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17 Questions To Ask Before Sending A HIPAA-Compliant Marketing Email

Saturday, April 20th, 2024

You’ve just been told that your email marketing program is putting your company at risk of violating HIPAA. What now? If you want to continuing using email to communicate with patients, you must implement HIPAA-compliant email marketing.

Start by breaking down that goal into two components: becoming HIPAA-compliant and achieving your HIPAA marketing objectives. Setting up HIPAA-compliant systems and procedures will ensure your patient data is protected. 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.

Ask yourself these 17 questions to ensure your email marketing plan aligns with your business goals and HIPAA.

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Tags: compliance, email marketing, hipaa, hipaa compliance, secure email
Posted in HIPAA Marketing, Patient Engagement
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HIPAA Compliant Email Marketing: FAQ

Tuesday, November 21st, 2023

Email is an essential channel for most marketers but for healthcare they must use HIPAA compliant email marketing. HIPAA regulations raise many questions for healthcare marketers who need to execute email marketing campaigns without violating patient privacy.

HIPAA is a complicated law that offers a lot of guidance but does not require the use of any specific technologies to protect patient privacy. The ambiguity causes a lot of confusion for marketers trying to integrate email into their marketing strategy. This article addresses some frequently asked questions about HIPAA-compliant email marketing and offers advice for securing patient data and futureproofing your marketing.

Do generic practice newsletters need to be protected?

Some marketers assume practice newsletters do not contain health information and, therefore, do not fall under HIPAA requirements. However, this assumption is often incorrect. Many are surprised to learn that protected health information can be implied from seemingly benign information.

In this way, many generic email newsletters often indirectly contain PHI because they are sent to lists of current patients. Email addresses are individually identifiable and combined with the email content; it may imply that they are patients of the practice. For example, say you send a “generic” newsletter to the patients of a dialysis clinic. An eavesdropper may be able to infer that the recipients receive dialysis. Therefore, the email reveals information about an individual’s health treatment, is PHI, and should be secured in compliance with HIPAA regulations.

In some cases, it can be complicated to determine what is PHI and what is not. Using a HIPAA-compliant marketing solution is best to avoid ambiguity and ensure security.

How Do I Find a HIPAA Compliant Email Marketing Vendor?

Unfortunately, using broadly popular email marketing platforms is not recommended. Many of these platforms were designed for e-commerce businesses and are not secure enough to meet HIPAA requirements. We do not recommend using a solution not specifically equipped to meet the healthcare industry’s unique security and compliance needs. To determine if your email marketing provider is compliant, they must meet three broad criteria at a minimum.

  1. The vendor must sign a Business Associate Agreement outlining how they plan to secure your data and what they will do in the event of a breach.
  2. Encrypt data at rest when it is stored in their systems.
  3. Encrypt email messages and data in transit as it is sent to the recipients.

 

email marketing vendor comparison

Not all vendors will be up to the task. Carefully vet your email marketing vendors to ensure they are taking steps to secure data and protect patient privacy.

What is an Email API?

API is an acronym that stands for “Application Programming Interface.” An email API gives applications (like CRMs, CDPs, or EHRs) the ability to send emails using data from the application. Email APIs also return campaign data to the platform or dashboards so you can assess the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Trigger-based transactional or marketing emails are ideal for sending with an email API. In this situation, emails are sent when pre-determined conditions in the application are met. Healthcare organizations may use email APIs to send appointment reminders using electronic health records system data about a patient’s upcoming appointment.

Email APIs enable the automation of common email workflows. However, they are not interchangeable with email marketing platforms. Email APIs do not include the contact management systems standard in most email marketing platforms because all that data lives within the application they connect to. In addition, email API tools typically do not include drag-and-drop editor tools or other design features that help your emails stand out.

Does HIPAA permit providers to send unencrypted emails with PHI to patients?

Encryption is an addressable standard under the HIPAA Security Rule, but that does not mean it is optional. The HIPAA Privacy Rule does not explicitly forbid unencrypted email. Still, it does state that “other safeguards should be applied to protect privacy reasonably, such as limiting the amount or type of information disclosed through the unencrypted email.”

In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services also states that “covered entities are permitted to send individuals unencrypted emails if they have advised the individual of the risk, and the individual still prefers the unencrypted email.” Some organizations use waivers to inform patients of the risks and acquire permission to send unencrypted emails.

However, we do not recommend this approach for several reasons:

  1. Keeping track of waivers over time and recording status changes and updates is challenging.
  2. Signed waivers do not insulate you from the consequences of a HIPAA breach.
  3. And finally, using waivers to send unencrypted emails doesn’t eliminate your other HIPAA obligations like data retention and disposal. Using a HIPAA-compliant solution is more manageable and eliminates ambiguity.

Can patients exercise their right of access by receiving PHI via unencrypted email?

Yes, but they must be fully informed of the risks and sign waivers acknowledging them. The caveats in the previous answer apply. It’s always better to utilize an encryption tool to protect patient data.

Is Microsoft 365 or Exchange 365 encryption sufficient for marketing emails?

Microsoft 365 can be configured with Office Message Encryption (OME) to comply with HIPAA. However, the program is not well-suited to send marketing emails. OME primarily relies on portal pickup encryption, in which the message is stored securely on a server and requires the recipient to log in to the portal to read the email. If you are a marketer trying to increase engagement, the portal adds a barrier to access that many will not cross. Light-PHI marketing messages are best sent using TLS encryption. TLS-encrypted messages arrive in the recipient’s inbox just like a regular email and do not require a user to log in to read the message.

TLS versus Portal Pickup email encryption

In addition, Microsoft 365 is not configured to send high volumes of email. If you plan to send large marketing campaigns, you could unintentionally disrupt regular business communications by sending all the messages through the same infrastructure. You should separate your business and marketing email sending to protect your IP reputation and achieve your desired sending throughput.

What are common email marketing use cases for healthcare?

Email marketing in healthcare is not restricted to boring practice newsletters. When you utilize tools that enable the use of PHI in your targeting and personalization efforts, the sky is the limit. With consumer preferences shifting toward digital communications, marketers willing to utilize the email channel and tactics like segmentation and personalization can see better results.

Email is an excellent way to communicate with patients. A sampling of ways that healthcare marketers can use email include:

  • engaging patients in their healthcare journey
  • educating patients about their healthcare conditions and treatments
  • improving attendance and scheduling
  • retaining patients
  • increasing preventative procedures
  • collecting data on the patient experience
  • improving patient satisfaction

Conclusion

HIPAA can be difficult to understand, but choosing the right tools and adequately vetting your vendors makes it easy to execute HIPAA-compliant email marketing campaigns. If you are interested in learning more about LuxSci’s easy-to-use, Secure Marketing platform, please contact our sales team.

Tags: email api, email marketing, encrypted email, faq, hipaa compliance, HIPAA-compliant email marketing, mutual consent, quasi compliance, quasi hipaa compliance, unencrypted email
Posted in HIPAA Marketing
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Improve the Patient Experience with Personalized Patient Engagement

Tuesday, November 7th, 2023

Patient expectations of healthcare providers have dramatically changed in the last decade. The introduction of technology and the widespread adoption of digital communications in other industries have increased the pressure on healthcare providers to provide a comparable experience.

The 2023 Healthcare Consumer Perspectives on Digital Engagement and AI report conducted by Dynata Research found that more patients are adopting digital tools to manage their health and want their providers to provide a consistent experience across all channels. To improve the patient experience, a personalized patient engagement strategy is necessary.

Personalized Patient Engagement Improves the Patient Experience

Healthcare organizations manage so much data that can be used to improve the patient experience. As audience segmentation and personalization techniques have become more common in other industries like e-commerce and personal care, consumers are starting to expect the same experiences from their healthcare providers.

For example, media streaming services make personalized recommendations for new shows based on what you have previously watched. People like these features because it helps them discover new content they may not know about. Likewise, patients are beginning to expect a similar personalized patient engagement experience from their healthcare provider. Suppose a patient wants to control their diabetes diagnosis and communicates with their provider about this at an appointment. Afterward, when they log into the patient portal or receive follow-up information, they expect to receive relevant information that aligns with that provider’s conversation.

survey data patient preferences

Proactive, personalized patient engagement can also drive patients to make the right choices in managing their health. By sending patients the correct information at the right time in the context of their individual health journey, it is easier for them to manage their own health.

Shifting Preferences for Digital Tools Enable Personalized Patient Engagement

As more people are open to incorporating digital tools into their healthcare journeys, it has revealed new patient engagement opportunities. Several reasons led healthcare organizations to embrace digital tools. The coronavirus pandemic kicked off a necessary wave of digital transformation because of the rapid transmission of the disease through close contact. The desire to use these tools has remained strong even after institutions largely reopened in 2021. Patients have also shown no desire to go back to the way things used to be. Digital channels and tools like patient portals, email, medical devices, and mobile applications all make it easier for patients to manage their health on the go.

shifting digital preferences survey data

As patient preferences have shifted to embrace digital channels and technologies, organizations that can implement digital-first personalized patient engagement strategies intelligently are more likely to have satisfied and healthier patients. However, healthcare organizations must strive to provide a consistent experience across both in-person and digital avenues. According to the survey, the number one reason consumers would consider changing their healthcare provider is “complex or confusing experiences.” Poorly implemented and executed patient engagement can negatively impact the patient experience and retention, so it’s essential to be thoughtful in your approach.

How to Personalize the Patient Experience

Traditionally, HIPAA compliance requirements have made it difficult for healthcare providers to utilize protected health information (PHI) in personalized patient engagement efforts. Using PHI in communications is vital to craft messaging relevant to the patient’s health journey. However, when transmitting and storing PHI, HIPAA regulations must be followed to protect patient privacy.

The first step to executing personalized patient engagement involves selecting the right tools. Many traditional digital engagement tools are not designed to meet these stringent encryption and security requirements. By selecting tools that meet HIPAA’s technical requirements (like LuxSci’s Secure Marketing and Secure High Volume Email) and properly training employees, healthcare teams can employ the same segmentation and personalization techniques to reach patients with relevant and consistent communications.

Conclusion

Personalizing patient engagement is one way to improve patient marketing and retention. Contact us today to learn more about improving the patient experience with secure email communications.

Tags: digital health, email marketing, ePHI, hipaa compliance, patient engagement, patient experience, personalization, segmentation
Posted in HIPAA Marketing
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How Online Tracking Technologies & Data Collection Threaten Patient Privacy

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

Many healthcare marketers use online tracking technologies to gather user information as they interact with a website or mobile application. After several breaches tied to improper uses of third-party tracking pixels, the Department of Health and Human Services has clarified that data collected via online tracking technologies are often PHI and must be secured according to the Privacy Rule. This decision has put many organizations at a crossroads- how can they balance patient privacy with the financial pressures to grow their business and provide a superior digital experience?

online tracking technologies

What are Online Tracking Technologies?

Tracking technologies collect information about website visitors in various ways, many of which are invisible to the user. Some of the most common types of tracking technologies include cookies, web beacons or tracking pixels, session replay scripts, and fingerprinting scripts. Mobile apps also include tracking codes within the application to enable the collection of user information.

After collecting the information, it is analyzed to create insights about users’ online activities. Marketers often use the data to create highly targeted advertising campaigns. In the case of third-party tracking technologies, they may continue to track users and gather information about them even after they leave and visit other websites. You’ve likely experienced this when online shopping. You look at a pair of shoes on a retailer’s website, and then they continue to follow you and appear as ads as you browse other websites and social media platforms. However, if you replace ads about shoes with advertisements for treatments for an individual’s medical conditions, this raises serious patient privacy concerns.

What Does HIPAA Say About Online Tracking Technologies & Data Collection?

Online tracking technologies have been widely utilized for over a decade but have only recently been considered in the context of health data privacy. The Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision by the Supreme Court in June 2022 kicked off a wave of reporting on how reproductive health information was collected and sold online. Some worried that this information could be used in court cases to convict people who sought abortions, leading to significant concerns over digital health data privacy.

In this context, researchers began looking at the websites of major health systems to explore how they used trackers to collect and transmit data. A study revealed that 99% of US hospitals employed online data trackers that transmitted visitors’ information to a broad network of outside parties, including major technology companies, data brokers, and private equity firms. Some hospitals even employed these trackers on internal patient portal web pages, potentially exposing highly sensitive patient data to advertisers.

As a result of the confusion surrounding this issue and the seemingly clear violation of HIPAA rules, OCR issued a bulletin explaining how covered entities can and cannot use tracking technologies on their websites.

You would think that is the end of the story. However, there is still a lot of confusion surrounding the proper use of these technologies. In July 2023, the FTC and OCR issued another warning to 130 hospital systems that continued deploying online tracking technologies despite the bulletin.

Gray areas still exist in how the bulletin is interpreted. The American Hospital Association recently asked OCR to reconsider its guidance, stating it contradicts interoperability efforts. As this situation evolves, healthcare providers must be aware of the risks of online tracking technologies and how they can balance risk with their business objectives.

How is this Data Protected Health Information?

One of the reasons this issue flew under the radar for so long is that it is not necessarily obvious that the information collected by these pixels qualifies as PHI. It may not be evident to end-users, but tracking technology vendors can infer a lot of personal data through tracking technologies placed on a healthcare provider’s website. Some of the information that can be captured by tracking technology could include:

  • medical record numbers
  • email addresses
  • appointment dates or requests
  • IP addresses
  • medical device IDs
  • geographic locations

Marketers may not realize that individually identifiable information collected on a covered entity’s website or mobile app is often protected health information (PHI). Even if the individual has no pre-existing relationship with the healthcare provider, DHHS’s recent update is clear that this information is protected. Collecting this information establishes a relationship between a covered entity and an individual relating to their past, present, or future provisioning of health care. A visit to a healthcare provider’s website may be the first step taken by a future patient in accessing healthcare treatment.

There is always some gray area when defining PHI, but it’s better to be safe than sorry in this case. If you are using any online tracking technology, you must confirm that it is processing and transmitting data in a way that aligns with HIPAA regulations.

How Healthcare Marketers Can Protect Patient Privacy

First of all, if you plan to use tracking technology on your website, the vendor needs to be a business associate of your organization. In these circumstances, covered entities must ensure that the disclosures made to such vendors are permitted by the Privacy Rule and enter into a business associate agreement (BAA) that outlines how PHI will be protected.

Think carefully about what data needs to be collected and why. In other industries, collecting user data and selling it to third parties or using it in advertising efforts is very common. Healthcare marketers must be more intentional in using online tracking technologies and take additional steps to ensure the data is processed and transmitted securely. Do not install tracking pixels without careful consideration. As many hospital systems learned, failing to do so can have profound privacy and compliance implications.

If you want to follow up with patients who browsed your website for available appointments, you must ensure their data is secure from when it is collected through the transmission to other systems. For example, a patient may enter their name, email address, phone number, and desired appointment time into an online form. When they click “Submit,” where and how is this data transmitted and stored? As they browse the available appointments and doctors, your system may log which web pages they visit and store them in a CRM, CDP, or another platform. If they leave without making an appointment, what do you do with the data you collect? If you transmit this data to other advertising or marketing platforms, you will also need business associate agreements with those vendors. As you can see, it can get complicated very quickly.

HIPAA-Compliant Marketing Technology

LuxSci’s Secure Form and Secure Marketing technologies offer a few ways to address the patient privacy issues associated with online data collection and transmission. Our fully HIPAA-compliant solutions enable you to securely collect data on your website and use secure email to engage prospects. Contact our sales team to learn more today.

Tags: data collection, email marketing, ePHI, hipaa compliance, online tracking, online tracking technology, patient privacy, phi, pixel tracking, tracking pixel
Posted in LuxSci Library: HIPAA, HIPAA Marketing
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Fuel Your Cross-Channel Marketing Strategy with Email

Monday, July 24th, 2023

Moving to an omnichannel or multichannel marketing strategy requires time and investment. However, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to drive behavior and achieve results. For reasons we will explore in this article, email is a powerful tool in patient engagement and driving a successful cross-channel marketing strategy.

Email is Everywhere

One of the main reasons email is so essential to a cross-channel marketing strategy is its high adoption rates. Compared to other channels, email has an almost universal adoption rate. 92% of Americans have email accounts, and 49% check them multiple times daily. Let’s look at some other tech adoption rates. In the United States:

  • 80% text
  • 72% are social media users
  • 85% have a smartphone

As you can see, email has one of the highest adoption rates among popular digital technologies. Even among older populations and disadvantaged communities, email is widely used, making it an essential channel to address health equity.

Email is also excellent at generating revenue and driving patient behavior. Email is one of the most effective channels, delivering an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. Delivering results in the email channel drives business success, even if other channels are slow to take off. Best of all, email can be secured to meet HIPAA requirements and protect patient privacy, all while providing a patient-centered experience.

Email Messaging to Drive Cross-Channel Actions

Email is essential in a cross-channel marketing strategy because you can harness an already engaged mailing list and direct them to take action in other channels.

The best way to illustrate this is with examples. Email can:

  • Encourage people to visit a website to take a specific action
  • Drive visits to patient portals for appointment scheduling or viewing medical information
  • Get users to follow accounts on social media channels
  • Solicit reviews and survey responses
  • Direct people to physical locations to address health concerns
  • Prompt patients to opt-in to SMS messaging
  • Alert people to look out for a physical piece of mail

using email messaging to drive cross-channel actions

This list is just a sampling of the types of messages that marketers can send to prompt activity in other channels. When you segment your audience and personalize your messaging for specific audiences, email can effectively drive desired behavior.

Use Email Data to Determine Next-Best Actions

The other benefit of email is the data you can acquire from the campaigns. Most people open and engage with emails within 24 hours of receipt. This data can be used to trigger activity in other channels.

Similar to how there are so many use cases for email campaigns, there are innumerable ways that you can use the data from these campaigns to drive cross-channel activity. For example, if you notice that a patient is engaging with content about scheduling an appointment but failing to complete the process, it can trigger a staff member to make a phone call to help them. It would be too time-consuming and expensive for staff members to contact everyone who has not scheduled an appointment recently. But by looking at your email data and information about the patient, you can identify people who may want to schedule appointments but are hitting roadblocks in the process.

A counter-example is that if people are not engaging with your emails, you can focus your marketing efforts on other channels like paid advertising and direct mail. These channels are often more expensive than email, so by only targeting those who are hard to reach, you see a better ROI and don’t waste valuable marketing dollars.

Conclusion

If you are struggling to drive conversions in other channels, consider focusing on email. It’s easy to get started with, and once you build a solid list, it can be used to drive cross-channel behavior. To learn more about the benefits of email marketing, contact LuxSci today.

Tags: email marketing, email reporting, email reports, health equity, marketing strategy, multi-channel marketing, omnichannel marketing, patient engagement, personalization
Posted in HIPAA Marketing
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