email marketers are creating highly targeted campaigns for specific audiences. Healthcare marketers using patient data in their audience targeting efforts are at an advantage. They can use patient information to create distinct audience segments. Targeting a patient population with common attributes makes it easier to craft a relevant message to drive clear results. For example, marketers can create more relevant campaigns when they can divide their patient population into subgroups based on shared characteristics like diagnoses, risk factors, and demographic data.

3. Personalize Your Content

Once you have clearly defined your goal and your audience, it’s essential to use personalization techniques to craft relevant messaging. Healthcare consumers expect more personalization from their providers and want to receive messages that tie into their past experiences. Generic, irrelevant messaging is more likely to annoy patients than get them to act. Healthcare marketers are lucky to have a wealth of data points to use in their messaging, but they must be aware of patient privacy and take steps to secure their messaging. When you have taken the appropriate steps to secure patient data, including protected health information in email messages is possible. This improves the patient experience and makes it easier for healthcare marketers to achieve their objectives.

4. Use A Clear Call-to-Action

Your emails should include a clear call-to-action (CTA) that encourages your audience to take the desired action. These actions may include scheduling an appointment, downloading a resource, logging into a patient portal, filling out a survey, or contacting your organization. Ensure that your CTA is prominent, stands out from the rest of your content, and ties back to the goal of your campaign. Most importantly, implement appropriate tracking technologies so you can see how many email recipients followed through on the CTA.

Don’t include too many calls to action in one message! Including multiple prompts may confuse the recipient and make it more difficult for your team to understand how the campaign performed.

5. Review Your Data

Finally, it’s essential to monitor your email metrics to evaluate the success of your campaigns. Some key metrics may include open rates, click-through rates, surveys completed, successful logins, appointments scheduled, and other relevant metrics that tie back to your goals. Use this data to refine your email marketing strategy, trigger follow-up campaigns and marketing activity, and optimize future campaigns. Use APIs or webhooks to ensure your email campaign statistics are tied into marketing dashboards to get a holistic view of how your campaigns are performing.

6. Choose an Email Marketing Platform Designed for Healthcare

Finally, to use the tactics recommended above, it’s necessary to use a HIPAA-compliant email marketing platform. Segmenting audiences and personalizing content requires the use of protected health information. Therefore, it must be secured in compliance with HIPAA. You must select a platform that can protect data both at rest and in transit to utilize the power of your data fully.

LuxSci’s HIPAA-compliant Secure Marketing was designed to meet the needs of healthcare marketers and enables the use of PHI at scale. Contact our sales team to learn more about our capabilities and email marketing best practices.

Pete Wermter

As a marketing leader with more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software marketing, Pete's career includes a mix of corporate and field marketing roles, stretching from Silicon Valley to the EMEA and APAC regions, with a focus on data protection and optimizing engagement for regulated industries, such as healthcare and financial services. Pete Wermter — LinkedIn

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New HIPAA Security Rule Makes Email Encryption Mandatory—Act Now!

April 6, 2026
Pete Wermter

The 2026 Deadline Is Closer Than You Think

The upcoming HIPAA Security Rule overhaul is expected to finalize by mid-2026, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most significant updates in years. Healthcare organizations that fail to prepare, especially when it comes to email security, will face immediate compliance gaps the moment enforcement begins.

Mid-2026 may sound distant, but for healthcare IT and compliance leaders, it’s right around the corner. Regulatory change at this scale doesn’t happen overnight, it requires planning, vendor evaluation, implementation, and internal alignment.

This isn’t a gradual shift. It’s a hard requirement.

Encryption Is About to Become Mandatory

For years, HIPAA has treated encryption as “addressable,” giving organizations flexibility in how they protect sensitive data. That flexibility is disappearing.

Under the updated rule, encryption, particularly for email containing protected health information (PHI), is expected to become a required safeguard.

That means:

Encryption must be automatic and standard for email, not optional
Policies must be enforced consistently
Email security can’t depend on human behavior

If your current system relies on users to manually trigger encryption, it’s already out of step with where compliance is heading. If you’re not encrypting your emails at all, then now is the time to re-evaluate and rest your technology and policies.

Email Is the Weakest Link in Healthcare Security

Email remains the most widely used communication tool in healthcare—and the most common source of data exposure. Every day, sensitive information flows through inboxes, including patient records, lab results, billing details, plan renewals and appointment reminders. Yet many organizations still depend on:

Basic TLS encryption that only works under certain conditions
Manual processes that leave room for human error
Limited visibility into email activity and risk

It only takes one mistake, such as a missed encryption trigger or a misaddressed email, to create a reportable breach. Regulators are well aware of this. That’s why email is a primary focus of the upcoming HIPAA Security Rule changes.

The Cost of Waiting Is Higher Than You Think

Delaying action may feel easier in the short term, but it significantly increases risk. Once the new rule is finalized, organizations without compliant systems may face:

Immediate audit failures
Regulatory penalties
Expensive, rushed remediation efforts
Or worst of all, an email security breach

Beyond financial consequences, there’s also reputational harm. Patients expect their data to be protected. A single incident can immediately erode trust and damage your brand beyond repair.

Waiting until the end of 2026 also means that you’ll be competing with every other organization trying to fix the same problem at the same time, driving up costs and limiting vendor availability.

Most Email Solutions Won’t Meet the New Standard

Here’s the uncomfortable reality: many existing email platforms won’t be enough, especially those that are not HIPAA compliant. Common gaps include:

Encryption that isn’t automatic or policy-driven
Lack of Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Insufficient audit logging for compliance reporting
Lack of Zero Trust security principles

On top of that, vendors without alignment to HITRUST certification and Zero-Trust architectures may struggle to demonstrate the level of assurance regulators will expect moving forward.

If your current solution wasn’t designed specifically for healthcare and HIPAA compliance, it’s likely not ready for what’s coming.

LuxSci Secure Email: Built for What’s Next

This is where a purpose-built solution makes all the difference. LuxSci HIPAA compliant email is designed specifically for healthcare organizations navigating the latest compliance requirements, not just today, but in the future regulatory landscape.

LuxSci delivers:

Automatic, policy-based encryption that removes user guesswork
Advanced DLP controls to prevent PHI exposure before it happens
Comprehensive audit logs to support audits and investigations
Zero Trust architecture that verifies every user and action

Additionally, LuxSci is HITRUST-certified, helping organizations demonstrate a mature and defensible security posture as regulations tighten. Email data protection isn’t about patching gaps, it’s about eliminating them.

Act Now or Pay Later

If there’s one takeaway, it’s this: the time to act is now. Start by asking a few direct questions:

Is our email encryption automatic and enforced?
Do we have full visibility into email activity and risk?
Is our vendor equipped for evolving HIPAA requirements?

If the answer to any of these is unclear, now’s the time to take action. Organizations that move early will have time to implement the right solution, train their teams, and validate compliance. Those that wait will be forced into reactive decisions under pressure.

Conclusion: The Time to Act is Now!

The HIPAA Security Rule overhaul is coming fast, and it’s raising expectations across the board. Encryption will no longer be addressable, but rather mandatory. As a result, email security can no longer be overlooked, and compliance will no longer tolerate gaps.

LuxSci HIPAA compliant email provides a clear, future-ready path for your organization, combining automated encryption, DLP, auditability, and Zero Trust security in one solution.

The real question isn’t whether change is coming. It’s whether your organization will be ready when it does.

Reach out today. We can look at your existing set up, help you identify the gaps, and show you how LuxSci can help!

FAQs

1. When will the updated HIPAA Security Rule take effect?
The changes to the HIPAA Security Rule are expected to be finalized and announced around mid-2026, with enforcement likely soon after, by the end of the year.

2. Will email encryption truly be mandatory?
Yes, current direction strongly indicates encryption will become a required safeguard, which could start later this year or in early 2027.

3. Is TLS encryption enough for compliance?
No. TLS alone does not provide sufficient, guaranteed protection for PHI.

4. Why is HITRUST important in this context?
HITRUST certification demonstrates a vendor’s strong alignment with healthcare security standards and will likely carry more weight with regulators.

5. How does LuxSci help organizations prepare?
HITRUST-certified LuxSci offers secure email with automated encryption, DLP, audit logs, and Zero Trust architecture, helping organizations meet evolving compliance demands.

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.

How to Improve Patient Engagement with Secure Communications

October 29, 2024
Pete Wermter

As people demand more personalized experiences from their healthcare companies and providers, patient engagement is increasingly emerging as a top priority. With increasing demands for digital-first interactions and more connected healthcare journeys from their patients and customers, healthcare organizations must evolve their communication strategies to meet these new expectations. In fact, more than ever, today’s healthcare patients and customer expect the same efficient and personalized experiences that they have with other businesses, including retail and financial services.

In this article, we explore two key strategies for improving patient and customer engagement: employing a multi-channel approach and personalization. We’ll show you how each concept improves your communication strategy, while ensuring HIPAA compliance at the same time.

The Growing Importance of Patient Engagement

Today’s healthcare industry is undergoing significant changes – some might even call it outright disruption. With new and varied services like Telehealth, Remote Care, In-Home Care, Connected Care, Value-Based Care, and more, clear and targeted communication has never been more vital for effectively improving patient engagement and driving greater levels of participation in an individual’s healthcare journey.

Another key thing to bear in mind is that today’s patients and customers already have increasing expectations for convenient, personalized, and secure interactions with their healthcare providers. According to a report from McKinsey & Company, over 70% of patients prioritize the ability to communicate with their healthcare providers, payers and suppliers through their preferred channels. However, these preferences vary significantly across age groups, highlighting the importance of a multi-channel communication strategy; let’s explore those preferences now.

Patient Engagement Preferences by Age Group

The chart below, compiled from recent research findings, highlights the varying communication channel preferences by age group, helping healthcare companies craft their engagement strategies accordingly:

Channel	Gen Z (18-25)	Millennials (26-40)	Baby Boomers (57-75)
Phone	10%	35%	55%
Email	20%	35%	45%
Text	40%	45%	15%
Patient Portals	30%	45%	25%
Face-to-Face	15%	25%	60%

By understanding these differences, healthcare organizations can implement and continually refine multi-channel marketing strategies that cater to the unique preferences of each demographic group. Key takeaways include:

Baby Boomers (57 – 75 years old) still prefer phone calls (55%) and face-to-face interactions (60%), though there is preference in email (45%) for certain types of communication, such as appointment reminders and post-care instructions.
Millennials (26 – 40 years old) tend to favor asynchronous methods that fit into their busy schedules, i.e., phone, text, and email. This age group is tech-savvy, with half also using patient portals for managing their healthcare options.
As digital natives, Gen Z patients lean heavily toward digital channels, with text messaging (40%) and patient portals (30%) as top choices. They, more than any other group, expect fast, responsive communication, which makes secure, real-time digital options essential.

Catering to patients’ communication channel preferences ensures they feel better heard and, as a result, more valued. This will result in them becoming more involved in their healthcare journey, leading to higher rates of satisfaction, being more receptive to new services or products, and, most importantly, better health outcomes.

Multi-Channel Communication: Meeting Patients Where They Are

Healthcare providers, payers and suppliers need a multi-channel strategy, that incorporates email, text, patient portals, and phone calls to match the different communication preferences of their diverse patient and customer bases.

A single-channel, or siloed, approach is far less effective, as each demographic interacts with healthcare providers in unique ways. In light of this, offering communication options across multiple channels makes it easier to reach patients – and for them to participate in their healthcare journeys on their preferred terms.

Benefits of multi-channel communication include:

Increased Engagement: Patients and customer are more likely to respond and engage through their preferred communication method, whether that’s by text, email, portal or over the phone.
Improved Satisfaction: receiving timely, personalized updates makes patients feel more connected and satisfied with care.
Better Adherence to Care Plans: patients who receive reminders or follow-ups through their preferred channels are more likely to adhere to care plans, attend appointments, and follow medical advice.
Upselling and Cross-Selling Opportunities: when healthcare providers and suppliers connect with patients and customers over the channel of their choice they are more likely to reach their target audience and attract qualified prospects for new services and products, as well as upgrades to existing ones.

Take Personalization Further by Using PHI in Communications

After unprecedented numbers of people were forced to adapt to digital solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, personalization is no longer optional or “a nice to have” – but an expectation among patients and customers. The healthcare industry is no exception to this with personalized communications greatly enhancing efficiency and driving favorable outcomes.

Securely harnessing protected health information (PHI) is critical to effective personalization across a broad range of use cases, including care management, marketing and preventative care. It’s important to appreciate, however, that personalization in healthcare engagement goes beyond merely addressing patients by their names; it includes tailoring messages, reminders, renewals, recommendations, and offers based on their medical history, treatment plans, personal characteristics (age, gender, etc.), and ongoing health needs.

Examples of PHI-driven personalization include:

Appointment Reminders: personalized reminders based on the patient’s treatment plan can reduce no-show rates.
Post-Procedure Follow-Ups: securely sending follow-up instructions and health updates specific to the patient’s condition leads to better adherence and recovery rates.
Targeted Preventative Care Campaigns: using patient data to create campaigns around vaccinations, screenings, annual tests, or chronic disease management helps address individual health needs.
Marketing campaigns: delivering targeted campaigns to highly segmented groups of patients and customers, e.g., offers for the latest in-home blood pressure monitor for patients suffering from hypertension.

However, using PHI in communications requires strict adherence to HIPAA regulations and a broad set of data security safeguards and best practices. LuxSci’s Secure Healthcare Communications Suite enables healthcare organizations to safely use PHI in digital communications, ensuring compliance for email, text, marketing and data collection forms, while providing all the required functionality for personalizing your communications to create the desired impact.

Why Secure Healthcare Communication is Crucial

Data breaches in the healthcare industry are consistently on the rise, and, unfortunately, they show no signs of abating. In fact, between 2009 and 2023, healthcare data breaches resulted in the exposure of more than a half billion patient records. Healthcare companies are prime targets for cyberattacks, because of the sensitivity of the data they possess and the critical importance of their services.

Consequently, the fines for healthcare companies that fail to sufficiently protect PHI and fall victim to data breaches can extend into the millions. The reputation damage, however, can be far more costly, with it often being beyond repair.

LuxSci is the most experienced provider of HIPAA-compliant email and secure healthcare communication solutions, working with organizations of all sizes: from local and regional practices to large healthcare systems, providers and suppliers, including Athenahealth, Delta Dental, 1800 Contacts, and Rotech Healthcare.

Our comprehensive HIPAA-compliant communications platform includes:

HIPAA-Compliant Email: send millions of secure emails every month with our Secure High Volume Email solution, or make your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 email HIPAA-compliant with our Secure Gateway Product
Secure Text Messaging: reach patients quickly and securely with appointment reminders, health updates, and other communications via text. Connect them directly into their patient portals via their desktop or mobile device —with no application installation required.
Secure Marketing: proactively connect with your customers with HIPAA-compliant email marketing campaigns for increased engagement, lead generation and sales.
Secure Forms: safely collect, store, access and analyze PHI data from patients to optimize workflows and generate insights that allow you to refine your long-term strategies.

If you’d like to learn more about how to take your patient and customer engagement to the next level, all while remaining compliant with HIPAA regulations, contact us today!

Is SendGrid HIPAA-Compliant?

January 23, 2025
LuxSci

Twilio’s SendGrid is a cloud-based email marketing platform that contains the tools and resources that organizations need to carry out bulk email marketing campaigns. By providing companies with a robust, scalable email infrastructure, SendGrid reduces the technical and management overhead from delivering emails at scale.

SendGrid’s capabilities and benefits are undeniable – and are the reason why the popular platform is the email delivery service of choice for prominent companies like Spotify and Airbnb. For healthcare organizations, however, while reliability and scalability are essential for large-scale patient engagement campaigns and communications, security is another crucial concern. More specifically, for a healthcare company to send electronic protected health information (ePHI) through an email services platform, the service must be HIPAA-compliant.

This then begs the question, is SendGrid a HIPAA compliant email service? Subsequently, can companies use SendGrid to transmit ePHI?

The short answer is no, they are not. Let’s take a closer look…

Is SendGrid HIPAA-Compliant?

SendGrid is not a HIPAA-compliant email service. There are two key reasons for this:

It lacks sufficient encryption measures
SendGrid does not sign business associate agreements (BAAs)

Let’s discuss each reason in greater detail.

Basic Encryption

SendGrid only offers the basic encryption provided by the Simple Mail Transmission Protocol (SMTP), i.e., the standard mechanism used to transmit emails.

Unfortunately, this level of encryption leaves ePHI vulnerable to cyber threats such as business email compromise (BEC) attacks, ransomware, and device loss or theft. In contrast, for an email services platform to be HIPPA-compliant, it must protect ePHI in transit and at rest, using security measures like Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption and end-to-end encryption.

Refreshingly, SendGrid is clear and upfront about this (in contrast to, Mailchimp, for example, who make you dig a little deeper to determine their non-compliance) – as Twilio’s documentation explicitly says that they do not offer HIPAA-compliant data transmission. Stating, “SendGrid does not natively support HIPAA-compliant data transmission. We do not offer any encryption or security measures surrounding message transmission beyond those included in the SMTP RFC, which was not designed with HIPAA compliancy in mind.”

In short, SendGrid wasn’t designed to withstand the increased cyber risk that accompanies handling ePHI and isn’t HIPPA-compliant as a result.

No Business Associate Agreement

Additionally, in addition to lower levels of encryption, SendGrid does not sign the business associate agreements (BAA) required to be HIPPA-compliant.

A business associate agreement (BAA) is a written contract between a covered entity (your company) and a business associate (a service provider, such as an email services or email marketing platform) that’s an essential requirement of HIPAA compliance. A BAA details how two organizations can share data and the legal responsibilities of each party.

This is again stated on Twilio’s website that says, “Twilio SendGrid does not intend uses of the Service to create obligations under The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) or similar laws and makes no representations that the Service satisfies the requirements of such laws. If You are (or become) a Covered Entity or Business Associate (as defined in HIPAA) or a Financial Institution (as defined in GLBA), You agree not to use the Service for any purpose or in any manner involving Protected Health Information (as defined in HIPAA) or Nonpublic Personal Information (as defined in GLBA).”

Here, Twilio is explicitly telling you that SendGrid does not fit the requirements of HIPPA-compliant and that you should not use their service to transmit ePHI.

HIPAA-Compliant Alternatives to SendGrid

While healthcare companies cannot rely on popular options like SendGrid if they want to utilize ePHI in their patient outreach campaigns, fortunately, there are HIPAA-compliant email platforms that are specifically designed for organizations that have to comply with the regulations.

As the most experienced HIPAA-compliant email provider, LuxSci specializes in providing secure and scalable HIPAA-compliant services for companies aiming to send hundreds of thousands – or millions – of emails. In light of this, we place security, regulatory and practical considerations front and center when building our solutions – from their early planning stages until final deployment.

Our approach results in tailor-made tools and services like HIPAA-compliant bulk email, secure text and secure marketing. This includes flexible encryption functionality, such as TLS, end-to-end, or role-based access encryption, that enable healthcare organizations to align their security with the sensitivity of the transmitted and their specific business requirements – all while remaining HIPAA compliant.

To discover how LuxSci and SendGrid stack up against each other, as well as with other HIPAA-compliant, general purpose and marketing email providers on the market, including Virtru and Mailchimp, take a look at our Vendor Comparison Guide. The guide takes a deep dive on 12 email delivery platforms, offering insights on what to consider when selecting a provider – and how to choose the vender best suited to meet your secure healthcare communications needs.

Get your copy here, and reach out to us with any questions.

How do I fix the reputation of my IP address?

May 11, 2021
LuxSci

It happens — you’re sending email messages without issue, and then suddenly emails are not being delivered, or they’re being flagged as spam. A little digging reveals that the problem is that your “IP reputation” is poor, and you need to fix it somehow.

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What Are the HIPAA Marketing Compliance Requirements?

July 14, 2025
Erik Kangas

HIPAA marketing compliance requires healthcare organizations to obtain written patient authorization before using protected health information for promotional communications, with strict exceptions for treatment communications, appointment reminders, and health-related benefits descriptions. Organizations must distinguish between permissible healthcare operations communications and restricted promotional activities, ensuring that any PHI used for advertising purposes receives explicit patient consent through properly executed authorization forms that detail the intended use, recipients, and patient rights.

Healthcare organizations tend to struggle with the boundary between acceptable patient communications and prohibited promotional activities. Marketing materials that reference patient experiences, treatment outcomes, or demographic information without proper authorization create immediate HIPAA marketing compliance violations.

Authorization Requirements & Marketing Boundaries

Written patient authorization must precede any use of PHI for promotional purposes, including testimonials, case studies, or targeted advertising campaigns. These authorization forms must specify the exact information to be used, identify recipients of the promotional materials, and explain the patient’s right to revoke consent at any time. Healthcare organizations cannot condition treatment or payment on patients providing authorization for promotional activities.

Authorization forms require language elements including expiration dates, patient signature requirements, and clear descriptions of how PHI will be used in promotional contexts. Organizations must maintain signed authorization documents and respect revocation requests immediately upon receipt, stopping all ongoing promotional activities involving that patient’s information.

Treatment Communications Receive Different Standards

Healthcare organizations can communicate directly with patients about treatment alternatives, appointment scheduling, and health-related services without obtaining separate authorization. These communications fall under treatment or healthcare operations rather than promotional activities, allowing providers to send appointment reminders, medication adherence information, and preventive care notifications without additional consent.

Communications that promote third-party products, include financial incentives for referrals, or advertise non-medical services require authorization even when sent to existing patients. Organizations must evaluate each communication to determine whether it serves legitimate healthcare purposes or constitutes promotional activity requiring consent.

Third-Party Vendor Relationships Create Additional Obligations

BAAs with promotional vendors must address PHI handling requirements and specify permitted uses of patient information. Vendors creating promotional materials, managing patient communications, or analyzing treatment data for promotional purposes need appropriate legal frameworks governing their access to protected information.

Healthcare organizations are liable for vendor compliance failures, making careful selection and monitoring of promotional partners essential. Contracts must include breach notification procedures, data destruction requirements, and audit rights to ensure HIPAA marketing compliance with patient information protection standards.

Challenges of Digital Advertising Platforms

Social media advertising, email campaigns, and online promotional activities often involve sharing patient data with technology platforms that may not meet HIPAA requirements. Healthcare organizations must avoid uploading patient contact lists, demographic information, or treatment details to advertising platforms without proper authorization and business associate agreements.

Retargeting campaigns that track patient website visits or online behavior require careful evaluation to ensure no PHI is shared with advertising networks. Organizations should implement protections to prevent accidental transmission of patient information through website analytics, social media pixels, or advertising platform integration.

Patient Testimonials and Case Studies

Using patient stories, photographs, or treatment outcomes in promotional materials requires detailed authorization forms that specify exactly how patient information will be used. These authorizations must address potential future uses, distribution channels, and the duration of consent to prevent compliance violations when promotional materials are repurposed or distributed broadly.

De-identification of patient information offers an alternative to authorization but requires removing all identifying elements according to HIPAA standards. Organizations must ensure that demographic information, treatment dates, and outcome details cannot be combined to identify patients when creating promotional case studies or success stories.

Staff Training & HIPAA Marketing Compliance Violations

Employees involved in promotional activities need training on distinguishing between permissible healthcare communications and restricted promotional activities. Staff must understand authorization requirements, recognize when business associate agreements are necessary, and identify situations requiring legal review before implementing promotional campaigns.

Training updates address new promotional channels, new technology platforms, and changing regulatory interpretations of HIPAA requirements. Organizations should establish clear approval processes for promotional materials and designate compliance personnel to review campaigns before launch.

Common Violations

Recent OCR enforcement cases display the penalties incurred for using patient information in promotional materials without authorization, sharing PHI with advertising vendors without business associate agreements, and failing to honor patient requests to opt out of promotional communications. These violations result in significant financial penalties and corrective action requirements.

Healthcare organizations face scrutiny of their promotional activities, particularly digital advertising campaigns and patient outreach programs. Compliance programs must include audits of promotional materials, vendor relationships, and patient authorization procedures to identify and address potential violations before they result in enforcement actions.