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Is ActiveCampaign HIPAA Compliant?

Email HIPAA Compliance

ActiveCampaign is a cloud-based marketing automation platform that helps organizations manage their email marketing, customer relationships, and sales automation, and it can be HIPAA compliant for enterprise deployments. The platform’s automation capabilities enable organizations to streamline their workflows and carry out marketing campaigns with less administrative overhead, saving both time and money. Additionally, ActiveCampaign’s advanced segmentation tools allow companies to personalize campaigns according to demographics, behavior, and past interactions.

While these capabilities are highly sought after by healthcare organizations who want to enhance their engagement with patients and customers, they require one characteristic above all in their marketing platform of choice: HIPAA compliance.

More specifically, for a company to send electronic protected health information (ePHI) through an email marketing platform, it must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Let’s take a closer look…

Is ActiveCampaign HIPAA Compliant?

Firstly, to address the question directly – is ActiveCampaign HIPAA compliant? – it is not HIPAA-compliant by default. Healthcare organizations can only conduct HIPAA compliant marketing campaigns if they are signed up for the Enterprise version of the solution.

Our findings revealed that companies are required to configure ActiveCampaign accordingly to ensure HIPAA compliance. Again, that healthcare organizations need to ensure compliance themselves – and how they do so – isn’t made 100% clear in any of the company’s literature.

ActiveCampaign’s Security Features

ActiveCampaign does not provide message-level encryption for outbound campaign emails (e.g., portal-based pickup or enforced encryption to recipients), so you generally should not put PHI in the body of campaign emails. This limits your ability to engage patients with personalized and relevant messages that result in more opens, clicks and conversions.ActiveCampaign’s sole mention of HIPAA compliance is on their security features page, on which they state:

“ActiveCampaign is heavily focused on GDPR, SOC 2, and HIPAA compliance. We constantly improve our security to go above and beyond compliance standards.”

Now, while they don’t go into further detail, ActiveCampaign does indeed feature some security controls that lend themselves towards HIPAA compliance. These include:

  • Single Sign-On (SSO): users can sign into ActiveCampaign through an existing identity provider, such as Google, without requiring a separate set of credentials. This helps protect data through stronger access control and allows for simpler user authentication.
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): ActiveCampaign supports MFA, requiring users to verify their identity through text or time-based one-time password (TOTP) authentication. This adds another layer of security, in line with HIPAA regulations, and is something that could be more emphasized if changes to the Security Rule come into effect later this year. 
  • Automatic Session Timeouts: idle sessions are automatically logged out after a short amount of time: protecting them from session hijacking and related cyber threats. 

Additionally, users are responsible for setting up the proper email authentication protocols themselves, including:

  • SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Specifies authorized mail servers for your domain.DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Adds a digital signature to your emails, verifying their authenticity.DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance): Provides instructions to email providers on handling messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks.

Setting up these protocols helps fight against email spoofing and phishing attacks, ensuring that your emails are recognized as legitimate by recipients’ mail servers.

Will ActiveCampaign Sign a BAA?

Now, even with some security features and stating they are focused on compliance, a marketing platform can’t truly comply with HIPAA regulations unless they sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA).

ActiveCampaign’s BAA availability appears limited and may depend on plan level; confirm directly with ActiveCampaign.

Discover HIPAA Compliant Alternatives to ActiveCampaign

As this post illustrates, while it is possible to make ActiveCampaign HIPAA compliant, it’s not straightforward. Fortunately, there are alternative email and marketing solutions that are fully HIPAA-compliant – out-of-the-box – removing the guesswork and ambiguity from securing your digital communications and allowing you to focus on engaging with your patients and customers. This includes LuxSci Secure Marketing, which enables healthcare organizations to proactively reach patients and customers with HIPAA compliant email marketing campaigns that can securely include PHI for increased engagement, lead generation and sales.

Discover how LuxSci can elevate your secure healthcare engagement efforts with PHI data, resulting in better health outcomes for your patients, in addition to enhancing your brand identity and achieving your company’s growth objectives. Reach out today for a call or demo.

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Related Posts

LuxSci Automated Email Encryption

“Encryption Optional” Email Will Fail Audits in 2026 and Beyond

For years, healthcare organizations have relied on click-to-encrypt email workflows and secure portals as a practical compromise between usability and compliance. Or in some cases, they simply thought most of their emails did not need to be compliant. In regulated industries where data security and privacy are paramount, this approach was still considered “good enough.”

That era is ending.

As we progress into 2026 and beyond, regulators, auditors, and cyber insurers are sending a clear and consistent message: encryption that depends on human choice is no longer acceptable. It’s already happening. Encryption optional email isn’t merely raising concerns, it’s failing audits outright.

An Email Threat Landscape That’s Changing Faster Than Email Habits

Historically, email encryption was treated as a best practice rather than a hard requirement. If an organization could demonstrate that encryption tools existed and that employees had access to them, auditors were often satisfied. The box was checked, everybody moved on.

Today, the questions auditors ask are fundamentally different. Instead of asking whether encryption is available, they are asking whether sensitive data can ever leave the organization unencrypted. If the answer is yes, even in rare cases, or even accidentally, that’s no longer viewed as an acceptable gap. It’s viewed as inadequate control.

Why 2026 Is a Tipping Point for Email Security

Several forces are converging here in 2026 that make optional encryption increasingly untenable. Regulatory scrutiny around PHI and PII exposure continues to intensify. Breach costs and litigation are rising, with email remaining one of the most common vectors for data exposure and breaches. AI is also changing the game for cybercriminals, and attacks will continue to increase and be more sophisticated. As a result, cyber insurers are tightening underwriting requirements and demanding stronger, more predictable controls.

At the same time, email user behavior is unpredictable and inconsistent, which is a non-starter for data security in today’s world.

Taken together, these trends and behaviors point to a single requirement: email security controls must be automated. They must be enforced by systems, not dependent on employee memory, judgment, or good intentions.

The Reality of “Encryption Optional” in Practice

On paper, optional encryption can sound reasonable. In practice, it creates gaps large enough to open you up to a breach.

Secure portals are a good example. They require recipients to click a link, authenticate, and access content in a controlled environment. While this protects data in transit, and is a better approach than no security at all, it also introduces friction. And people don’t like friction. Senders forget to use the portal. Recipients ask for “just a quick email instead.” Shortcuts are taken to save time. And every shortcut becomes a risk.

Click-to-encrypt systems suffer from a similar problem. They rely on users to correctly identify sensitive data and remember to take action. But people often misclassify information, forget to click the button, or assume someone else has already secured the message. From an auditor’s perspective, this isn’t a training failure. It’s a set-up and control failure.

Email Security Defaults Are the New Normal

The latest message from regulators, auditors, and insurers is clear. If encryption is optional, data vulnerabilities become inevitable.

What can you do?

Below is a quick email security checklist to help you get started. Cyber insurers may require or recommend the following safeguards during the underwriting process, such as:

  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
  • Endpoint protection
  • Encrypted backups
  • Incident response planning
  • Encryption protocols for sensitive data in transit and at rest, including PHI in emails

In 2026 and beyond, healthcare organizations and regulated industries will be judged not by what they allow, but by what they prevent. Automated, encrypted email is the new. normal.

Want to learn more about LuxSci HIPAA compliant email? Reach out today.

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LuxSci Oiva Health

LuxSci and Oiva Health Combine to Form Transatlantic Healthcare Communications Group

Boston & Helsinki, February 12, 2026 – LuxSci, a provider of secure healthcare communications solutions in the United States, and Oiva Health, a Nordic provider of Digital Care solutions in social and healthcare services, today announced that the companies are joining forces. Backed by Main Capital Partners (“Main”), the combination brings together two complementary platforms and teams, forming a strong transatlantic software group focused on secure healthcare communications.

Founded in 1999, LuxSci is a U.S. provider of HIPAA‑compliant, secure email, marketing, and forms solutions. Its application and infrastructure software enable organizations to securely deliver personalized, sensitive data at scale to support a broad range of healthcare communications and workflows including care coordination, benefits and payments, marketing, wellness communications, after care and ongoing care. Certified by HITRUST for the highest levels of data security, LuxSci serves dozens of healthcare enterprises and hundreds of mid‑market organizations.

Founded in 2010, Oiva Health is a provider of digital care and communications solutions in the Nordics. Headquartered in Finland, with additional offices in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Oiva Health offers digital care and digital clinic solutions – including digital visits, secure messaging, online scheduling and appointments, and caregiver communications – serving the long-term care, especially elderly care, and occupational healthcare verticals. The company employs approximately 60 people and has recently expanded across the Nordic region, with a growing presence in Norway and Sweden.

The combination of LuxSci and Oiva Health creates a larger, cross Atlantic group with complementary solutions, serving the U.S. and European markets. Together, the companies offer healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers a comprehensive suite of tools to communicate securely and compliantly, spanning communications, workflows, and virtual care delivery.

Daan Visscher, Partner and Co-Head North America at Main, commented: “We are pleased to announce this cross Atlantic transaction, creating an internationally active secure communications player within the healthcare and home care space. The combined product suite enables healthcare organizations to drive much needed efficiency gains in healthcare provision addressing a global trend of rising costs, aging population, and increasing pressure on resources needed to provide high-quality care.”

Mark Leonard, CEO of LuxSci, said, “We are thrilled to join forces with Oiva Health and believe that together we can truly make a difference in healthcare coordination, access, and delivery. We see an exciting path forward with our customers benefiting from an end-to-end, secure and compliant approach to optimizing both healthcare communications and today’s frontline workers, which we need now more than ever.”

Juhana Ojala, CEO at Oiva Health, concluded, “We look forward to this new chapter together with LuxSci. We are very excited about the strong alignment between our solutions, which especially strongly positions us to expand our flagship Digital Care offering to the high-potential U.S. care market – from care coordination to care delivery to in-home and institutional care.”

Nothing contained in this Press Release is intended to project, predict, guarantee, or forecast the future performance of any investment. This Press Release is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or an offer to buy or sell any securities or to invest in any funds or other investment vehicles managed by Main Capital Partners or any other person.

[END OF MESSAGE]

About LuxSci

LuxSci is a U.S.-based 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. Founded in 1999, LuxSci serves more than 1,900 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 example clients being Athenahealth, 1800 Contacts, Lucerna Health, Eurofins, and Rotech Healthcare, among others.

About Oiva Health

Oiva Health is a Digital Care provider in the Nordics, offering a comprehensive Digital Platform for integrated health and care services to digitalize primary healthcare, social care, hospital healthcare and long-term care services. The company was founded in 2010 and currently employs approximately 60 people in Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden serving domestic municipalities, customers and partners, such as City of Helsinki, Keski-Suomi Welfare Region, Länsi-Uusimaa Welfare Region in Finland, and Viborg municipality in Denmark with its Digital Care platform. Annually over 5 million customer contacts are handled digitally through Oiva Health’s Digital Care and Digital Clinic platforms.  

About Main Capital Partners

Main Capital Partners is a software investor managing private equity funds active in the Benelux, DACH, the Nordics, France, and the United States with approximately EUR 7 billion in assets under management. Main has over 20 years of experience in strengthening software companies and works closely with the management teams across its portfolio as a strategic partner to achieve profitable growth and create larger outstanding software groups. Main has approximately 95 employees operating out of its offices in The Hague, Düsseldorf, Stockholm, Antwerp, Paris, and an affiliate office in Boston. Main maintains an active portfolio of over 50 software companies. The underlying portfolio employs approximately 15,000 employees. Through its Main Social Institute, Main supports students with grants and scholarships to study IT and Computer Science at Technical Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences.

The sender of this press release is Main Capital Partners.

For more information, please contact:

Main Capital Partners
Sophia Hengelbrok (PR & Communications Specialist)

sophia.hengelbrok@main.nl

+ 31 6 53 70 76 86

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HIPAA Compliant Email

Rethinking HIPAA Compliant Email – Not Just a Checkbox

The compliance-only mentality is outdated.

Let’s be honest—when most healthcare organizations think about HIPAA compliant email, it’s usually in the context of avoiding fines or satisfying checklists. And while yes, compliance is critical, viewing it only through the lens of risk management is a missed opportunity.

In reality, HIPAA compliant email, when implemented properly, is one of the most powerful tools for patient and customer engagement. Why? Because it unlocks the ability to leverage protected health information (PHI) safely, enabling personalized, timely, and high-impact email communication that drives better engagement, satisfaction, and outcomes.

What Makes Email Truly HIPAA Compliant?

As a reminder, HIPAA compliant email requires that protected health information (PHI) is safeguarded both in transit and at rest. That means your email provider must:

  • Use encryption at all times
  • Be access-controlled
  • Include audit logs
  • Be stored and transmitted in a secure manner
  • Provide a Business Associate Agreement

Regular email services just don’t cut it. In fact, most consumer or marketing email platforms like Sendgrid or Constant Contact, while great at sending email, are not HIPAA compliant or have limitations when it comes to using PHI in your messages. Even when bolted-on encryption solutions are used, they often lack the flexibility, scalability, and automation needed for safe and effective healthcare email engagement.

LuxSci goes beyond the basics with policy-based encryption, secure TLS, PKI encryption and escrow/secure portal options. LuxSci’s SecureLine™ encryption technology dynamically selects the appropriate encryption method based on recipient capabilities and messaging context and can be configured to enforce secure delivery automatically according to organizational policies. LuxSci also provides the ability to enforce advanced multi-factor authentication. Every message is tracked with full audit trails—no guesswork, no loose ends.

The Real Opportunity – Secure, Personalized Email with PHI

Using PHI to Drive Personalized Messaging
Imagine sending a personalized reminder to a diabetic patient about an upcoming check-up. Or reaching out to new mothers with postnatal care resources tailored to their needs. Or sending automated email workflows to all your members to accelerate and increase new plan enrollments. Or email customer and prospects about a new product upgrade or new service offering. The list goes on. That’s the power of PHI-personalized email—when done securely.

Targeted Segmentation with Sensitive Data
With HIPAA compliant email solutions like LuxSci, you can segment your audience based on real health data with high levels of precision, such as chronic conditions, appointment history, insurance status, health risks, and more, without compromising patient trust or security.

Breaking the One-Size-Fits-All Approach in Healthcare Email
Generic email blasts are over. Modern patients expect personalization. With LuxSci, you can deliver highly targeted, highly secure emails with encrypted content, while staying HIPAA compliant.

Real Business Results from Secure Email

Here’s how secure, personalized email can drive improved results across a range of healthcare communications, including:

  • Increased Patient Appointments and Follow-ups – Sending encrypted, personalized appointment reminders and follow-up notices can reduce no-shows and boost overall appointment volume.
  • Boosting Preventative Care with Outreach Campaigns – Preventative campaigns (think flu shots or cancer screenings) sent securely to the right segments can lead to higher response rates, better health outcomes, and a lower cost of care.
  • Improving Health Plan Enrollments – Targeted email outreach during open enrollment, tailored by eligibility or plan type, and powered by automated workflows leads to higher enrollments and lower call center costs.
  • Driving Awareness and Sales of New Services or Products – Have a product upgrade offer, new wellness program or telehealth service? Send secure, PHI-informed HIPAA compliant email to the right audience for increased sales and faster adoption.
  • Optimize Explanation of Benefits Notices – Replace snail mail with email that’s fast, reliable and trackable, ensuring customers are informed and compliance is met.

luxsci use cases Rethinking HIPAA Compliant Email – Not Just a Checkbox

The Healthcare Marketer’s Secret Weapon: Using PHI Responsibly

In a world moving away from third-party cookies, first-party data is more valuable than ever, and PHI is the most powerful form of it in healthcare. With secure HIPAA compliant email, PHI doesn’t have to be locked away. Marketers can safely use it to understand patient needs and send relevant, timely messages. PHI-driven segmentation lets you build hyper-targeted campaigns that speak to relevant conditions, unique needs and timely topics, increasing open rates, clicks throughs, and campaign conversions.

Meeting the Personalization Demands of Today’s Patients and Customers

HIPAA-compliant email is no longer just about checking a box. It’s about unlocking the full potential of your patient and customer data to drive better engagement, healthier outcomes, and measurable business results.

In closing, below are some final thoughts on how secure, HIPAA compliant email delivers long-term value for your organization and better connections with your patients and customers, including:

    • Future-Proofing Healthcare Engagement – Patients expect Amazon-level personalization. HIPAA-compliant tools let you meet those expectations securely.

    • Adapting to Data Privacy Regulations Beyond HIPAA – From GDPR to state-level privacy laws, secure communication is no longer optional, it’s foundational.

    • Building Trust Through Secure Communication – Each secure, personalized message sent is a trust-building moment with your patients and customers.

SecureLine in action v4 Rethinking HIPAA Compliant Email – Not Just a Checkbox

Why LuxSci? The Infrastructure Behind the Performance

With LuxSci’s secure email infrastructure and email marketing solutions, healthcare organizations can confidently personalize communication, reach patients more effectively, and fuel growth with PHI-safe segmentation, messaging, and email automation.

LuxSci takes data security and email performance to the next level by offering dedicated cloud infrastructure for each customer, which means your email campaigns aren’t slowed down by other vendors on shared cloud services and your attack footprint is much smaller. In short, you get higher delivery rates and throughput with proven HIPAA compliance and data security.

The future of healthcare engagement is personal, secure, and performance-driven—and it starts with HIPAA compliant email done right.

Reach out today with any questions or to learn more about LuxSci.

FAQs

1. Is HIPAA-compliant email necessary for marketing communications?
Yes—if your emails include or are based on PHI (like appointment reminders, condition-based messaging, or insurance info), you need HIPAA-compliant email and recipient consent to avoid legal risk and preserve patient trust.

2. Can PHI be used in marketing emails under HIPAA?
Yes, with proper consent and secure, HIPAA compliant infrastructure like LuxSci’s, PHI can be safely used in emails for personalized, segmented campaigns.

3. How does LuxSci ensure high email deliverability for healthcare messages?
LuxSci uses dedicated cloud servers for each customer, active email reputation monitoring, and best-practice configurations to ensure high deliverability rates for sensitive emails.

4. Is LuxSci only for marketing teams?
No—LuxSci supports marketing, clinical, operations, and IT teams by enabling secure, compliant email communication across the entire organization.

5. What types of PHI can I use to segment campaigns using LuxSci?
You can segment based on chronic conditions, visit history, insurance status, provider details, age, gender, location, and more—all while staying fully compliant.

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HIPAA compliant email

Most Popular LuxSci Blog Posts of 2025

As we close out 2025, healthcare communicators, IT and compliance leaders, and digital marketers face an ever-changing landscape of security threats, regulatory updates, and technology innovations. At LuxSci, we’re committed to helping you with continuous updates and guidance on the future of secure healthcare communications.

In case you missed it, or need a refresh, below are some of our most popular blog posts from 2025. Enjoy!

1. Improve Email Engagement and Marketing Results with Automated Workflows

Automated workflows are transforming how healthcare organizations engage patients and customers — enabling dynamic, event-driven campaigns that easily scale your outreach and keep you HIPAA compliant. In this post, we introduce LuxSci’s Automated Workflows capability for our Secure Marketing healthcare solution. Learn how sequence-based journeys can personalize outreach and optimize engagement with behavior-based triggers that improve campaign performance — without sacrificing data security.

Read the full post: LuxSci Enhances Secure Marketing with Automated Workflows

2. Healthcare Email Threat Readiness Strategies

Email remains a frontline channel for healthcare communications, and a prime target for cyber threats and criminals. This deep-dive into email threat readiness strategies covers essential practices like continuous monitoring, business continuity planning, and workforce training to mitigate email-borne security risks. Whether you’re responsible for clinical systems, marketing, or enterprise IT, this post provides a strategic playbook to strengthen your defenses, while maximizing your results.

Read the full post: Healthcare Email Threat Readiness Strategies

3. HIPAA Compliant Email — 20 Tips in 20 Minutes

For practical guidance you can apply right now, this on-demand webinar distills 20 key tips for HIPAA-compliant email across technical, legal, and operational domains. Whether you’re refining your infrastructure, improving deliverability, or modernizing your data security posture in 2026, this resource is a time-efficient way to elevate your compliance and security.

Read the post and watch the webinar on demand: HIPAA Compliant Email: 20 Tips in 20 Minutes

4. Is SendGrid HIPAA-Compliant? What You Should Know

Choosing the right email provider matters, especially when Protected Health Information (PHI) is at stake. In this post, we examine SendGrid’s capabilities in the context of HIPAA compliance, outline what it takes to send PHI securely, and offer guidance on evaluating third-party services for secure healthcare email and communication needs.

Read the full post: Is SendGrid HIPAA-Compliant?

5. LuxSci Shines in G2 Winter 2026 Reports

Customer feedback matters to LuxSci. In this post, we share the most recent news about LuxSci’s performance in the G2 Winter 2026 Reports, where we earned 20 badges across categories like Email Security, Encryption, Gateway, and HIPAA-Compliant Messaging. These reviews reflect not just product excellence, but trust from real users, which we work hard to build every day!

Read the full post: LuxSci Shines in G2 Winter 2026 Reports

Looking Ahead to 2026

We look forward to providing more information and insights on secure healthcare communications in the coming year, including the latest on HIPAA compliant email, PHI security, healthcare marketing, threat readiness, and personalized engagement. In the meantime, if you’re not already, follow us on LinkedIn below, and we’ll see you here in 2026!

Follow LuxSci on LinkedIn

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Introducing Unified Login: Seamless Access Across Your LuxSci Accounts

At LuxSci, we’re committed to making secure communication easier and more efficient for healthcare organizations. Today, we’re excited to introduce Unified Login—a new feature that simplifies identity management and streamlines access to multiple LuxSci accounts, helping users and administrators save time and improve workflows, without sacrificing security.

If your organization manages multiple LuxSci accounts—or if you’re new to LuxSci and require multiple secure email accounts and domains—switching between them just became faster, easier, and more efficient. With Unified Login, users can seamlessly move between linked accounts without the hassle of repeated logins, ensuring uninterrupted productivity while maintaining strict security and compliance standards.

Why Unified Login?

Healthcare professionals, IT administrators & security, marketing teams, and compliance officers often need to manage multiple secure email accounts across different departments, domains, or business units. Traditionally, switching between accounts required a separate login, disrupting workflows and wasting time by requiring multiple logins and passwords.

With LuxSci’s new Unified Login feature, administrators can link user identities across accounts and domains, enabling one-click access without repeated authentication. This means:

  • More Efficiency – No more logging in and out multiple times a day. Switch identities instantly and move between accounts uninterrupted.
  • Better User Experience – Access the accounts and resources you need in seconds, with a seamless transition between roles and domains.
  • Strong Security & Compliance – Every identity switch is logged for full transparency. Actions performed under a switched identity also track who switched into the identity, ensuring security and regulatory compliance are maintained.

Real-World Use Cases

Here’s how Unified Login can benefit different healthcare functions and use cases:

Compliance Officers & IT Security

A compliance officer or IT security director conducting an audit across multiple business units can quickly switch between accounts to check email logs, security settings, and compliance reports—saving time and reducing administrative burdens.

Healthcare Marketing Teams

A healthcare marketing professional or a digital communications manager sending out segmented campaigns across different services, products, or brands can quickly and easily navigate between campaigns and results for each account or domain.

IT Administrators Managing Multiple Accounts

A hospital or health plan IT administrator overseeing multiple accounts for different departments (e.g., patient services, billing, and compliance) can now switch between accounts instantly—without re-entering credentials each time. This speeds up troubleshooting, reporting, and user management, making workflows significantly more efficient.

Physicians & Providers with Multiple Roles

A doctor working across multiple clinics or locations with separate email accounts can easily transition between them without needing to log out and back in. Whether reviewing patient communications or sending secure messages, Unified Login ensures a seamless and secure experience.

How It Works

Unified Login provides administrator-managed identity linking, ensuring organizations retain full control over who can switch between accounts. The feature supports:

  • Unique Access Separation – Users maintain distinct identities, having quick access when needed.
  • Shared & Delegated Access – Teams working across multiple accounts can transition seamlessly.
  • Administrative Access – IT and compliance teams can manage multiple accounts efficiently while maintaining strict security protocols.

The main features of Unified Login include:

  • Administrators can link individual users to other users in the same or a different account.
  • Users can switch identities with one click without the need to re-authenticate.
  • Each identity switch starts a new session, giving the user the same access and permissions as the target identity.
  • Access and audit logs reference the original user, preserving accountability.

Once configured, users will see a “Switch Identity To” section in their account menu. Clicking on a linked identity seamlessly switches to a new session with the appropriate permissions, ensuring security while keeping workflows uninterrupted. If two or more identities are available, a “View All Identities” option appears.

Designed for Secure Healthcare, Built for Convenience

As a leader in HIPAA-compliant secure communications, LuxSci understands the challenges of balancing efficiency with security. Unified Login is ideal for healthcare organizations that need:

  • Secure, streamlined workflows for managing multiple email accounts for multiple business units, departments, or locations.
  • Faster access to multiple accounts for authorized personnel without compromising compliance.
  • Reduced password fatigue for users managing multiple roles or accounts.

Get Started with LuxSci Unified Login

Current LuxSci customers interested in using this service can request that it be enabled on their account, via a support ticket. You can also refer to our technical documentation for more information. If you’re new to LuxSci, reach out and learn more today.

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HIPAA compliant marketing automation

What Are HIPAA Email Retention Requirements?

HIPAA email retention requirements mandate that healthcare organizations preserve documentation demonstrating compliance with privacy and security rules for at least six years, including email policies, training records, and incident reports. While HIPAA does not specify retention periods for patient care emails, healthcare organizations must establish retention schedules that meet state medical record laws, federal program requirements, and legal discovery obligations for communications containing protected health information. Healthcare organizations often misunderstand which email communications require preservation under HIPAA versus other regulatory frameworks. Clear understanding of these overlapping requirements helps organizations develop compliant retention strategies without unnecessary storage costs or compliance gaps.

HIPAA Documentation Preservation Mandates

Compliance documentation must be retained for six years from creation date or when the document was last in effect under HIPAA email retention requirements. This includes email security policies, privacy procedures, business associate agreements, and risk assessment reports. Training records demonstrating workforce education about email security and privacy requirements must be preserved to support compliance audits. These records should document training content, attendance, and competency assessments for all personnel with email access. Incident documentation including breach investigations, security incident reports, and corrective action plans requires long-term preservation to demonstrate organizational response to compliance failures and ongoing improvement efforts.

Email Content Retention Considerations

Patient care communications that document clinical decisions, treatment coordination, or medical observations may require preservation as part of the designated record set under HIPAA patient access rights. These emails become part of the medical record requiring retention according to state law. Administrative communications about policy development, compliance activities, or business operations may require retention to support audit activities even when they do not contain PHI. Organizations should evaluate these communications based on their compliance and business value. Marketing authorization records including patient consent forms and revocation requests must be preserved to demonstrate compliance with HIPAA marketing rules. These records support ongoing authorization management and audit activities.

HIPAA email retention requirements with Medical Records

Designated record set determination affects which email communications become part of the patient’s medical record requiring extended retention periods. Healthcare organizations must evaluate whether emails are used to make decisions about individuals or are maintained as part of patient care documentation. Amendment obligations may require healthcare organizations to preserve email communications that patients request to have corrected or updated. These preservation requirements support patient rights under HIPAA while maintaining record integrity. Access request fulfillment requires healthcare organizations to locate and produce email communications that patients request as part of their medical records. Retention systems must support timely retrieval and production of relevant communications.

Business Associate Retention Obligations

Vendor contract requirements may establish specific retention periods for email communications handled by business associates on behalf of healthcare organizations. These contractual obligations supplement HIPAA email retention requirements and should be incorporated into retention planning. Audit rights preservation requires healthcare organizations to maintain email records that support their ability to monitor business associate compliance with HIPAA email retention requirements. These records help demonstrate due diligence in vendor oversight activities. Termination procedures must address how email records are handled when business associate relationships end. Contracts should specify whether records are returned, destroyed, or transferred to ensure continued compliance with retention obligations.

State and Federal Program Coordination

Medicare documentation requirements may establish specific retention periods for email communications supporting reimbursement claims or quality reporting activities. These HIPAA email retention requirements often exceed HIPAA minimums and should guide retention schedule development. Medicaid program obligations vary by state but typically require preservation of communications supporting covered services and quality improvement activities. Healthcare organizations should review their state Medicaid requirements when establishing email retention policies. Quality improvement documentation including emails about patient safety incidents, performance improvement projects, or accreditation activities may require extended retention to support regulatory oversight and organizational learning.

Legal Discovery and Litigation Holds

Preservation obligations begin when litigation is reasonably anticipated, requiring healthcare organizations to suspend normal email deletion processes for potentially relevant communications. These holds must be implemented comprehensively to avoid spoliation sanctions. Scope determination for litigation holds requires careful analysis of email communications that might be relevant to legal proceedings. Healthcare organizations should work with legal counsel to define appropriate preservation parameters. Release procedures allow healthcare organizations to resume normal retention schedules when litigation holds are no longer necessary. These procedures should include legal approval and documented justification for hold termination.

Technology Implementation for Compliance

Automated retention systems help healthcare organizations implement consistent retention schedules across different types of email communications while maintaining audit trails of retention decisions. These systems reduce manual effort and compliance risk. Policy enforcement capabilities ensure that retention schedules are applied consistently regardless of user actions or preferences. Automated systems prevent premature deletion while ensuring timely disposal when retention periods expire. audit trail maintenance documents all retention activities including preservation, access, and disposal of email communications. These trails support compliance demonstrations and help identify potential policy violations.

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HIPAA Email Rules

HIPAA Email Rules: What You Need to Know

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a complicated law that defines the standards for the secure collection, transmission, and storage of protected health information (PHI). When information is stored or exchanged electronically, the HIPAA Security and Privacy Rules require covered entities, i.e., organizations that handle PHI, to safeguard its integrity and confidentiality.

One of the most common ways that PHI is shared electronically is via email, so understanding HIPAA email rules is essential for achieving compliance and protecting sensitive data.

The HIPAA Email Security Rule

It’s important to note that HIPAA does not require the use of any specific technology or vendor to meet its requirements. Generally speaking, the Security Rule requirements for email fall into four categories:

  1. Organizational requirements state the specific functions a covered entity must perform, including implementing policies, procedures and obligations concerning business associate agreements (BAAs).
  2. Administrative requirements relate to employee training, professional development, and management of PHI.
  3. Physical safeguards encompass the security of computer systems, servers, and networks, access to the facility and workstations, data backup and storage, and the destruction of obsolete data and HIPAA email archiving.
  4. Technical safeguards ensure the security of email data transmitted over an open electronic network and the storage of that data.

Let’s move on to discussing some of the main requirements that apply to email and the steps you need to take to secure email accounts that transmit and store PHI.

HIPAA Email Rules: Compliance Checklist

While encryption gets most of the spotlight during discussions on email security, the HIPAA email rules, in contrast, cover a range of behaviors, controls, and services that work together to address eight key areas:

  1. Access
  2. Encryption
  3. Backups and Archival
  4. Defense
  5. Authorization
  6. Reporting
  7. Reviews and Policies
  8. Vendor Management

Let’s look at each aspect of HIPPA’s email rules in greater detail.

1. Access

Access controls help safeguard access to your email accounts and messages. Implementing access controls is essential to keep out unauthorized users and secure your data, with key steps including:

  • Using strong passwords that cannot be easily guessed or memorized – and changing them frequently, e.g. every 30 days.
  • Creating different passwords for different sites and applications.
  • Enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA).
  • Securing connections to your email service provider using TLS and a VPN.
  • Blocking unencrypted connections.
  • Pre-emptively installing software that remotely wipes sensitive email off your mobile device when it is stolen or misplaced.
  • Logging off from your system when it is not in use and when employees are away from workstations.
  • Emphasizing opt-out email encryption to minimize breaches resulting from human error.

2. Encryption

Email is inherently insecure and at risk of being read, stolen, intercepted, modified, and forged (repudiated). Covered entities should go beyond the technical safeguards of the HIPAA Security Rule and take steps that exceed what is required to futureproof their communications. Email encryption features to adopt include the following:

  • The ability to send secure messages to anyone with any email address.
  • The ability to receive secure messages from anyone.
  • Implementing measures to prevent the insecure transmission of sensitive data via email.
  • Exploring message retraction features to retrieve email messages sent to the wrong address.
  • Avoiding opt-in encryption to satisfy HIPAA Omnibus Rule.

3. Backups and Archival

HIPAA email rules require copies of messages containing PHI to be retained for at least six years. In light of this, organizations must consider the following:

  • How are email folders backed up?
  • Are there at least two different backups at two different geographical locations? Additionally, the processes updating these backups should be independent of each other as a measure against backup system failures.
  • Have you maintained separate, permanent, and searchable archives? While the emails should be tamper-proof, with no way to delete or edit them, they should be easily retrievable to facilitate discovery, comply with audit requests, and support business-critical scenarios.

4. Defense

Cyber threats against healthcare organizations are continually on the increase. Some may be surprised to learn that HIPAA compliant email rules mandate that organizations take steps to defend against possible malicious actors. With this in mind, consider implementing the following technologies:

  • Server-side inbound email malware and anti-virus scanning to detect phishing messages and malicious links.
  • Showing the sender’s email address by default on received messages.
  • Email filtering software to detect fraudulent messages and ensure it uses Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) information to classify messages.
  • Scanning outbound email.
  • Scanning workstations for malware, i.e., viruses, ransomware, etc.
  • Using plain text previews of your messages.

5. Authorization

A critical aspect of HIPAA’s email rules is ensuring that cybercriminals cannot impersonate your company or employees. Configuring your domains with SPF and DKIM is essential to verify your identity as an authorized sender of mail from your domains. Also, ensure that users cannot send messages through your email servers without authentication and encryption.

6. Reporting

Setting accountability standards for email security is essential to establishing and strengthening your HIPAA compliance posture. Important steps to take include:

  • Creating login audit trails.
  • Receiving login failure and success alerts.
  • Auto-blocking known attackers.
  • Maintaining a log of all sent messages.

7. Reviews and Policies

Humans are the greatest vulnerability to any security and compliance plan, so creating policies and procedures that focus on plugging vulnerabilities and preventing human errors is essential. Strategies for reducing risk include:

  • Inviting independent third parties to review your email policies and user settings. Fresh, unbiased eyes can discover existing issues quickly.
  • Preventing devices that connect to sensitive email accounts from connecting to public WiFi networks.
  • Creating email policies prohibiting users from clicking on links or opening attachments that are not expected or requested.

8. Vendor Management

Most companies do not manage their email in-house, so it’s crucial to thoroughly research and vet whoever will be responsible for your email services. Perform an annual review of your email security and stay on top of emerging cybersecurity threats to take proactive action and for continued compliance with HIPAA email rules.

LuxSci’s secure high-volume email and marketing solutions are designed to help healthcare organizations tackle complicated HIPAA email rules and automate the compliance process. Contact us today to learn more about how our industry-leading HIPAA complaint email services can help you better secure your customer PHI and keep you in compliance.

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HIPAA Compliant Email

What Are the Implications of the Proposed Changes to the HIPAA Security Rule?

With the recent announcement of proposed changes to the HIPAA Security Rule, by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), healthcare providers, payers, suppliers, and organizations of all sizes will have to tighten up their cybersecurity practices. In some cases, considerably. 

However, with the announcement being so recent (and there not even yet being a clear timeline for when companies will have to implement the changes), it’s all too easy for organizations to view the proposed amendments as a challenge that’s far off in the future.

However, even at this early stage, the proposed changes to the Security Rule require careful consideration and important conversations. Soon, healthcare companies will have to implement or improve a series of cybersecurity controls designed to better safeguard electronic protected health information (ePHI). 

In light of this, in this post, we’ll discuss some of the most important practical considerations that healthcare organizations will have to contend with to maintain HIPAA compliance when the proposed changes to the Security Rule go through. 

What are the Key Proposed Changes to the HIPAA Security Rule?

First, a refresher on what the proposed changes to the Security Rule are:

  1. More Comprehensive Risk Management: healthcare organizations must conduct more frequent risk assessments to identify, categorize, and mitigate threats to sensitive patient data. 
  2. Stricter Documentation and Evidence Retention Policies: similarly, stronger documentation and record-keeping practices to ensure organizations can demonstrate compliance with security requirements.

    This includes:
  • Maintaining detailed records of how they assess threats and implement safeguard security controls (e.g., encryption policies, access controls, etc).
  • Retaining detailed audit logs of system access, data modifications, and security events, as well as reports from security solutions, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems all must be securely stored, retained for a defined period, and made available for audits and compliance reviews.
  • By the same token, the proposed updates to the Security Rule may extend how long healthcare organizations must retain logs and other security documentation, allowing auditors to review historical compliance efforts in the event of an investigation.
  1. Mandatory Encryption for All ePHI Transmission: healthcare companies will require end-to-end encryption for emails, messages, and data transfers involving ePHI. Like today, this means that patient data must be encrypted in transit, i.e., from one place to another (when collected in a secure form, sent in an email, etc.), and in storage, i.e., where it will reside.
  2. Stronger User Authentication and Identity Verification Requirements: healthcare providers must implement stronger identity access management IAM safeguards, such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), for employees with access to patient data.
  3. Tighter Third-Party Security Controls: stricter security controls for business associates who have access to the healthcare company’s ePHI. One of the proposed changes to the HIPAA Security Rule is that vendor security audits will be mandatory instead of optional.
  4. Updated Incident Response (IR) and Data Breach Reporting Rules: mandating stricter breach notification timelines for healthcare entities and their business associates, with them being obligated to inform parties affected by a security breach as soon as possible. 

What Are The Practical Implications for Healthcare Companies?

So, what will healthcare companies have to do to comply with HIPAA regulations when the proposed changes to the Security Rule go through? Let’s look at the main practical considerations.

Cybersecurity Solution Deployment and Infrastructure Upgrades 

Many healthcare companies will have to install (and subsequently, maintain) new IT infrastructure and deploy new cybersecurity tools to strengthen their authentication safeguards (e.g., MFA, Zero Trust, etc.) to meet new HIPAA’s heightened cybersecurity standards.

Expanded Vendor and Third-Party Management

As well as having to deploy new cybersecurity solutions, such as HIPAA compliant email services and continuous monitoring tools, healthcare organizations will have to be more diligent in their oversight of their third-party vendors.  

Stricter Auditing and Documentation Requirements

In having to provide more details of their risk management practices and maintain real-time logs, healthcare organizations will have to develop processes, policies, and supporting documentation. 

Staff Training 

Healthcare companies will have to train their staff on the updates of the Security Rule, their implications, how to use the new applications and hardware deployed to harden their security posture, etc. 

Increased Management and Administrative Burden 

Dealing with proposed changes to the Security Rule is going to require all hands on deck. 

Managers and stakeholders are going to make several important strategic decisions; procurement and product managers are going to have to research and purchase new solutions; IT will have to deploy the solutions; and everyone will need to learn how to use them. 

With all this in mind, more will be required from everyone within your organization. Employees will be taken away from their work, which could affect the quality of the service provided to patients and customers. 

That’s why it’s crucial to be prepared…

How Can You Prepare For the Proposed Changes to the Security Rule?

  • Conduct risk assessments: pinpoint vulnerabilities within your IT network and the ePHI contained therein. You should conduct risk assessments annually at the very least – or you upgrade your IT infrastructure. In light of the proposed amendments to the Security Rule, conducting a risk assessment to identify the security gaps in your network against the proposed rule changes is essential.
  • Evaluate your existing email and communication platforms: to accommodate the upcoming changes to the Security Rule, many healthcare companies will need to upgrade to HIPAA compliant email communication solutions, as well as encrypted databases for securely storing ePHI at rest. Deploying an email services solution designed for the healthcare industry from a HIPAA compliant email provider like LuxSci, best ensures compliance with encryption and the other new requirements of the Security Rule.
  • Improve your organization’s incident response planning and documentation processes: develop all the required documentation to track the movement of patient data, and refine your processes for handling security events. This also encompasses training your staff on your new security policies and procedures.
  • Improve your organization’s cybersecurity posture: by implementing end-to-end encryption, network segmentation, zero-trust security infrastructure, data loss protection (DLP) protocols, and other measures that will better protect patient data.
  • Perform vendor due diligence: ensure your third-party service providers meet HIPAA compliance standards and that you have a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) in place with each vendor that can access your ePHI. 

How Luxsci Can Help You Navigate the Proposed Changes to the HIPAA Security Rule

With more than 20 years of experience in delivering best-in-class secure HIPAA compliant marketing solutions for the healthcare industry, LuxSci is a trusted partner for healthcare organizations looking to secure their email and digital communications in line with regulatory standards and the industry’s highest security standards.

LuxSci’s suite of HIPAA-compliant solutions includes:

  • Secure Email: HIPAA compliant email solutions executing highly scalable email campaigns that include PHI – send 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 compliant email 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 LuxSci can help you get a head start on upgrading your cybersecurity stance to ensure future HIPAA compliance? Contact us today!

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