Why Healthcare Insurers Should Send Explanation of Benefits Statements Via Email

Explanation of Benefits
Pete Wermter
July 30, 2025

Explanation of Benefits statements or EOBs are mission-critical communications for health insurers because they ensure transparency, help detect billing errors or fraud, and most importantly, keep patients informed about their benefits and related payments.

However, the most conventional method of sending out EoBs, traditional mail, has several drawbacks that can prevent important information about healthcare coverage from reaching the intended recipient. This can leave policyholders in the dark about their healthcare coverage, which can lead to confusion and dissatisfaction with their insurance provider when they receive an unexpected medical bill. This can also drive up inbound calls into your claims department or contact center.

Because Explanation of Benefits statements contain the protected health information (PHI) of policyholders, insurers are bound by HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations to ensure their secure delivery. Consequently, the risks inherent to sending paper EoB statements in the mail not only have security implications but also potential consequences for non-compliance.

With all this in mind, this post discusses why healthcare insurers should send EoBs to their policyholders via secure email instead of traditional mail. We detail the various benefits of making the switch to electronic EoBs, which include enhanced security, better adherence to compliance regulations, and the opportunity to save millions of dollars per month.

Protecting Patient Privacy

The primary reason that insurance companies should shift to email EoBs as opposed to traditional mail is that it’s far more secure. Sending an EoB via email drastically decreases the risk of protected health information (PHI) getting into the wrong hands. When sent in paper form by mail, an EoB could be:

Lost, stolen or damaged in transit
Delivered to the wrong address
Not properly deposited in a letter or mailbox, then stolen
Intercepted within the intended address by another individual who lives at or has access to the residence.

As detailed later in this post, email also allows for various controls and processes, which mitigate the risks of unsuccessful message delivery.

Most importantly, secure email provides data encryption, which safeguards the sensitive patient data within EoBs during transmission and when stored by rendering it unreadable to malicious actors who might intercept it. Physical mail, in contrast, offers no such protection, as someone who intercepts a paper EoB form can simply open it and freely read its contents.

Finally, secure email delivery platforms feature identity verification and access controls that enable healthcare insurers to restrict access to PHI to authorized personnel, limiting its exposure. They also provide auditing capabilities to track access to patient data, and quickly identify the source of security breaches.

HIPAA Compliance Benefits

Because sending an Explanation of Benefits statement via email is more secure, and better protects any patient data contained within them, this also reduces the risk of HIPAA compliance violations.

First and foremost, HIPAA regulations mandate that communications containing PHI, such as EoBs, must securely reach the intended recipient. By eliminating the risk of physical interception or non-delivery, and the compliance violations from a resulting security breach, insurers can better adhere to HIPAA regulations using email for sending EOBs. On a similar note, the security features built into a HIPAA compliant email platform, such as encryption, access controls, and audit logs, help insurers to satisfy the requirements of HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules in their compliance efforts.

Another considerable benefit of using secure email to send policyholders their EoBs, or, in fact, any communication containing PHI, is that it’s far easier to implement breach notification protocols. Email delivery platforms provide real-time tracking, so companies can pinpoint email message failures quickly and act accordingly. Similarly, intrusion detection systems and other cybersecurity measures that support email systems can enable faster detection and containment of data breaches.

In stark contrast, physical mail is far more difficult to track – and even those limited capabilities are reserved for more expensive delivery options. Consequently, security breaches via mail could go unnoticed for days or even weeks. If you’re unaware of a data breach, or have not yet contained or mitigated it, you’re then unable to inform all affected parties, resulting in further HIPAA violations.

Increased Deliverability Rates

By greatly mitigating the security risks presented by physical mail, i.e., the various ways an EoB could fall into the wrong hands, sending an EoB by email increases your ability to get more EOBs into the hands of policyholders, more quickly. At the same time, policyholders can make faster decisions regarding their healthcare.

The ability to track secure email gives you greater control over EOB deliverability, as it allows organizations to determine the cause of delivery failure and can also make subsequent attempts. Additionally, the process of determining the reason for the message delivery failures can also reveal security issues; the same process, however, is very difficult to achieve with traditional mail.

Here’s how the typical protocol for resending a secured email goes beyond what you can do with managing traditional mail delivery:

Determine the cause of non-delivery: verify that the intended recipient information is correct and check for issues like a full email inbox or security misconfigurations.
Don’t automatically resend: to avoid exposing PHI to the wrong person, confirm the intended recipient’s email address through an alternative verified channel, e.g., phone call, secure SMS, etc.
Log the incident: document the delivery failure, steps taken to determine its cause, attempts, etc.
Reattempt message delivery: if the investigation deems it safe, attempt message redelivery with the corrected information.

In the event that subsequent delivery attempts fail, it’s best practice to contact the individual to arrange the most convenient and secure alternative to deliver their EoBs.

Cost Savings

Simply put, sending Explanation of Benefits statements via email instead of traditional mail saves health insurers money – potentially lots of it. Processing EOBs from start to finish can cost health insurers one to two dollars or more per EOB. That’s a lot. The biggest opportunity for cost reduction is tied to the money saved on printing and mailing paper EoB statements. Additionally, the cost of administering the delivery of EoB forms, ensuring their delivery, etc., is lowered when it’s done electronically. Not to mention, resending EoBs in the event of their non-delivery is much easier and cheaper via email.

In a broader sense, increasing the deliverability and the success rate of sending EoBs helps a larger number of policyholders better understand the details of their insurance coverage, i.e., how it works, which services and procedures it covers, etc. As a result of their policyholders being more informed, insurers won’t spend as much time explaining policy details and cost breakdowns to their members, allowing them to divert the otherwise required resources to other areas of the business.

Reduced Carbon Footprint

Finally, it’s difficult to highlight the benefits of sending EoBs to policyholders by email without recognizing the positive environmental impact, too. Email EoBs cut down on paper, for both the forms themselves and the envelopes they’re mailed in. Then there’s the matter of the electricity and ink involved in printing them, the emissions produced in their delivery, etc. Opting to send EoBs via email reduces all these factors, which enables healthcare organizations to lower their carbon footprint and, where applicable, meet their sustainability obligations or goals.

Deliver EoBs More Securely, Reliably, and at Lower Cost with LuxSci

LuxSci’s Secure High Volume Email Solution enables healthcare insurance companies to instantly send Explanation of Benefits statements to policyholders at a massive scale, extending into hundreds of thousands or millions per month.

Our HIPAA compliant email delivery platform features:

Dedicated IPs that isolate critical transactional messages, such as EoBs, from other email traffic, allowing LuxSci customers to reach deliverability rates of 98% or more.
Real-time tracking for determining the delivery status of EoBs, as well as troubleshooting unsuccessful delivery attempts.
Flexible encryption through LuxSci’s proprietary SecureLine Technology, which automatically adjusts encryption settings according to the recipient to better ensure the protection of sensitive data.

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Know the Biggest Email Threats Facing Healthcare Right Now

July 16, 2025
Pete Wermter

Due to its near-universal adoption, speed, and cost-effectiveness, email remains one of the most common communication channels in healthcare. Consequently, it’s one of the most frequent targets for cyber attacks, as malicious actors are acutely aware of the vast amounts of sensitive data contained in messages – and standard email communication’s inherent vulnerabilities.

In light of this, healthcare organizations must remain aware of the evolving email threat landscape, and implement effective strategies to protect the electronic protected health information (ePHI) included in email messages. Failing to properly secure email communications jeopardizes patient data privacy, which can disrupt operations, result in costly HIPAA compliance violations, and, most importantly, compromise the quality of their patients’ healthcare provision.

With all this in mind, this post details the biggest email threats faced by healthcare organizations today, with the greatest potential to cause your business or practice harm by compromising patient and company data. You can also get our 2025 report on the latest email threats, which includes strategies on how to overcome them.

Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts, corrupts, or deletes a healthcare organization’s data or critical systems, and enables the cybercriminals that deployed it to demand a payment (i.e., a ransom) for their restoration. Healthcare personnel can unwittingly download ransomware onto their devices by opening a malicious email attachment or clicking on a link contained in an email.

In recent years, ransomware has emerged as the email security threat with the most significant financial impact. In 2024, for instance, there were over 180 confirmed ransomware attacks with an average paid ransom of nearly $1 million.

Email Client Misconfiguration

While a healthcare organization may implement email security controls, many fail to know the security gaps of their current email service provider (ESP) or understand the value of a HIPAA compliant email platform, leaving data vulnerable to email threats, such as unauthorized access and ePHI exposure, and also, subsequently, a greater risk of compliance violations and reputation damage.

Common types of email misconfiguration include:

Lack of enforced TLS encryption: resulting in emails being transmitted in plaintext, rendering the patient data they contain readable by cybercriminals in the event of interception during transit.
Improper SPF/DKIM/DMARC setup: failure to configure or align these email authentication protocols correctly gives malicious actors greater latitude to successfully spoof trusted domains.
Disabled or lax user authentication: a lack of authentication measures, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), increases the risk of unauthorized access and ePHI exposure.
Misconfigured secure email gateways: incorrect rules or filtering policies can allow phishing emails through or block legitimate messages.
Outdated or unsupported email client software: simply neglecting to download and apply the latest updates or patches from the email client’s vendor can leave vulnerabilities, which are well-known to cybercriminals, exposed to attack.

Social Engineering Attacks

A social engineering attack involves a malicious actor deceiving or convincing healthcare employees into granting unauthorized access or exposing patient data. Relying on psychological manipulation, social engineering attacks exploit a person’s trust, urgency, fear, or curiosity, and encompass an assortment of threats, including phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks, which are covered in greater depth below.

Phishing

As mentioned above, phishing is a type of social engineering attack, but they are so widespread that it warrants its own mention. Phishing sees malicious actors impersonating legitimate companies, or their employees, to trick victims into revealing sensitive patient data.

Subsequently, healthcare organizations can be subjected to several different types of phishing attacks, which include:

General phishing: otherwise known as bulk phishing or simply ‘phishing’, these are broad, generic attacks where emails are sent to large numbers of recipients, impersonating trusted entities to steal credentials or deliver malware.
Spear phishing: more targeted attacks that involve personalized phishing emails crafted for a specific healthcare organization or individual. These require more research on the part of malicious actors and typically use relevant insider details gleaned from their reconnaissance for additional credibility.
Whaling: a form of spear phishing that specifically targets healthcare executives or other high-level employees.
Clone phishing: when a cybercriminal duplicates a legitimate email that was previously received by the target, replacing links or attachments with malicious ones.
Credential phishing: also known as ‘pharming’, this involves emails that link to fake login pages designed to capture healthcare employees’ usernames and passwords under the guise of frequently used legitimate services.

Domain Impersonation and Spoofing

This category of threat revolves around making malicious messages appear legitimate, which can allow them to bypass basic email security checks. As alluded to above, these attacks exploit weaknesses in email client misconfigurations to trick the recipient, typically to expose and exfiltrate patient data, steal employee credentials, or distribute malware.

Domain spoofing email threats involve altering the “From” address in an email header to make it appear to be from a legitimate domain. If a healthcare organization fails to properly configure authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, there’s a greater risk of their email servers failing to flag malicious messages and allowing them to land in users’ inboxes.

Domain impersonation, on the other hand, requires cybercriminals to register a domain that closely resembles a legitimate one. This may involve typosquatting, e.g., using “paypa1.com” instead of “paypal.com”. Alternatively, a hacker may utilize a homograph attack, which substitutes visually similar characters, e.g., from different character sets, such as Cyrillic. Malicious actors will then send emails from these fraudulent domains, which often have the ability to bypass basic email filters because they aren’t exact matches for blacklisted domains. Worse still, such emails can appear authentic to users, particularly if the attacker puts in the effort to accurately mimic the branding, formatting, and tone used by the legitimate entity they’re attempting to impersonate.

Insider Email Threats

In addition to external parties, employees within a healthcare organization can pose email threats to the security of its PHI. On one hand, insider threats can be intentional, involving disgruntled employees or third-party personnel abusing their access privileges to steal or corrupt patient data. Alternatively, they could be the result of mere human error or negligence, stemming from ignorance, or even fatigue.

What’s more, insider threats have been exacerbated by the rise of remote and flexible conditions since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created more complex IT infrastructures that are more difficult to manage and control.

Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks

A BEC attack is a highly targeted type of social engineering attack in which cybercriminals gain access to, or copy, a legitimate email account to impersonate a known and trusted individual within an organization. BEC attacks typically require extensive research on the targeted healthcare company and rely less on malicious links or attachments, unlike phishing, which can make them difficult to detect.

Due to the high volume of emails transmitted within the healthcare industry, and the sensitive nature of PHI often included in communications to patients and between organizations, the healthcare industry is a consistent target of BEC attacks.

BEC attacks come in several forms, such as:

Account compromise: hijacking a real employee’s account and sending fraudulent messages.
Executive fraud: impersonating high-ranking personnel to request urgent financial transactions or access to sensitive data.
Invoice fraud: pretending to be a vendor asking for the payment of a fraudulent invoice into an account under their control.

Supply Chain Risk

Healthcare organizations increasingly rely on third-party vendors, including cloud service providers, software vendors, and billing or payment providers to serve their patients and customers. They constantly communicate with their supply chain partners via email, with some messages containing sensitive patient data; moreover, some of these organizations will have various levels of access to the PHI under their care.

Consequently, undetected vulnerabilities or lax security practices within your supply chain network could serve as entry points for email threats and malicious action. For instance, cybercriminals can compromise the email servers of a healthcare company’s third-party vendor or partner, and then send fraudulent emails from their domains to deploy malware or extract patient data.

Another, somewhat harrowing, way to understand supply chain risk is that while your organization may have a robust email security posture, in reality, it’s only as strong as that of your weakest third-party vendor’s security controls.

Download LuxSci’s Email Cyber Threat Readiness Report

To gain further insight into the biggest email threats to healthcare companies in 2025, including increasingly prevalent AI threats, download your copy of LuxSci’s Email Cyber Threat Readiness Report.

You’ll also learn about the upcoming changes to the HIPAA Security Rule and how it’s set to impact your organization going forward, and the most effective strategies for strengthening your email security posture.

Grab your copy of the report here and begin the journey to strengthening your company’s email threat readiness today.

What is the Best HIPAA Compliant Email?

July 10, 2025
Erik Kangas

The best HIPAA compliant email contains strong security features with ease of use and reasonable pricing. Top options include properly configured Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 accounts with Business Associate Agreements in place. Look at HIPAA compliant email platforms that offer encryption, access controls, audit logging, and secure mobile access while fitting their practice size, budget, and technical capabilities.

HIPAA Compliant Email Features

Healthcare professionals require email systems with particular security capabilities to protect client communications. Any HIPAA compliant email must include automatic encryption that works without requiring clients to create accounts or remember passwords. You need detailed access logs that document when messages were sent, received, and viewed. Message recall capabilities help address accidental disclosures before they become compliance issues. Calendar integration supports secure appointment scheduling and reminders. Mobile access controls ensure therapists can communicate safely from smartphones and tablets during off-hours or between office locations. Document sharing features allow secure exchange of intake forms and treatment plans. These capabilities help therapists maintain compliant communications while managing their practice efficiently.

Popular HIPAA Compliant Email Platforms

Several email providers offer solutions well-suited to mental health professionals. Hushmail for Healthcare includes features designed for therapists with web-based secure forms for client intake and customizable email templates. Paubox delivers encrypted email that works without requiring recipients to take extra steps, making it ideal for client communications. Virtru integrates with existing Gmail or Outlook accounts to add HIPAA compliant protections without changing email addresses. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 provide affordable options when properly configured with appropriate security settings and covered by Business Associate Agreements. Smaller therapy practices often prefer these mainstream platforms for their familiarity and integration with other practice tools.

Security Considerations for Healthcare Communications

Secure healthcare communications require thoughtful security approaches due to their sensitive nature. HIPAA compliant email should include protections against phishing attacks that might target patient information. Data loss prevention tools identify and secure messages containing sensitive information even when users forget to enable encryption. Account recovery procedures must balance security with practicality for small practices. Multi-factor authentication prevents unauthorized access even if passwords are compromised.

For example, healthcare personnel handling substance use disorder information need email systems that comply with both HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2 requirements. Solutions should accommodate supervision relationships where communications may need controlled sharing with supervisors.

Client Experience and Usability Factors

The best HIPAA compliant email solutions balance security with positive client experiences. Buyers should evaluate how encryption affects the client’s process for reading and responding to messages. Some solutions require clients to create accounts or install software, while others deliver protected messages that open with minimal friction. Mobile compatibility matters as many clients prefer communicating from smartphones. Branding options allow therapists to maintain professional appearance in all communications. Automated responses help set appropriate expectations about response timing and emergency protocols. Client-facing secure forms streamline intake processes while maintaining compliance.

HIPAA Compliant Email Implementation for Medical Practices

Implementing secure email requires planning tailored to medical practice workflows. Solo practitioners need solutions with straightforward setup and minimal ongoing maintenance. Group practices benefit from centralized administration that enforces consistent security policies across all therapists. Practice management integration connects secure email with scheduling, billing, and documentation systems.

Transition planning helps migrate existing communications to new secure platforms without disrupting client relationships. Documentation templates ensure compliance with both HIPAA and professional ethical standards for electronic communications. Training materials must address both technical operation and appropriate clinical use cases. When implementing HIPAA compliant email practice admins should create workflow procedures that incorporate secure communication into their practice routines.

Cost Considerations For Selecting Email Services

Healthcare providers must balance security requirements with budget realities when selecting HIPAA compliant email. Pricing models vary significantly, with some services charging per user while others offer flat-rate plans better suited to solo practitioners. Additional fees may apply for features like secure forms, extra storage, or advanced security controls. Implementation costs include time spent on configuration, training, and client education about new communication methods. Some platforms offer discounted rates for professional association members or multi-year commitments. Buyers should calculate the total cost of ownership beyond monthly subscription fees, including technical support and compliance documentation. Affordable HIPAA compliant email options exist for practices of all sizes, but require thoughtful evaluation of both immediate pricing and long-term value.

Integrating Email with Broader Practice Security

HIPAA compliant email represents one component of comprehensive practice security. Email solutions should complement electronic health record systems while maintaining appropriate boundaries between clinical documentation and communications. Device management policies ensure therapists access email securely across computers, tablets, and smartphones. Backup procedures preserve communications while maintaining security protections. Incident response planning prepares therapists for addressing potential security issues or breaches. Regular security reviews evaluate whether email practices continue to meet evolving compliance requirements. By integrating email security with broader practice safeguards, therapists create communication systems that protect client information throughout its lifecycle.

What Are Email HIPAA Compliance Requirements?

July 2, 2025
Erik Kangas

Email HIPAA compliance is the privacy and security standards that healthcare organizations must implement when using electronic mail to transmit, store, or discuss protected health information. These requirements include encryption protocols, access controls, audit logging, and administrative safeguards that protect patient data during email communications. Healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers must understand email HIPAA compliance obligations to avoid costly violations while maintaining effective communication with patients, business partners, and other healthcare organizations. Understanding email HIPAA compliance helps organizations select appropriate email platforms, train staff on proper procedures, and implement policies that protect patient information while supporting clinical and administrative workflows.

Privacy Rule Requirements For Email HIPAA Compliance

The Privacy Rule establishes how healthcare organizations can use and disclose protected health information in email communications without violating patient privacy rights. Email HIPAA compliance permits healthcare organizations to use patient information for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations without obtaining individual patient authorization. Clinical communications between providers, billing discussions with payers, and care coordination activities fall under these permitted uses when proper safeguards are implemented.

Healthcare organizations must provide privacy notices to patients explaining how their information may be used in email communications and their rights regarding this information. Patients have the right to request restrictions on how their information is shared via email, though organizations are not always required to agree to these limitations. Email HIPAA compliance requires organizations to honor reasonable requests and provide mechanisms for patients to file complaints about email privacy practices.

Minimum necessary standards require healthcare organizations to limit email communications to the smallest amount of protected health information needed for the specific purpose. This means that diagnosis details, treatment notes, and other sensitive information should only be included when necessary for patient care or business operations. Organizations must evaluate their email practices to ensure compliance with minimum necessary requirements across different communication types.

Security Rule Standards For Email HIPAA Compliance

The Security Rule requires healthcare organizations to implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect electronic protected health information transmitted via email. Administrative safeguards include appointing security officers responsible for email systems, conducting workforce training on email privacy requirements, and establishing procedures for granting and revoking email access. These safeguards ensure that only authorized personnel can access patient information during email communications.

Technical safeguards focus on access controls, encryption, audit logging, and transmission security for email systems. Email HIPAA compliance requires user authentication systems that verify the identity of individuals accessing email containing patient information. Encryption protects email content during transmission and storage, while audit logs track who accesses patient information and when these access events occur.

Physical safeguards protect computer systems, mobile devices, and facilities where email containing patient information is accessed or stored. Organizations must implement workstation security controls, device controls for mobile email access, and media disposal procedures for devices containing patient communications. These protections prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing patient information through physical security breaches.

Regular security assessments evaluate email systems for vulnerabilities that could lead to data breaches or unauthorized disclosures. Email HIPAA compliance requires organizations to address identified weaknesses and maintain documentation of security measures. Penetration testing and vulnerability scanning help identify potential problems before they result in privacy violations.

Business Associate Requirements For Email HIPAA Compliance

Third-party email service providers that handle protected health information on behalf of healthcare organizations must operate as business associates under HIPAA regulations. Business associate agreements must specify how email providers will protect patient information, limit data use to authorized purposes, and report security incidents or unauthorized disclosures. Email HIPAA compliance requires healthcare organizations to verify that their email providers have appropriate security measures in place.

Common email business associates include cloud email providers, managed email services, and email security vendors. Each relationship requires careful evaluation of privacy and security risks along with appropriate contractual protections. Organizations must verify that business associates maintain their own HIPAA compliance programs and provide documentation of security measures.

Business associates must implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for email systems and ensure that subcontractors also comply with HIPAA requirements. This includes providing security training to their workforce, maintaining audit logs, and reporting security incidents to healthcare organizations. When business associate relationships end, email providers must return or destroy patient information as specified in their agreements.

Staff Training And Policy Development

Healthcare organizations must train staff on email HIPAA compliance requirements and organizational policies for handling patient information in electronic communications. Training programs should cover identification of protected health information, appropriate use of email systems, and procedures for reporting potential privacy violations. Staff members need to understand when email communications require additional security measures and how to use secure email platforms correctly.

Policy development includes establishing procedures for email encryption, recipient verification, and incident reporting when security concerns arise. Organizations should develop different policies for various types of email communications, including patient care coordination, billing discussions, and business partner communications. Regular policy updates address changing regulations and technology developments that affect email security.

Competency assessments verify that staff understand their responsibilities when handling patient information in email communications. Organizations should document training activities and maintain records of staff compliance with email privacy policies. Regular refresher training keeps staff updated on changing requirements and reinforces proper email security practices.

Monitoring And Incident Response For Email HIPAA Compliance

Healthcare organizations need ongoing monitoring programs to ensure that email practices remain compliant with HIPAA requirements and identify potential issues before they result in violations. Regular audits should examine email content for appropriate privacy protections, verify that security safeguards function correctly, and assess whether staff follow established policies. These audits help demonstrate ongoing commitment to protecting patient information.

Incident response procedures specifically address email-related security breaches or privacy violations, including notification requirements and remediation steps. Organizations must have clear procedures for investigating potential breaches involving email communications, determining whether notification is required, and implementing corrective actions to prevent future incidents. Training on incident response helps staff recognize and respond appropriately to email security issues.

Documentation requirements include maintaining records of email policies, training activities, security assessments, and compliance monitoring efforts. This documentation helps demonstrate compliance efforts during regulatory investigations and supports continuous improvement of email practices. Organizations should retain documentation for required periods and ensure records are complete and accessible when regulatory authorities request information about email HIPAA compliance practices.

Why is High Email Deliverability Essential for Healthcare Companies?

June 30, 2025
Pete Wermter

With email communication playing a critical role in the customer engagement strategies of virtually every organization, high email deliverability rates are vital to success across all industries. In the healthcare sector, however, the stakes can be far higher. An undelivered email isn’t merely an inconvenience or a lost sales opportunity; it could mean a missed appointment, a delay in a prescription refill, or a failure to get a patient critical healthcare information. Or worse, the email could end up in the hands of an unintended recipient, including bad actors and cybercriminals.

With this in mind, this post details why high email deliverability is essential for healthcare companies, as well as how your organization benefits from reliable and rapid email delivery.

Speed and Efficiency

The primary reason that high email deliverability is crucially important to healthcare organizations is to best guarantee essential communications that directly impact an individual’s healthcare journey reach them promptly. These transactional emails can include appointment reminders, prescription renewals, product order confirmations, test results, explanation of benefits notices, payment reminders, and invoices. Administrative notifications related to software or systems that a patient might use, such as a password reset for an online portal, also fall under the category of transactional emails.

When transactional emails are delayed or fail to reach people altogether, they can compromise a patient’s ability to access care, adhere to treatment plans, stay informed on key facets of their healthcare journey, and, ultimately, achieve optimal health outcomes.

When a patient fails to receive an expected email, such as a prescription confirmation, for example, it can leave them feeling confused and unsure of what to do next. For individuals who are sick, elderly, or managing chronic conditions, this can cause unnecessary stress, anxiety, and even compromise adherence to care plans.

In contrast, high email delivery rates create the opposite effect, helping patients get the communications and information they need. This increases their trust in your company and gives them a firmer sense of control over their healthcare journey.

Compliance with HIPAA Regulations

While the above point stresses the importance of reliable email delivery for the patient’s and customer’s benefit, healthcare companies also have a vested interest in ensuring communications reach the intended recipient for regulatory and patient privacy reasons.

To comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), emails that contain sensitive patient data, i.e., electronic protected health information (ePHI), must be securely delivered to the intended recipient. If, on the other hand, a communication containing ePHI fails to reach the intended recipient patient, that represents a failure in secure communications and a potential HIPAA violation for your organization.

After all, where did the patient’s data go? Was it delivered to the wrong person? Was it blocked by a spam filter and is left sitting unencrypted on a server somewhere?

If you can’t answer these questions, you could be exposed to a data breach, and it could result in a HIPAA violation, meaning your organization incurrs the associated consequences, including financial penalties and reputational damage. Conversely, deploying a fully HIPAA compliant email solution, such as LuxSci, supported by a dedicated infrastructure and designed for high email delivery enables your organization to include patient data in communications with confidence and ensure you messages land in the recipient’s inbox.

Greater Levels of Personalization and Engagement

Finally, high email deliverability rates are essential for healthcare organizations because they help drive greater levels of engagement with patients and customers. Higher email deliverability means better inbox placement, leading to more emails being opened, more links being clicked, and more conversions for your communications and campaigns.

In the case of healthcare retailers, for example, this equates to converting more prospects into customers and, consequently, maximizing the ROI of email marketing campaigns, in some cases with up to 80% better results.

While healthcare marketers, understandably, focus most of their efforts on crafting attention-grabbing headlines, personalizing the message content, and the email’s design elements, these factors are rendered irrelevant if the message fails to reach the recipient in the first place! When you take this into account, high email deliverability is a crucial component in optimizing the ROI of email communications and campaigns, and an all too often overlooked component at that.

Get Your Copy LuxSci’s Achieving High Email Deliverability Best Practices Paper

To learn more about the importance and value of high email deliverability for healthcare companies, download your copy of LuxSci’s latest Best Practices Paper: How to Achieve High Email Deliverability in Healthcare. You’ll discover:

How to opitmize performance for the different types of healthcare emails.
Powerful strategies for increasing your company’s email deliverability rates.
How small increases in email deliverability can have considerable effects on your marketing ROI

Grab your copy of the report here, and learn how to enhance your email deliverability rates today.

Which Platform is HIPAA Compliant?

January 8, 2025
Erik Kangas

No platform is automatically HIPAA compliant without proper configuration and implementation. Major cloud platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud can support HIPAA compliance when configured correctly and covered by a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Healthcare organizations must implement appropriate security controls, access restrictions, and monitoring regardless of which platform they select. The HIPAA compliance of any platform depends on both vendor capabilities and how organizations implement and maintain their systems, as well as their willingness to sign BAA.

Cloud Service Provider Options

Major cloud providers offer environments that support healthcare applications when properly configured. Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides HIPAA compliant services with appropriate security features and BAA coverage. Microsoft Azure includes healthcare-focused compliance documentation and security implementations that align with HIPAA requirements. Google Cloud Platform offers similar capabilities with HIPAA eligible services listed in their compliance documentation. These platforms provide the foundation for building HIPAA compliant applications, but don’t deliver compliance automatically. Healthcare organizations must understand which services within each platform qualify for BAA coverage and how to configure them properly.

Electronic Healthcare Record System Platforms

EHR platforms typically include built-in features designed for HIPAA compliance. Systems like Epic, Cerner, and Athenahealth incorporate security controls, access management, and audit logging capabilities aligned with healthcare regulations. These platforms still require proper implementation and configuration to achieve actual compliance. Organizations using EHR systems must apply appropriate security settings, user permissions, and monitoring tools. Staff need training on maintaining compliance within these environments. Even with healthcare-focused platforms, organizations maintain responsibility for overall HIPAA compliance including staff procedures, proper system usage, and ongoing security management.

Customer Data Platforms

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) provide as a central repository for all data within your organization. A CDP consolidates and centralized data from various applications and sources, including customer relationship management (CRM) systems, social media channels, communications channels, and more to create a comprehensive unified customer profile. In healthcare, a HIPAA compliant CDP can help ensure that all patient interactions comply with strict data protection laws, safeguarding PHI in ways that optimize personalization without compromising privacy. Integrating HIPAA-compliant communications, such as email, with CDPs enable healthcare providers, payers and suppliers to devleop more relevant, timely, and consistent communications with their patients and customers.

Video Conferencing and Messaging Solutions

Healthcare teams use various communication platforms that must maintain patient information security. Microsoft Teams can support HIPAA compliant communication when implemented as part of a properly configured Microsoft 365 environment with a BAA. Zoom for Healthcare provides a version of their video platform with additional security features and BAA coverage. Standard consumer messaging applications like regular Zoom, WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger lack appropriate security features for protected health information. Healthcare organizations must distinguish between regular communication tools and versions designed for healthcare use. Staff training should clearly identify which platforms may handle patient information.

Patient Engagement Web Platforms and Patient Portals

Healthcare organizations use various website platforms and patient portals for patient interaction. Content management systems like WordPress can support HIPAA compliance with proper hosting, security plugins, and configuration. Patient portal systems from vendors like Athenahealth, NextGen, and eClinicalWorks include features designed for compliance with healthcare regulations. Website platforms require careful attention to form handling, data storage, and transmission security. Organizations often separate public website content from patient portals to maintain appropriate security boundaries. The compliance status depends not just on the platform selection but on implementation details and ongoing maintenance.

Mobile Health Applications

Mobile health applications create distinct HIPAA compliance challenges. Development platforms like Apple iOS and Android don’t automatically create HIPAA compliant applications. Developers must implement security measures including encryption, authentication, and secure data storage. Mobile device management (MDM) solutions help organizations maintain security on devices accessing patient information. Healthcare organizations need policies governing mobile application usage and development standards. Testing should verify security implementations before deploying applications handling patient data. The mobile strategy must address both organization-provided and personal devices.

Platform Selection Methodology

Healthcare organizations benefit from following a structured approach when selecting platforms for handling protected health information. This process begins with documenting workflow requirements and data handling needs. Organizations should request compliance documentation from vendors including BAA availability and security capabilities. Implementation plans need to address configuration requirements for maintaining compliance. Ongoing management procedures should include regular security assessments and updates. Organizations often consult with healthcare security experts when making platform decisions. A thorough evaluation process helps balance functional requirements against security needs while identifying appropriate HIPAA compliant marketing solutions.

What Is HIPAA Email Software?

June 18, 2025
Erik Kangas

HIPAA email software is specialized communication technology designed to protect protected health information during electronic transmission while enabling healthcare organizations to communicate securely with patients, providers, and business partners. This software includes encryption capabilities, access controls, audit logging, and other security features required for HIPAA compliance when sending emails containing sensitive medical information. Healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers use HIPAA email software to maintain regulatory compliance while conducting routine business communications, patient outreach, and care coordination activities. Understanding what HIPAA email software offers helps organizations select appropriate solutions for their communication needs while avoiding costly privacy violations.

Security Features Required in HIPAA Email Software

HIPAA email software must include encryption capabilities that protect messages and attachments during transmission and storage. End-to-end encryption ensures that only authorized recipients can access message content, while encryption at rest protects stored emails from unauthorized access. Authentication mechanisms verify user identities before granting access to email systems, preventing unauthorized individuals from sending or receiving sensitive communications. Access controls allow administrators to define who can send emails to specific recipients and which types of information can be included in different message categories. Role-based permissions ensure that staff members can only access email functions appropriate to their job responsibilities. Automatic session timeouts prevent unauthorized access when users leave workstations unattended, while password complexity requirements help protect user accounts from compromise.

Audit and Logging Capabilities

Comprehensive audit logging tracks all email activities within HIPAA email software, creating detailed records of who sent messages, when they were transmitted, and who accessed them. These logs include information about message recipients, attachment details, and any forwarding or reply activities. Audit trails help organizations demonstrate compliance during regulatory reviews and investigate potential security incidents or privacy violations. Log retention policies ensure that audit information remains available for required periods, while secure storage prevents unauthorized modification or deletion of audit records. Automated reporting features can alert administrators to unusual email patterns or potential security concerns. Regular review of audit logs helps identify training needs and process improvements for email security practices.

HIPAA Email Software Integration with Healthcare Systems

HIPAA email software integrates with electronic health record systems, practice management platforms, and other healthcare applications to streamline communication workflows. These integrations allow users to send secure emails directly from patient records or billing systems without switching between multiple applications. Automated triggers can generate secure email notifications for appointment reminders, lab results, or billing communications. Application programming interfaces enable custom integrations with specialized healthcare software used by different types of organizations. Single sign-on capabilities allow users to access email functions using their existing healthcare system credentials. Integration features help reduce workflow disruptions while maintaining security standards across all communication channels.

Patient Portal and External Communication Features

Many HIPAA email software solutions include patient portal functionality that allows secure two-way communication between healthcare organizations and their patients. Patients can log into secure portals to read messages, respond to communications, and download documents without requiring special software installations. Portal notifications alert patients when new messages arrive while maintaining privacy protections. External communication features enable secure messaging with business partners, referring physicians, and other healthcare organizations that may use different email systems. Secure message delivery ensures that communications reach intended recipients even when they use non-HIPAA compliant email systems. Delivery confirmation and read receipts provide verification that important messages were received and accessed by recipients.

Compliance Management and Administrative Controls

HIPAA email software provides administrative tools for managing user accounts, setting security policies, and monitoring compliance across the organization. Centralized administration allows IT teams to configure security settings, manage user permissions, and enforce organizational email policies from a single interface. Policy templates help organizations implement standard security configurations that meet HIPAA requirements. User training modules within the software help staff understand proper email security practices and organizational policies for handling protected health information. Compliance dashboards provide real-time visibility into email security metrics and potential policy violations. Automated policy enforcement prevents users from sending emails that violate organizational security standards or regulatory requirements.

Implementation and Deployment Considerations

Healthcare organizations implementing HIPAA email software need to consider data migration from existing email systems, staff training requirements, and integration with current technology infrastructure. Planning phases should include security risk assessments, workflow analysis, and stakeholder input to ensure the selected solution meets organizational needs. Pilot deployments allow organizations to test functionality and identify potential issues before full implementation. Change management processes help staff adapt to new email security procedures and software interfaces. Technical support during implementation ensures that integration challenges are resolved quickly and that security configurations meet organizational requirements. Post-deployment monitoring verifies that the HIPAA email software performs as expected and continues meeting compliance obligations over time

What Is a Cyber Risk Assessment?

March 19, 2025
Pete Wermter

As cyber threats become both more frequent and sophisticated, it’s essential for healthcare companies to strengthen their cybersecurity posture and safeguard the electronic protected health information (ePHI) within their IT ecosystems and communications. This begins with a comprehensive cyber risk assessment that spans infrastructure, applications and communications.

A cyber risk assessment enables healthcare companies to focus their attention on the IT areas that need the most improvement, allowing them to be more effective in their threat mitigation efforts. This not only reduces the chances of cyber attacks but helps them align with HIPAA’s guidelines and maintain the operational integrity required to best serve their patients and customers.

Let’s discuss why it’s vital that healthcare companies conduct thorough cyber threat risk assessments and the steps your organization can take to carry one out effectively.

Why Are Cyber Risk Assessments Crucial for Healthcare Organizations?

In an increasingly digitized healthcare landscape, conducting regular risk assessments is essential for companies of all sizes, in every industry. For healthcare companies, charged with protecting patient data, it’s especially critical and often a compliance requirement. Electronic PHI, which contains details of an individual’s health history, including current conditions, past illnesses and procedures, prescribed medicine, etc., is very sensitive in nature, so healthcare companies must go the extra mile to ensure its protection in transit and at rest.

Performing a cyber threat risk assessment is the first step to achieving this critical requirement. A risk assessment allows you to identify all of the ePHI within your business, understand the threats it faces, determine gaps in your cybersecurity posture, and, most importantly, mitigate them.

Additionally, from a compliance perspective, conducting regular risk assessments is a key requirement of HIPAA’s Security Rule. Consequently, healthcare companies must carry out periodic risk assessments if they want to comply with HIPAA regulations, and avoid the consequences of non-compliance. A risk assessment provides documented evidence, to auditors, supply-chain partners, and others, that you are conscious of security concerns and have taken the proper steps to mitigate them.

How Do You Conduct A Cyber Risk Assessment?

Now that we’ve discussed their importance, let’s turn our attention to how healthcare organizations can conduct effective cyber risk assessments.

Identify Assets

The first, and, arguably, most important step of a risk assessment is identifying your organization’s digital assets, which include:

Hardware: endpoint devices (desktops, laptops, smartphones, etc.), servers, network equipment, medical equipment, etc.
Systems, infrastructure and applications: operating systems, cloud services, etc.
Data, i.e., ePHI

Now, the reason asset identification could be considered the most crucial part of a risk assessment is that a healthcare organization‘s security teams can’t protect what they aren’t aware of!

Consequently, weeding out instances of “shadow IT”, i.e., the use of applications and/or systems without the approval of a company’s IT department is essential. Otherwise, you could have cases in which ePHI is used in applications, resides on databases, and so on – without it being adequately safeguarded.

Once you’ve identified your assets, you need to classify them: based on their sensitivity and potential impact if a security incident were to occur.

Identify Vulnerabilities and Threats

Having successfully catalogued your assets, you must now establish the factors most likely to compromise their security. This first means pinpointing the vulnerabilities in your IT ecosystem, which could include:

A lack of encryption, or weak standards
Lax access controls
Weak password policies
Lack of monitoring and logging
Outdated software (with some no longer being supported by its vendor)
End-of-life hardware
Infrequent back-ups
Unverified or insecure third-party vendors

When you have a better understanding of these vulnerabilities, which are called attack vectors, you can then determine the most likely threats to ePHI based on the gaps in your security posture. These include:

Data breaches or exposure
Malware, e.g., ransomware, viruses, spyware, etc.
Social engineering phishing
Insider threats (whether through malice or human error)
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks

Fortunately, there is an array of scanning tools that will help you find your cybersecurity vulnerabilities. As far as understanding the main threats to your sensitive patient and customer data, you need to keep up with the latest in threat intelligence. Cybercriminals are always devising new ways to infiltrate healthcare organizations’ networks, so your security teams must remain aware of emerging cyber threats.

Risk Prioritization

So, now you have catalogued your assets, determined their vulnerabilities, and identified the threats. However, implementing cyber threat mitigation measures requires resources – namely time and money – so you must prioritize which risks to mitigate first, based on their likelihood and impact.

First, how likely is a threat to exploit a vulnerability? Healthcare organizations typically determine this through existing threat databases, such as MITRE, as well as keeping up-to-date on the latest threat intelligence and determining how it pertains to your company.

Secondly, evaluate the potential impact, or consequences, of a threat actually manifesting, i.e., a an email breach or a malicious actor successfully pulling off a cyber attack and infiltrating your network. When analyzing the potential impact, consider the financial, operational, reputational, and compliance implications.

Report Findings

At this point, you should report the findings of the risk assessments to your company’s key stakeholders, e.g., upper management, compliance officers, IT management and security, etc. This ensures that decision-makers understand the nature of the top threats facing your organization, their potential business impact, and the urgency of implementing mitigation controls.

This also helps security teams secure the resources they need to bolster their cybersecurity posture accordingly. An additional benefit of this reporting is that it provides an audit trail for compliance efforts, as it demonstrates your efforts to better protect patient and customer data.

Implement Mitigation Measures

Now, we’ve come to the point in the risk assessment process where you act on your due diligence and implement the policies and controls that will better protect patient data and comply with HIPAA guidelines.

Mitigation measures broadly fall into three categories:

Preventive: e.g., encryption, access control, user authentication (e.g., multi-factor authentication (MFA))
Detective: e.g., vulnerability scanning, continuous monitoring
Corrective: e.g., incident response, backups and disaster recovery

A robust cybersecurity posture requires a combination of all three. Your risk assessment may reveal that your organization is strong in one aspect but less so in others, or you may need to bolster your efforts across the board.

Document Your Risk Mitigation Measures

Create a risk mitigation implementation report that details how your organization executed its cyber threat mitigation strategies. This should include:

Affected assets: the parts of your IT infrastructure (servers, databases, etc.) and applications you identified as vulnerable and the severity of their corresponding threats.
Mitigation actions: the specific action(s) undertaken to mitigate cyber threats against the asset, e.g., enhancing encryption standards, strengthening password policies, conducting cyber threat awareness training, etc.
Technical details: where applicable, such as a particular update applied to an application, how a system has been configured, which new software solution has been deployed, and so on.
Post-mitigation risk assessment: re-evaluate the risk level of each asset after the implementation of new security measures.
Monitoring and compliance: detail how the organization will monitor the efficacy of the implemented measures, as well as how your enhanced controls and policies align with compliance standards (e.g., HIPAA, NIST, HITRUST, etc).

As with the report for stakeholders after the initial stages of the assessment, the risk mitigation implementation report also leaves a compliance audit trail, which will become all the more important when the proposed changes to the HIPAA Security Rule come into effect.

Continuous Monitoring and Review

As detailed in your risk mitigation implementation report, you must continuously monitor your IT infrastructure to assess the effectiveness of your newly implemented policies and controls. This process also mitigates cyber risk, in and of itself, as it provides fewer opportunities for malicious actors to breach your network: you’ll have systems in place to alert you of suspicious activity.

Additionally, you must regularly reassess your organization’s cyber risks as new threats emerge, your IT ecosystem evolves, or if you succumb to a cyber attack.

How Often Should You Conduct Cyber Risk Assessments?

Healthcare organizations should carry out a cyber risk assessment at least once a year, with respect to time, or when they make changes to their IT infrastructure. With the proposed changes to the HIPAA Security Rule on the horizon, now is an opportune time to conduct a risk assessment and measure your cyber threat readiness against the new stipulations of the soon-to-be-updated Security Rule.

Also, as alluded to above, if you suffer a security incident, you must conduct a post-breach assessment, once the threat is contained, to establish how a malicious actor breached your network – and how to prevent it from happening again.

How LuxSci Helps Mitigate Cyber Risk in the Healthcare Industry

With more than 20 years of experience, LuxSci has developed the required expertise to make secure communication solutions tailored to meet the stringent cyber risk mitigation needs of the healthcare industry.

LuxSci’s suite of HIPAA-compliant communication solutions includes:

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 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 how LuxSci can help you protect your patient’s ePHI, mitigate cyber risk, and ensure HIPAA compliance for your email and communications? Contact us today!

What Is HIPAA Compliant Email Hosting?

April 5, 2025
Erik Kangas

HIPAA compliant email hosting provides secure email infrastructure that meets HIPAA Security Rule requirements for protecting electronic protected health information (ePHI). These hosting services implement administrative, physical, and technical protections while offering business associate agreements to healthcare organizations that need to transmit patient data via email communications. Healthcare providers rely heavily on email for patient communications, care coordination, and administrative tasks. Standard email hosting services lack the security controls and compliance features needed to protect PHI, making specialized HIPAA hosting solutions necessary for organizations handling sensitive health information.

Security Infrastructure Requirements

HIPAA compliant email hosting requires a security architecture that protects data at rest and in transit. Hosting providers must implement encryption protocols, access controls, and network security measures that meet or exceed HIPAA technical safeguards specifications. Data center facilities housing HIPAA compliant email servers need physical security controls including biometric access systems, surveillance cameras, and environmental protections. These facilities maintain certifications like SOC 2 Type II to show their commitment to security and operational excellence.

Network infrastructure must include firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and secure communication channels that prevent unauthorized access to email data. Hosting providers regularly implement network segmentation to isolate healthcare client data from other customers and security threats.

Business Associate Agreement Obligations

Healthcare organizations using third-party email hosting services must establish business associate agreements (BAAs) with their hosting providers. These contracts outline how the hosting company will protect PHI and comply with HIPAA regulations on behalf of the healthcare organization. Hosting providers accepting BAA responsibilities agree to implement appropriate security measures, report potential breaches, and allow healthcare organizations to audit their compliance practices. The BAA also limits how hosting companies can use or disclose PHI beyond the services specified in the agreement.

Liability provisions within BAAs help protect healthcare organizations from compliance violations caused by hosting provider security failures. Healthcare organizations remain responsible for ensuring their hosting providers maintain adequate security controls and comply with HIPAA requirements.

Data Backup and Recovery Capabilities

HIPAA compliant email hosting services must provide reliable backup and disaster recovery systems that protect against data loss while maintaining security controls. These systems ensure healthcare organizations can restore email communications and maintain business continuity after technical failures or security incidents. Backup procedures need encryption and access controls that match the security standards applied to primary email data. Hosting providers typically maintain multiple backup copies across geographically distributed facilities to protect against localized disasters or system failures.

Recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives help healthcare organizations evaluate hosting provider capabilities and ensure service levels meet their operational needs. Many providers offer guaranteed recovery times and service level agreements that include financial penalties for failing to meet performance commitments.

Email Server Administration and Maintenance

Managed email hosting services handle server administration tasks including software updates, security patches, and performance optimization. This approach helps healthcare organizations maintain HIPAA compliance without requiring internal technical expertise for email infrastructure management. Server maintenance activities must follow change control procedures that document modifications and assess potential security impacts. Hosting providers schedule maintenance during off-peak hours to minimize disruptions to healthcare operations and patient communications.

Performance tracking helps ensure email systems can handle healthcare organization communication volumes without delays that might impact patient care. Hosting providers monitor server resources, email delivery rates, and system availability to identify potential issues before they affect service quality.

Integration with Healthcare Applications

HIPAA compliant email hosting platforms often provide APIs and integration capabilities that connect with electronic health record systems, practice management software, and other healthcare applications. These integrations enable automated email communications while maintaining security and compliance controls. Directory services allow healthcare organizations to manage user accounts and access permissions centrally. Integration with existing authentication systems like Active Directory helps maintain consistent security policies across all organizational technology resources.

Email archiving features help healthcare organizations meet record retention requirements while providing search capabilities for compliance audits and legal discovery requests. These archives maintain the same security controls as active email data and provide long-term storage for regulatory compliance.

Cost Structure and Service Models

HIPAA compliant email hosting services typically use subscription-based pricing models that scale with the number of users or email volumes. Pricing often includes security features, compliance support, and administrative services that would require significant internal resources to implement independently. Hosted solutions eliminate the capital expenses associated with purchasing and maintaining email server hardware. Healthcare organizations can redirect IT budget from infrastructure costs toward other patient care priorities while ensuring email communications remain secure and compliant.

Service level agreements define hosting provider responsibilities and performance guarantees. These agreements generally include uptime commitments, support response times, and security incident response procedures that help healthcare organizations plan their operations and ensure reliable email communications.