Educating patients about their upcoming medical procedures is an important part of building trust and increasing retention. Using digital technologies to educate patients is just one way to reinforce messaging and improve patient compliance. This article provides some examples of how to digitally engage with patients both before and after undergoing a medical procedure.
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Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to communicate with patients. However, health care providers have long avoided it because of HIPAA concerns. In this article, we will provide a few examples of how to use email marketing to engage patients and increase ROI.
A quick reminder- the following use cases assume that an organization is utilizing a HIPAA-compliant email marketing platform. Most major email marketing platforms (like Mailchimp and Constant Contact) cannot encrypt outgoing emails and are not HIPAA-compliant. Do not upload ePHI to a marketing platform without first signing a Business Associate Agreement and thoroughly vetting the vendor. Just because a vendor will sign a BAA, it does not mean including sensitive data in emails is permitted. Choosing a platform designed for HIPAA compliance (like LuxSci’s Secure Marketing) is highly recommended to help reduce risks.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s dive into some examples of how ePHI can be utilized in email marketing campaigns to improve patient engagement.
Changing a healthcare provider can be a tedious task. Instead of relying on staff to call and mail notices to affected patients, use email marketing to engage patients. Suppose Dr. Smith is retiring, and a practice needs to inform his patients of the upcoming change. Using email is a highly effective way to do so. First, create a segment of Dr. Smith’s patients and send an email to them with directions on how to choose a new provider. Marketers could further segment this list by using the patient’s insurance and offering suggestions of new providers who are in-network and are accepting new patients. By making it as easy as possible for Dr. Smith’s patients to continue care, it increases retention and keeps patients satisfied.
In a similar vein, when a new provider joins the practice, an organization can email all their current patients who are without a provider to encourage them to come in and seek care.
Almost every health care system offers events that are specifically targeted to different patient populations. Some examples include parenting classes for new moms, nutrition classes for diabetics, and cancer support groups. When using a HIPAA-compliant email marketing program, an organization can use health care data to target these patient populations with personalized marketing messages to increase enrollment and engagement.
For example, let’s imagine that a healthcare organization is running a series of classes for new moms. To promote the classes, the marketing team can get a list of currently pregnant patients and send them emails about the upcoming series. Since these emails are highly relevant to this specific user group, it’s likely the campaign will perform well and increase enrollment. If this email was sent to the entire company email list, it may annoy patients who do not fall into this category, and many would unsubscribe. By only sending emails to relevant groups, it keeps patients interested rather than irritated by marketing messages.
HIPAA-compliant email marketing can also be used to encourage vulnerable populations to seek follow up care. One campaign type is screening reminders. Many screenings are recommended when certain age and demographic criteria are met. For example, mammograms are recommended when women reach their 40s. An organization could use email marketing to target patients who meet the demographic criteria with information about how to schedule their screening. It’s also possible to exclude women who have already had their mammogram. These highly targeted mailings can automate processes and improve patient health outcomes.
In addition, organizations can create campaigns in different languages to expand outreach efforts to marginalized patient populations. The possibilities for personalization are endless. Sending highly relevant and personalized email campaigns is a surefire way to engage patients.
Using a HIPAA-compliant email marketing platform makes it easy to test messaging to increase response rates. Improving patient satisfaction is important to improve reimbursement rates from insurance companies and the federal government. Understanding areas to improve can help organizations deliver a better patient experience and increase profit.
These are just a few ways that health care systems can increase patient engagement with HIPAA-compliant email marketing. Healthcare organizations have access to troves of data that can be used to create highly relevant marketing campaigns. However, it’s extremely important to keep sensitive data protected. To successfully and securely engage patients without running afoul of HIPAA regulations, use a HIPAA-compliant email marketing platform.
It is common to receive calls and text messages from pharmacies reminding us that it is time to pick up or renew our prescriptions for drugs or other medical items. Have you ever wondered if these prescription notifications are HIPAA-compliant?
Just because every pharmacy seems to send them, it doesn’t mean they are aware of the compliance requirements. Let’s look into the context and learn how to remind patients of prescription refills and appointments securely.
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Medical laboratories use LuxSci’s secure services to email lab test results to patients. Although medical laboratories are not always HIPAA Covered Entities themselves, they are Business Associates with hospitals and doctors who are required to abide by HIPAA. By the “transitive” nature of the HIPAA privacy laws, Business Associates must abide by HIPAA security and privacy standards, protect patient data, and ensure confidentiality.
In order to send patients their results via email, these labs must use a HIPAA-compliant system that can send email to anyone with an email address. We work with labs to securely send Covid-19 test results, cancer screening results, and many other kinds of medical test results via email.
This post describes how one large medical lab uses LuxSci’s Secure High Volume Email sending service to safely deliver lab results to thousands of people every day.
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Email and text messaging are among the most common forms of business communication. However, if you are sending ePHI, regular texts and emails are off limits! If you are subject to HIPAA regulations, you will need mutual consent from your patients before sending ePHI insecurely via these methods.
This may seem frustrating because text and email are easy and switching to a secure service can feel like a lot of work. However, when ePHI is mishandled it can have significant repercussions. Personal information can be stolen, made public, and even used in fraud.
Text messaging and normal email carry significant risks to ePHI, because they aren’t designed to be secure. While it is best to only send ePHI over secure services, there may be instances where the patient wants to communicate over these insecure methods. Because of the risks, your organization needs signed mutual consent waivers to proceed with insecure communication.
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