How Do You Know if Software is HIPAA Compliant?

Business Solutions, HIPAA Compliant Email, HIPAA Email Marketing
Pete Wermter
February 21, 2025

As in any industry, the healthcare sector is eager to embrace any new technology solution that increases productivity, enhances operational efficiency, and cuts costs. However, the rate at which healthcare companies – and their patients and customers – have had to adopt new software and digital tools has skyrocketed since the pandemic. And while a lot of this software is beneficial, a key question arises: is it HIPAA compliant? While an application may serve an organization’s needs – and may be eagerly embraced by patients – it also needs to have the right measures in place to safeguard protected health information (PHI) to determine if it is indeed HIPAA compliant.

Whether you’re a healthcare provider, software vendor, product team, or IT professional, understanding what makes software HIPAA compliant is essential for safeguarding patient data and insulating your organization from the consequences of falling afoul of HIPAA regulations.

With this in mind, this post breaks down the key indicators of HIPAA compliant software, the technical requirements you should look for, and best practices for ensuring your software is HIPAA compliant.

What Does It Mean for Software to Be HIPAA-Compliant?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets national standards for safeguarding PHI, which includes any data related to a patient’s health, treatment, or payment details. In light of this, any applications and systems used to process, transmit, or store PHI must comply with the stringent privacy, security, and breach notification requirements set forth by HIPAA.

Subsequently, while healthcare organizations use a wide variety of software, most of it is likely to be HIPAA-compliant. Alarmingly, many companies aren’t aware of which applications are HIPAA-compliant and, more importantly, if there’s a need for compliance in the first place.

However, it’s important to note that HIPAA itself does not certify software. Instead, it’s up to software vendors to implement the necessary security and privacy measures to ensure HIPAA compliance. Subsequently, it’s up to healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers to do their due diligence and source HIPAA compliant software.

How to Determine If Software Is HIPAA Compliant

So, now that we’ve covered why it’s vital that the applications and systems through which sensitive patient data flows must be HIPAA compliant, how do you determine if your software meets HIPAA requirements? To assess whether software is HIPAA compliant, look for these key indicators:

1. Business Associate Agreement (BAA)

A HIPAA compliant software provider must sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with covered entities, i.e., the healthcare company. A BAA is a legal contract that outlines the vendor’s responsibility for safeguarding PHI. If a software provider doesn’t offer a BAA, their software is NOT HIPAA compliant.

Now, if a vendor offers a BAA, it should be presented front and center in their benefits, terms or conditions, if not on their website homepage as part of their key features. If a vendor has taken the time and effort to make their infrastructure robust enough to meet HIPAA regulations, they’ll want to make it known to reassure healthcare organizations of their suitability to their particular needs.

2. End-to-End Encryption

A key requirement of the HIPAA Security Rule is that sensitive patient data is encrypted end to end during its transmission. This means being encrypted during transit, i.e., when sent in an email or entered into a form, and at rest, i.e., within the data store in which it resides.

In light of this, any software that handles PHI should use strong encryption standards, such as:

Transport Layer Security (TLS – 1.2 or above): for secure transmission of PHI in email and text communications.
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) 256: the preferred encryption method for data storage as per HIPAA security standards, due to its strength.

3. Access Controls and User Authentication

One of the key threats to the privacy of patient data is access by unauthorized parties. This could be from employees within the organization who aren’t supposed to have access to PHI. In some, or even many, cases, this may come down to lax and overly generous access policies. However, this can result in the accidental compromise of PHI, affecting both a patient’s right to privacy and, in the event patient data is unavailable, operational capability.

Alternatively, the exposure of PHI can be intentional. One on hand, it may be from employees working on behalf of other organizations, i.e., disgruntled employees about to jump ship to a competitor. More commonly, unauthorized access to patient data is perpetrated by malicious actors impersonating healthcare personnel. To prevent the unintended exposure of PHI, HIPAA compliant infrastructure, software and applications must support access control policies, such as:

Role-based access control (RBAC): the restriction of access to PHI based on their job responsibility in handling PHI, i.e.., an employee in billing or patient outreach. A healthcare organization’s security teams can configure access rights based on an employee’s need to handle patient data in line with their role in the company.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA): this adds an extra layer of security beyond user names and passwords. This could include a one-time password (OTP) sent via email, text, or a physical security token. MFA is very diverse and can be scaled up to reflect a healthcare organization’s security posture. This could include also biometrics, such as retina and fingerprint scans, as well as voice verification.
Zero-trust security: a rapidly emerging security paradigm in which users are consistently verified, as per the resources they attempt to access. This prevents session hijacking, in which a user’s identity is trusted upon an initial login and verification. Instead, zero trust continually verifies a user’s identity.
Robust password policies: another simple, but no less fundamental, component of user authentication is a company’s password policy. While conventional password policies emphasize complexity, i.e., different cases, numbers, and special characters, newer password policies, in contrast, emphasize password length.

4. Audit Logs & Monitoring

A key HIPAA requirement is that healthcare organizations consistently track and monitor employee access to patient data. It’s not enough that access to PHI is restricted. Healthcare organizations must maintain visibility over how patient data is being accessed, transferred, and acted upon (copied, altered, deleted). This is especially important in the event of a security event when it’s imperative to pinpoint the source of a breach and contain its spread.

In light of this, HIPAA compliant software must:

Maintain detailed audit logs of all employee interactions with PHI.
Provide real-time monitoring and alerts for suspicious activity.
Support log retention for at least six years, as per HIPAA’s compliance requirements.

5. Automatic Data Backup & Disaster Recovery

Data loss protection (DLP) is an essential HIPAA requirement that requires organizations to protect PHI from loss, corruption, or disasters. With this in mind, a HIPAA-compliant software solution should provide:

Automated encrypted backups: real-time data backups, to ensure the most up-to-date PHI is retained in the event of a security breach.
Comprehensive disaster recovery plans: to rapidly restore data in case of cyber attack, power outage, or similar event that compromises data access.
Geographically redundant storage: a physical safeguard that sees PHI. stored on separate servers in different locations, far apart from each other. So, if one server goes down or is physically compromised (fire, flood, power outage, etc.,) patient data can still be accessed.

6. Secure Messaging and Communication Controls

For software that involves email, messaging, or telehealth, i.e., phone or video-based interactions, in particular, HIPAA regulations require:

End-to-end encryption: for all communications, as detailed above.
Access restrictions: policies that only enable those with the appropriate privileges to view communications containing patient data.
Controls for message expiration: automatically deleting messages after a prescribed time to mitigate the risk of unauthorized access.
Audit logs: to monitor the inclusion or use of patient data.

7. HIPAA Training & Policies

Even the most secure software can be compromised if its users aren’t sufficiently trained on how to use it. More specifically, the risk of a security breach is amplified if employees don’t know how to identify suspicious behavior and who to report it to if an event occurs. With this in mind, it’s prudent to look for software vendors that:

Offer HIPAA compliance and cyber safety awareness training for users.
Implement administrative safeguards, such as usage policy enforcement and monitoring.
Support customizable security policies to align with your organization’s compliance needs.

Shadow IT and HIPAA Compliance

Shadow IT is an instance of an application or system being installed and used within a healthcare organization’s network without an IT team’s approval. Despite its name, shadow IT is not as insidious as it sounds: it’s simply a case of employees unwittingly installing applications they feel will help them with their work. The implications, however, are that:

IT teams are unaware of said application, and how data flows through it, so they can’t secure any PHI entered into it.
The application may have known vulnerabilities that are exploitable by malicious actors. This is all the more prevalent with free and/or open-source software.

While discussing the issue of shadow IT in general, it’s wise to discuss the concept of “shadow AI” – the unauthorized use of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions within an organization without its IT department’s knowledge or approval.

It’s easily done: AI applications are all the rage and employees are keen to reap the productivity and efficiency gains offered by the rapidly growing numbers of AI tools. Unfortunately, they fail to stop and consider the data security risks present in AI applications. Worse, with AI technology still in its relative infancy, researchers, vendors, and other industry stakeholders have yet to develop a unified framework for securing AI systems, especially in healthcare.

Consequently, the risks of entering patient data into an AI system – particularly one that’s not been approved by IT – are considerable. The privacy policies of many widely-used AI applications, such as ChatGPT, state the data entered into the application, during the course of engaging with the platform, can be used in the training of future AI models. In other words, there’s no telling where patient data could end up – and how and where it could be exposed.

The key takeaway here is that entering PHI into shadow IT and AI applications can pose significant risks to the security of patient data, and employees should only use solutions vetted, deployed, and monitored by their IT department.

Best Practices for Choosing HIPAA Compliant Software

Now that you have a better understanding of how to evaluate software regarding HIPAA compliance, here are some best practices to keep in mind when selecting applications to facilitate your patient engagement efforts:

✔ Look for a BAA: quite simply, having a BAA in place is an essential requirement of HIPAA-compliant software. So, if the vendor doesn’t offer one, move on.

✔ Verify encryption standards: ensure the software encrypts PHI both at rest and in transit.

✔ Test access controls: choose HIPAA-compliant software that allows you to restrict access to PHI based on an employee’s role within the organization.

✔ Review audit logging capabilities: HIPAA compliant software should track every PHI interaction. This also greatly assists in incident detection and reporting (IDR), as it enables security teams to pinpoint and contain cyber threats should they arise.

✔ Ensure compliance support: knowing the complexities of navigating HIPAA regulations, a reputable software vendor should provide comprehensive documentation on configuring their solution to match the client’s security needs. Better yet, they should provide the option of cyber threat awareness and HIPAA compliance training services.

✔ Create a List of Software Vendors: combining the above factors, it’s prudent for healthcare organizations to compile a list of HIPAA compliant software vendors that possess the features and capabilities to adequately safeguard PHI.

Choosing HIPAA Compliant Software

Matching the right software to a company’s distinctive workflows and evolving needs is challenging enough. However, for healthcare companies, ensuring the infrastructure and applications within their IT ecosystem also meet HIPAA compliance standards requires another layer of, often complicated, due diligence.

Failure to deploy a digital solution that satisfies the technical, administrative, and physical security measures required in a HIPAA compliant solution exposes your organization to the risk of suffering the repercussions of non-compliance.

If select and deploy the appropriate HIPAA compliant software, in contrast, your options for patient and customer engagement are increased, and you’ll be able to include PHI in your communications to improve patient engagement and drive better health outcomes. Schedule a consultation with one of our experts at LuxSci to discuss whether the software in your IT ecosystem meets HIPAA regulations. and how we can assist you in ensuring your organization is communicating with patient and customers in a HIPAA compliant way.

Pete Wermter

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

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The HIPAA Security Rule Missed Its May Deadline — Here’s What We Know

June 9, 2026
Pete Wermter

The proposed HIPAA Security Rule update has become one of the most closely watched healthcare compliance developments in recent years. Designed to strengthen cybersecurity protections for electronic protected health information (ePHI), the proposal could significantly reshape how healthcare organizations approach risk management, ePHI encryption, and mandatory email encryption requirements.

A final rule was expected as early as May 2026. However, that deadline has now passed without publication from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

So, what happens next—and what should healthcare IT directors, CISOs, and compliance officers do now?

Where Things Stand Today

The HIPAA Security Rule Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was published on January 6, 2025, with the goal of strengthening cybersecurity protections for ePHI in response to escalating ransomware attacks, healthcare breaches, and growing concerns about cyber resilience across the healthcare sector.

The proposal generated thousands of public comments from healthcare providers, payers, business associates, technology vendors, and industry groups. OCR has spent much of the past year reviewing this feedback and evaluating the operational and financial impact of the proposed changes.

Although the Spring Unified Regulatory Agenda identified May 2026 as a target date for a final rule, that milestone came and went without publication. As of June 2026, the proposed HIPAA Security Rule update remains under review.

While some organizations may be tempted to take a wait-and-see approach, the missed deadline should not be interpreted as a signal that the initiative has stalled. If anything, the proposal offers valuable insight into the future direction of healthcare cybersecurity regulation.

The Growing Focus on Mandatory Email Encryption

One of the most discussed aspects of the proposed HIPAA Security Rule update is encryption.

Under the current HIPAA Security Rule, encryption is generally classified as an “addressable” implementation specification. Organizations can choose alternative safeguards if they document and justify their decisions through a risk analysis process.

The proposed changes would significantly reduce that flexibility. Instead, many security safeguards, including encryption controls, would become more prescriptive and difficult to avoid.

While the final language has not yet been released, healthcare organizations should pay close attention to the proposal’s clear message: protecting ePHI through encryption is increasingly viewed as a baseline cybersecurity requirement.

This is particularly important for email communications.

Email remains one of the most widely used communication channels in healthcare, supporting everything from patient engagement and care coordination to billing, scheduling, and marketing communications. As regulators continue to focus on reducing data breach risks, mandatory email encryption is emerging as a likely area of increased scrutiny.

What Healthcare Organizations Should Do Now

The current delay creates an opportunity, not a reason to postpone action.

Healthcare organizations can begin preparing for likely requirements today by evaluating the security controls highlighted throughout the proposed rule.

Key areas to review include:

Encryption of ePHI across systems and communications channels
Comprehensive asset inventories and ePHI data mapping
Enhanced risk analysis and risk management processes
Multifactor authentication (MFA)
Vulnerability scanning and penetration testing
Incident response planning and testing
Backup and recovery procedures
Email security and secure email encryption practices

Organizations that proactively strengthen these areas now will be better prepared regardless of the final rule’s implementation timeline.

Why Secure Email Encryption Should Be a Priority

For many healthcare organizations, email remains one of the largest compliance and security risks.

Human error, misdirected messages, phishing attacks, and inconsistent encryption practices continue to contribute to breaches involving protected health information. As a result, secure email encryption is increasingly becoming a foundational component of healthcare cybersecurity strategies.

Organizations that rely on manual encryption processes or employee judgment alone may find it difficult to meet evolving regulatory expectations.

Instead, healthcare organizations should look for solutions that automate encryption decisions, reduce user error, and provide flexibility based on the sensitivity of the communication.

At LuxSci, we have long believed that security and usability must work together. We are 100% focused on secure healthcare communications, helping healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers protect sensitive data while improving patient and customer engagement. Our proven secure email solutions, used by leading companies including Athenahealth, 1-800 Contacts, and Hinge Health, help organizations protect ePHI with automated encryption capabilities that support both compliance and operational efficiency. Our unique SecureLine encryption technology enables organizations to apply the appropriate level of protection while maintaining a seamless experience for patients, customers, and staff.

For organizations already using Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, LuxSci Secure Email Gateway can add HIPAA-compliant email security and encryption without requiring users to change their existing workflows. This approach helps reduce risk, while preserving productivity and user adoption.

The Bottom Line

The HIPAA Security Rule final rule may have missed its anticipated May deadline, but the cybersecurity challenges driving the proposal remain very real.

The OCR is still expected to make the rule change, which could require mandatory encryption of ePHI by early 2027.

The time to prepare is now!

Healthcare organizations should view the proposed HIPAA Security Rule update as an advance warning of where regulatory expectations are heading. Stronger cybersecurity controls, enhanced risk management, ePHI encryption, and mandatory email encryption requirements are all likely to remain central themes in future compliance efforts.

The organizations that begin preparing now will not only be better positioned for future regulatory changes, but will also strengthen their ability to protect patient data, reduce risk, and build trust in an increasingly challenging threat landscape.

At LuxSci, we’re proud to support the healthcare industry’s ongoing digital transformation through secure healthcare communications. Our HIPAA-compliant solutions for secure email, email marketing, and forms empower organizations to safely use and protect PHI, while delivering better patient experiences and outcomes.

Ready to strengthen your healthcare cybersecurity strategy?

Learn more about LuxSci and our complete suite of HIPAA compliant email and marketing solutions, or schedule a consultation with one of our healthcare communication experts today.

LuxSci Awarded 20 Badges in the G2 Summer 2026 Reports

May 28, 2026
Pete Wermter

We’re excited to announce that LuxSci has again been recognized by G2 with 20 badges in its just-released Summer 2026 Reports, highlighting our continued leadership in secure healthcare communications and HIPAA compliant email solutions.

The new LuxSci G2 recognitions span several categories, including:

Best Estimated ROI
Best Support
High Performer
Leader

These latest LuxSci G2 awards reflect what matters most to our customers: delivering secure, HIPAA compliant healthcare communications backed by responsive support and measurable business results.

As one of the most trusted providers of HIPAA compliant email, marketing, and forms solutions, we’re proud to see our commitment recognized across multiple product categories and customer satisfaction metrics.

Recognition Built on Customer Experience

LuxSci’s G2 rankings are based on verified customer feedback and real-world user experiences, making these badges especially meaningful to our team.

This year’s Summer Reports recognized LuxSci for consistently delivering value to healthcare organizations looking to securely engage patients and customers while maintaining compliance with HIPAA requirements.

Among the highlights, the LuxSci G2 recognition includes:

Best Estimated ROI, reflecting the measurable value customers achieve through secure healthcare communications and personalization
Best Support, reinforcing LuxSci’s long-standing reputation for responsive, knowledgeable customer service
High Performer badges across multiple categories for customer satisfaction and product performance
Leader recognition for delivering secure, scalable communications solutions trusted by healthcare organizations

At LuxSci, we believe secure communications should also drive better engagement, stronger outcomes and operational efficiency. These recognitions reinforce our focus on helping healthcare providers, payers and suppliers personalize communications while protecting sensitive patient data.

Supporting the Future of Personalized Healthcare Engagement

LuxSci’s secure healthcare communication and patient engagement solutions empower organizations to safely communicate with patients and customers through:

HIPAA-compliant high volume email
Secure email marketing
Secure forms and data collection
Flexible encryption with SecureLine technology

Our solutions are designed to help healthcare organizations improve engagement, streamline workflows and personalize the healthcare journey while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance.

These latest LuxSci G2 recognitions also build on LuxSci’s broader reputation for security, performance and customer success. Security and trust remain foundational to everything we do, alongside our commitment to delivering smart, responsive support for our customers.

Thank You to Our Customers

We’re grateful to our customers for their continued trust, collaboration and feedback. Their reviews and insights help shape our products and drive ongoing innovation across the LuxSci product set.

To learn more about LuxSci’s secure healthcare communications solutions, contact our team to schedule a secure email assessment or demo.

Connect with us today!

Is OCR Already Enforcing Email Encryption Under the New HIPAA Security Rule?

May 12, 2026
Pete Wermter

Healthcare organizations waiting for the final HIPAA Security Rule updates before improving email encryption and security may already be behind.

While the proposed changes to the HIPAA Security Rule are expected to be finalized in May, the direction from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is becoming increasingly clear. Across investigations, settlements, and enforcement actions, OCR continues emphasizing stronger technical safeguards, encryption, documented security programs, multi-factor authentication (MFA), risk analysis, and proactive cybersecurity operations.

For healthcare organizations, one area stands directly in the middle of all of these priorities: email.

Email remains a primary communication channel in healthcare — and one of the industry’s largest security vulnerabilities. From unauthorized PHI exposure to phishing attacks and ransomware delivery to account compromise, email continues to be at the center of healthcare cybersecurity incidents.

So, are the proposed HIPAA Security Rule changes hypothetical future guidance or a preview of OCR’s future enforcement expectations?

For healthcare email security, the implications are significant.

Email = Healthcare Cybersecurity Risk

Healthcare organizations rely on email for critical communications and healthcare workflows, including:

Patient communications
Care coordination
Claims and billing notifications
Marketing and engagement
Internal collaboration
Third-party vendor communications
Delivery of sensitive PHI

At the same time, attackers continue targeting email systems because they remain one of the easiest entry points into healthcare environments.

Insecure email workflows create unnecessary exposure of protected health information. Phishing campaigns are becoming more sophisticated. Credential theft attacks are bypassing traditional MFA methods. And business email compromise (BEC) attacks continue rising.

Recent OCR enforcement actions increasingly reflect these realities.

Organizations are being evaluated not simply on whether a breach occurred, but whether they implemented reasonable safeguards beforehand, including encryption, authentication controls, monitoring, access management, and documented risk mitigation processes.

For email systems specifically, that means healthcare organizations should expect increased scrutiny around:

Email encryption enforcement
MFA deployment
Audit logging and retention
Conditional access policies
Vendor security controls
Secure email delivery best practices
Segmentation and infrastructure isolation
Ongoing patch and vulnerability management

In many ways, email infrastructure is becoming a visible test of an organization’s overall cybersecurity posture.

Email Encryption Is Moving From Addressable to Required

Historically, healthcare organizations often interpreted HIPAA email encryption requirements with flexibility because encryption was technically categorized as an “addressable” safeguard under the Security Rule. But, OCR enforcement and broader cybersecurity realities are changing that interpretation rapidly.

Today, failing to encrypt sensitive healthcare communications increasingly creates both security and regulatory risk. The proposed Security Rule updates place even greater emphasis on encryption and technical safeguards. At the same time, OCR investigations continue examining whether organizations properly protected PHI in transit and at rest.

For healthcare email specifically, this creates several growing expectations:

Email encryption should be automated wherever possible
Human error should not determine whether PHI is protected
Organizations should maintain documented encryption policies
Secure delivery methods should adapt dynamically to recipient capabilities
Audit trails should demonstrate how messages were secured

At LuxSci, we have long believed that encryption should operate as a strategic layer of healthcare communications infrastructure, not as a manual user decision.

Our SecureLine email encryption technology automatically applies appropriate encryption methods based on organizational policies and delivery requirements, helping reduce the risks associated with human error while maintaining usability, deliverability and compliance. As enforcement expectations rise, this type of automated security enforcement is becoming increasingly important.

Traditional MFA May No Longer Be Enough

Another major shift emerging from both OCR enforcement trends and the proposed rule updates is the growing importance of stronger authentication models.

Healthcare organizations have historically viewed MFA deployment as sufficient protection. But attackers have adapted quickly.

MFA bypass attacks, token theft, session hijacking, and consent phishing campaigns are increasingly targeting healthcare users. As a result, regulators and cybersecurity experts are placing greater emphasis on phishing-resistant authentication approaches and contextual access controls.

For email environments, organizations should increasingly evaluate:

Whether MFA methods are resistant to phishing attacks
Conditional access policies based on device, location, and behavior
Account monitoring and anomaly detection
Administrative access protections
Session management controls
Logging and authentication auditing

The broader message is clear: healthcare organizations need authentication strategies designed for today’s threat landscape, not yesterday’s compliance checklist.

OCR Wants Proof, Not Just Policies

One of the clearest trends emerging from recent OCR activity is the increasing importance of documentation and operational evidence. Healthcare organizations must increasingly demonstrate not only that safeguards exist, but that they are consistently enforced, monitored, tested, and maintained over time.

For email systems, organizations should be prepared to demonstrate:

Email encryption policies
MFA enforcement records
Audit logs and message tracking
Vendor security documentation
Risk assessments involving email infrastructure
Patch management procedures
Employee security awareness training
Incident response procedures for email-based threats

This represents a broader shift in healthcare cybersecurity expectations.

The question is no longer: “Do you have email security controls?”

The question is increasingly: “Can you prove they are operationally effective?”

Healthcare Organizations Need a New Email Security Strategy

The healthcare industry is entering a new phase of cybersecurity enforcement.

OCR’s direction is becoming increasingly clear: organizations are expected to proactively secure systems handling PHI using modern, documented, and continuously maintained safeguards. For email security specifically, that means organizations should stop treating encryption, MFA, and secure communications as optional compliance requirements. Instead, they should view secure email infrastructure as a strategic component of enterprise cybersecurity and patient trust.

At LuxSci, we help healthcare organizations modernize secure communications with HIPAA compliant email infrastructure designed specifically for healthcare environments, including flexible encryption, secure delivery, auditability, high deliverability, access controls, and dedicated infrastructure options.

The proposed HIPAA Security Rule updates may not yet be final. But, OCR is already signaling where healthcare cybersecurity enforcement is headed next. For organizations relying on email to communicate with patients, members, customers, and partners, the time to examine your secure email infrastructure is now.

Connect with our experts to learn more using the form at the top of this page!

LuxSci Launches Enterprise-Grade HIPAA Compliant Email Security for Mid-Sized Healthcare Organizations

May 5, 2026
Pete Wermter

New right-sized offering brings advanced encryption, easy API integration, and HITRUST-certified compliance to the most underserved segment in healthcare email — with pricing starting at $99/month

CAMBRIDGE, MA — May 5, 2026 — LuxSci, a leading provider of HIPAA compliant secure healthcare communications, today announced the launch of LuxSci Secure High Volume Email for mid-sized healthcare organizations, the industry’s trusted HIPPA-compliant email solution now packaged and priced for mid-size healthcare organizations. Regional health systems, health plans, specialty group practices, urgent care networks, and multi-site regional providers can now access LuxSci’s enterprise-grade email security and encryption infrastructure at published, volume-based pricing — with no custom quote required.

LuxSci Secure High Volume Email for mid-sized healthcare organizations delivers the same HITRUST CSF r2-certified email security and flexible encryption capabilities that power communications for some of the largest healthcare organizations in the industry, including Athenahealth, 1-800 Contacts, Hinge Health and Eurofins. The new LuxSci mid-sized offer is tiered and priced for organizations with email sending volumes of between 300 and 99,000 emails per month.

LuxSci Secure High Volume Email is built on the company’s proprietary SecureLine™ encryption technology, which automatically selects the optimal email encryption method — TLS, secure portal fallback, PGP, or S/MIME — on a per-recipient basis at the time of delivery, with no action required from senders or recipients. This intelligent, adaptive encryption method goes significantly beyond TLS-only or portal fallback models offered by basic platforms, giving mid-market healthcare organizations the flexibility and cybersecurity depth they need as HIPAA regulations tighten and email threats continue to get more sophisticated.

Key capabilities include:

Automatic email encryption via SecureLine™ — encrypt every email and its content, including Protected Health Information (PHI), with per-recipient adaptive encryption across TLS, portal fallback, PGP, and S/MIME.
Advanced REST API with webhooks for dataflows into your systems — supports unlimited messages/hour with failover, queuing, plus webhooks can push email engagement data back to EHRs, CRMs, RCM and customer data platforms.
Comprehensive audit logging and reporting — message-level tracking, delivery status, engagement reporting, and downloadable reports for compliance officers.
HITRUST CSF r2 certification, BAA, GDPR-compliant, and US-EU Privacy Framework agreement all included.
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace overlay — use LuxSci’s Secure Email Gateway add-on to integrate directly with existing M365 or Google Workspace environments, adding HIPAA-compliant encryption without migration or user retraining.
HIPAA-compliant patient engagement — secure outbound email campaigns with PHI-powered hyper-segmentation, automated workflows, and personalized emails for marketing campaigns, proactive patient communications, appointment reminders, care gap outreach, new plan enrollments, healthcare education, and more — with LuxSci Secure Marketing add-on.

New Published LuxSci Pricing

LuxSci Secure High Volume Emai for mid-sized healthcare organizations features published pricing based on monthly sending volume:

Monthly Send Volume	Monthly Price
300 to 9,999 emails/month	$99/month
10,000 – 29,999 emails/month	$199/month
30,000 – 49,999 emails/month	$299/month
50,000 – 99,999 emails/month	$399/month
100,000+ emails/month	Custom

“Mid-size healthcare organizations have been underserved for too long, forced to choose between inadequate email security tools that weren’t built for healthcare and HIPAA compliance and enterprise level solutions that felt too big or too complex,” said Mark Leanord, CEO of LuxSci. “Our new secure email packaging for mid-sized organizations changes that. We’re making the same encryption depth, ease of integration into EHRs, CRMs and other systems, and compliance rigor that powers our largest customers accessible for mid-sized organizations to easily evaluate and buy.”

Timing and Market Context

The launch comes at a critical moment for mid-size healthcare organizations. The HHS HIPAA Security Rule overhaul, expected to finalize in mid-2026, is anticipated to mandate email encryption as a required safeguard, elevating email security from addressable best practice to a regulatory requirement for thousands of organizations that have not yet upgraded their email security and compliance posture. LuxSci secure email is designed to meet these requirements, backed by HITRUST CSF r2 certification and the company’s 20-year track record in secure healthcare communications.

Availability

LuxSci Secure Email for mid-sized healthcare organizations is available immediately. Pricing and product details are published here.

Users can contact LuxSci to set up a call or DEMO.

About LuxSci

LuxSci is a leading provider of secure healthcare communications solutions for the healthcare industry. The company offers secure email, marketing, forms and hosting, delivering HIPAA‑compliant communication solutions that enable organizations to safely manage and transmit sensitive data, including protected health information (PHI). Founded in 1999 and recently merged with digital care and telehealth provider Ovia Health, LuxSci serves more than 2,000 customers across healthcare verticals, including providers, payers, suppliers, and healthcare retail, home care providers, and healthcare systems, as well as organizations operating in other highly regulated industries. LuxSci is HITRUST‑certified with current customers including Athenahealth, 1800 Contacts, Lucerna Health, Eurofins, and Rotech Healthcare, among others.

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Media Contact:
Pete Wermter, CMO

pwermter@luxsci.com

Is SendGrid HIPAA-Compliant?

January 23, 2025
LuxSci

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

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

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

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

Is SendGrid HIPAA-Compliant?

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

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

Let’s discuss each reason in greater detail.

Basic Encryption

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

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

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

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

No Business Associate Agreement

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

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

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

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

HIPAA-Compliant Alternatives to SendGrid

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

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

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

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

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

What Are the Benefits of Patient Engagement in Healthcare?

September 3, 2025
Erik Kangas

The benefits of patient engagement include improved health outcomes, reduced healthcare costs, greater patient satisfaction, and better adherence to treatment plans. Engaged patients take active roles in their healthcare decisions, leading to measurable improvements across clinical, financial, and experiential dimensions of care. Healthcare systems worldwide document returns on investment from patient engagement initiatives through reduced emergency utilization, fewer hospital readmissions, and better chronic disease management. Evidence consistently demonstrates that patients who participate actively in their care achieve superior health results while requiring fewer costly interventions.

Health Outcome Improvements

Diabetic management exemplifies the clinical benefits of patient engagement most clearly. Patients tracking their daily glucose levels and sharing readings with providers maintain hemoglobin A1c values within target ranges at improved rates compared to those receiving routine care alone. The difference stems from real-time feedback loops that enable immediate adjustments to medication, diet, and activity levels based on glucose patterns rather than waiting for quarterly clinic visits to identify problems. Cardiovascular patients show remarkable recovery rates through engagement programs. Post-surgical cardiac patients participating in rehabilitation achieve fewer complications and return to normal activities earlier than those declining program enrollment. Weight management, exercise compliance, and medication adherence all improve when patients understand their recovery goals and receive tools to monitor their progress independently.

Cancer screening participation illustrates how engagement transforms preventive care utilization. Mammography rates climb in practices using patient engagement platforms that send personalized reminders, provide educational content, and enable convenient appointment scheduling. Colonoscopy completion rises when patients receive pre-procedure education addressing their specific concerns and questions about the screening process.

Financial Impact That Creates Value

Emergency department utilization drops among patient populations with access to nurse triage lines and secure messaging platforms. This reduction creates healthcare savings annually across large health systems. Patients gain confidence in managing minor health concerns independently while knowing they have reliable pathways to seek guidance when needed. The cost savings extend beyond direct emergency care to include reduced diagnostic testing, shorter wait times, and decreased staff overtime expenses. Hospital readmissions are another area where the benefits of patient engagement deliver measurable economic value. Facilities implementing structured discharge education and post-discharge communication protocols see readmission rates fall within the first year of program implementation. Medicare penalties for excessive readmissions can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for individual hospitals, making patient engagement programs essential for financial sustainability in value-based care contracts.

Prescription medication expenses decrease through multiple engagement pathways. Generic substitution rates increase among patients receiving medication counseling and cost-effectiveness education. Medication adherence improves dramatically, reducing the need for emergency interventions due to untreated conditions. Prescription drug waste declines when patients understand proper dosing schedules, storage requirements, and disposal methods for unused medications.

Patient Satisfaction Reaches Higher Standards

Appointment preparation changes fundamentally when patients have access to their health records and understand what to expect during visits. Rather than spending consultation time gathering basic information, providers can focus on clinical decision-making and answering patient questions. Patients arrive with written lists of concerns, current symptom logs, and specific questions about their treatment options, making appointments more productive and satisfying for both parties.

Provider-patient relationships deepen through transparent communication about diagnosis uncertainty, treatment alternatives, and realistic outcome expectations. Patients receiving honest information about their prognosis report higher trust levels and satisfaction scores compared to those given vague or overly optimistic explanations. Second opinion seeking decreases among patients who feel their providers answered questions thoroughly and included them in treatment decisions.

Waiting times and scheduling frustrations diminish through patient engagement technologies. Online appointment scheduling allows patients to select convenient times without playing phone tag with busy reception staff. Automated appointment reminders reduce no-show rates, creating more available appointment slots for other patients. Real-time updates about provider delays or schedule changes help patients adjust their plans rather than waiting unnecessarily in reception areas.

Quality Metrics Demonstrate System-Wide Benefits

Clinical quality indicators rise across multiple measurement domains in healthcare systems prioritizing patient engagement initiatives. Blood pressure control rates improve among hypertensive patients using home monitoring devices and sharing readings electronically with their care teams, compared to control rates among patients relying solely on office visits for blood pressure management. Diabetic eye exam completion rates increase in practices with patient engagement platforms versus traditional care settings.

Patient safety events decline as engaged patients feel empowered to report concerns about their care and understand how to prevent medication errors. Hospital-acquired infection rates drop when patients receive education about hand hygiene, understand their role in infection prevention, and feel comfortable advocating for proper safety protocols from their care teams. The benefits of patient engagement include reduced medication error rates among patients who participate in medication reconciliation processes and maintain updated medication lists accessible to all their providers.

Healthcare disparities narrow through targeted engagement strategies addressing cultural differences, language preferences, and socioeconomic barriers to care access. Minority populations show improved chronic disease management when the benefits of patient engagement programs include community health workers and culturally appropriate educational materials. Rural patients achieve better health outcomes through telehealth platforms that eliminate transportation barriers and provide flexible scheduling options accommodating work and family obligations.

Technology Amplifies Engagement Effectiveness

Remote monitoring capabilities enable proactive intervention before health conditions require emergency treatment. Heart failure patients using home monitoring devices experience fewer hospitalizations because their care teams receive automated alerts about weight changes, decreased activity levels, or other concerning indicators. Early intervention prevents costly emergency department visits and lengthy hospital stays while helping patients maintain independence in their home environments.

Patient portal adoption correlates directly with improved medication adherence, appointment attendance, and chronic disease management. Patients accessing their electronic health records demonstrate better understanding of their treatment plans and ask more informed questions during provider visits. Lab result access through patient portals reduces anxiety about test outcomes while enabling patients to track their progress over time and understand how lifestyle changes affect their health indicators.

Wearable device integration with electronic health records creates seamless data sharing without placing documentation burden on patients or providers. Sleep apnea patients demonstrate improved compliance with CPAP therapy when their usage data automatically uploads to their provider’s system and they receive personalized feedback about their treatment progress. The benefits of patient engagement are evident in activity tracking that helps patients with mobility limitations gradually increase their exercise tolerance while providing objective data to guide physical therapy recommendations.

What is HIPAA-Compliant Email Marketing?

September 26, 2023
LuxSci

If you are one of the 92% of Americans with an email address, you are likely familiar with email marketing. It is a tried and true marketing strategy that delivers a superior return on investment compared to other digital channels. However, when healthcare organizations want to utilize these strategies, out-of-the-box solutions are not a good fit. Healthcare organizations must utilize email marketing platforms specifically designed to meet HIPAA’s unique privacy and security requirements.

When Do You Need a HIPAA-Compliant Email Marketing Platform?

Healthcare organizations are required to use a HIPAA-compliant email for HIPAA marketing because their messages often contain electronic protected health information (ePHI). This includes information that is both individually identifiable and relates to someone’s healthcare.

Individually identifiable information includes identifiers like a patient’s name, address, birth date, email address, social security number, and more. By default, every email marketing communication includes the patient’s email address and is, therefore, individually identifiable. Not only does the definition of ePHI cover people’s past, present, and future health conditions, but it also includes treatment provisions and billing details. This information is often contained in email marketing messages.

While the law does not cover anonymous health details or individual identifiers sent by themselves, you must be careful and abide by HIPAA regulations when the two are brought together. You will need a HIPAA-compliant email marketing service whenever you send ePHI. As we will see, even if you think an email may not contain ePHI, it is still best to be cautious.

Types of HIPAA-Compliant Email Marketing Communications

An excellent example of an email blast that must comply with HIPAA is a newsletter sent to a clinic’s cancer patients. At first glance, the email doesn’t contain any specific PHI. It doesn’t mention Jane Smith’s chemotherapy treatments, other specific patients, or their medical information. However, upon closer look, it may violate HIPAA regulations.

Every email in this campaign contains a personal identifier- the patient’s email address. In this example, only cancer patients received the newsletter, which also tells you personal medical information. A hacker could infer that anyone who received this email has cancer, which is ePHI and protected under HIPAA. If you use a medical condition to create a segment of email recipients, the email campaign must comply with HIPAA.

Sometimes, it can be challenging to identify if an email contains ePHI. If you sent the same practice newsletter to a list of all current and former medical clinic patients, it may or may not contain ePHI. Even if the newsletter contained benign info about the practice’s operating hours or parking information, if the practice is centered around treating a specific condition like cancer or depression, it may be possible to infer information about the recipients regardless of the message.

There are a lot of gray areas, and it can be difficult to determine if an email contains PHI. We recommend using HIPAA-compliant email marketing for any promotional materials to reduce the risk of violations.

The Benefits of Using a HIPAA-Compliant Marketing Platform

After reading this, you may think the answer is to avoid sending PHI in email campaigns. However, by keeping your communications bland, generic, and broadly targeted, you miss out on significant opportunities to engage your patients.

Using a HIPAA-compliant email marketing solution, you can leverage ePHI to send much more effective messages. In the above example, cancer patients actively receiving treatment at your clinic are much more likely to be interested in your business updates. Targeted emails receive much higher open and click rates than those sent to a general list.

Sending the right information to your patients at the right time is an effective patient engagement strategy. Think about it using an e-commerce example- when a retailer sends you product recommendations based on past purchases; they use your data to influence future purchasing decisions. By utilizing patient data to create highly relevant and personalized campaigns and offers, you receive a better return on investment in your efforts.

What is Required for HIPAA-Compliant Email Marketing?

Finding the right HIPAA-compliant email marketing platform can be challenging. Most of the common vendors aren’t HIPAA-compliant at all. Others claim compliance and will sign BAAs to protect your information at rest but still will not enable you to send PHI via email. Finding a provider that suits your business needs and protects the email messages requires careful vetting.

Generally speaking, a HIPAA-compliant email platform must meet three broad requirements:

The vendor will sign a Business Associates Agreement that outlines how they will protect your data and what happens in case of a breach.
The vendor protects the data at rest using appropriate storage encryption, access controls, and other security features.
The vendor protects messages in transit using an appropriate level of encryption with the proper ciphers.

Thankfully, LuxSci’s Secure Marketing email platform has been designed to meet the healthcare industry’s unique needs. Our platform was built with both security and compliance at the forefront. With Secure Marketing, organizations can send fully HIPAA-compliant email marketing messages to the right patients at the right time and receive a better return on their marketing investment.