…and how Do They Influence Which Provider You Choose?
So, you’ve heard that you need to send HIPAA-compliant emails. Maybe your company is only just starting to send ePHI in its messages. Perhaps it just wants to be extra careful, and limit the potential repercussions if ePHI is accidentally sent in an email. It could have even been skirting HIPAA regulations all along, and has suddenly realized the error of its ways.
Whatever led you up to this point, you are doing the right thing by looking for a HIPAA-compliant email provider. But the regulations and the services that have been developed to abide by them can be complex, so it’s important to do your research and carefully think through your decision.
Secure email sending
On top of making sure that a potential service meets your compliance and security needs, you also need to consider the goals of your HIPAA-compliant email sending. Obviously, we can’t tell you what your goals are, but we can give you some suggestions that will help you refine them.
Are You Intending to Send ePHI, or Do You Just Want a HIPAA-Compliant Service to Be Careful?
Some organizations may want to directly email ePHI to their patients, so they need to focus on how they can do this effectively, while keeping both their patients and their businesses safe. For example, a doctor’s clinic may want to offer to send out test results via email.
Due to the high risk of exposing this information, it will probably want to opt-out encryption, rather than opt-in. Measures like this can significantly reduce the chances of accidentally sending out unprotected ePHI.
In contrast, other companies may only want to send ePHI on rare occasions, so they may find opt-in encryption more convenient. The point is that every organization has its own set of requirements, and they need to find a suitable email service for their individual circumstances.
Some will want a service that is tightly locked down to limit their risks, while others May have a high risk tolerance.
Do You Plan on Using It as Your Everyday Email Service, or for High Volume Messaging?
If you just want a HIPAA-compliant email service for everyday use, something like LuxSci’s Secure Email is a great option. Alternatively, if your main goal is to send out emails in bulk, you will need something like our Secure High Volume Sending.
Do You Want to Send Transactional Messages, Marketing Emails, or Both?
As obvious as it seems, marketing emails are messages that are mainly sent out for marketing purposes. These include newsletters and product updates. On the other hand, transactional emails are those that are essential for customer interactions with the company. Many different things qualify as transactional emails, from onboarding messages, to password resets, to receipts, and much more.
Savvy companies don’t just see transactional emails as a bland part of conducting business. Instead, they use them as opportunities to add in a little marketing for their products, services, or simply overall brand awareness.
Before you make your decision on an email platform, you should consider how you want to use the service, and which solutions cater best to those needs.
Do You Have an In-House Graphic Designer, or Do You Need Intuitive & Professional-Looking Templates?
If your company has its own graphic designer, or the budget to outsource it, then it may not need beautiful email templates. Not every organization has those resources on hand, and many just want something that looks good without having to put in a lot of effort. Your company’s current setup and goals will influence whether you look for a HIPAA-compliant email provider that offers these ready-made templates.
Do You Need Analytics that Help You Measure the Effectiveness of Your Campaigns?
If your goal is to have the most effective campaign possible, then you need to measure everything. Of course, this is only possible with a marketing service that has a comprehensive analytics platform. LuxSci’s Secure Marketing solution offers A/B testing, which allows you to compare two different approaches to see which is best.
It also features a range of reports that tell you who opened emails, what they clicked on, the bounce rate, whether messages were marked as spam, and much more. If you need this type of in-depth knowledge in your email campaigns, it will be an important factor in which email service you ultimately end up choosing.
LuxSci’s HIPAA-compliant email services aim to combine the functional features you need for high performance, alongside the security mechanisms required to stay within the regulations. Together, these provide adaptable services for those in the healthcare sector and for other businesses that deal with ePHI.
