How Secure Texting for Healthcare Improves Patient Portals

Business Solutions, Patient Engagement, Secure Text
LuxSci
October 3, 2024

Patient portals were once hailed as a game-changing tool for healthcare companies to engage patients throughout their healthcare journey. In theory, they offer a convenient platform where patients and customers can access their medical records, communicate with their providers or suppliers, book appointments, and even pay bills—safely and securely. But despite the optimism around patient portals, the reality is much more complex. Adoption rates remain stubbornly low, and many patients simply don’t like using them.

So, why is this the case? More importantly, how does the relatively mediocre adoption of patient portals impact patient engagement, outcomes, and overall cost?

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the shortcomings of patient portals, share current trends in patient and customer communication preferences, and explore how text communication can improve portal adoption and patient engagement.

Why Patient Portals Aren’t Enough

At their core, patient portals are online platforms that provide access to a range of healthcare-related services. These services typically include:

Access to medical records
Secure messaging with healthcare providers
Appointment scheduling
Prescription refill requests
Bill payments

These portals were designed with good intentions, but as we’ll discuss, they often fall short of delivering the seamless, user-friendly experience that people expect today.

Preferences for Healthcare Communications

Healthcare communication preferences have shifted. Today’s patients don’t just want portals—they want a range of communication options, from phone calls and emails to secure texts. According to a 2023 survey by Accenture, patients’ preferred communication channels include:

Phone Calls: 62% of patients still prefer phone conversations with their healthcare providers.
Email: 44% like receiving emails for lab results, appointment reminders, and other updates.
Text Messaging: 37% of patients prefer receiving healthcare communications via text, particularly for reminders and follow-ups.
Patient Portals: Only 28% of patients prefer using portals for routine interactions.

There are several reasons why people are reluctant to adopt patient portals, including:

Complexity: Many portals can be clunky, difficult to navigate, and not user-friendly. Patients and customers often find it difficult to log in, locate their information, or contact their provider or supplier through the portal.
Lack of Engagement: Patients are rarely encouraged to use these portals consistently, and some are unaware they even exist.
Concerns About Security: While patient portals are designed to be secure, many patients still harbor concerns about their personal health information being compromised.
Limited Access: Some portals only provide limited access to medical records, appointment scheduling, or other information, making them less useful.

Relying solely on patient portals leaves a significant portion of patients and customers under-served. By integrating secure texting apps into their engagement strategies, healthcare providers, payers and suppliers can diversify their communication methods and connect with patients and customers more effectively across the channels they prefer.

How Secure Texting Complements Patient Portals

Secure texting apps for healthcare solve many of the issues patient portals alone cannot. By offering an additional, patient-friendly communication channel, these apps improve patient engagement and streamline interactions.

Here’s how secure texting apps work:

Secure Access to Patient Portals: Secure texting apps allow patients to access ePHI and other sensitive information directly from mobile devices via regular SMS text messages.
Instant Notifications & Alerts: Patients and customers can click on a link in text messages and view information in a secure mobile web browser on their smartphones or tablets, including appointment reminders, updates, product upgrades and promotions.
User-friendly: Most secure texting apps are designed with usability in mind, offering an intuitive, seamless experience – with no new applications required.

By offering secure texting as an additional communication channel, healthcare organizations can reach more patients and customers, and improve engagement by offering patients multiple channel options for communication and easier access to portals.

Security and HIPAA Compiance

It’s essential to note that not all texting apps are appropriate for healthcare use. Traditional text messaging services don’t offer the level of encryption and security required by HIPAA regulations, making them risky for exchanging protected health information (PHI).

LuxSci’s secure texting for healthcare ensures that patient and customer communications comply with HIPAA’s strict privacy and security standards. Our secure texting solution offers encryption, authentication, and data protection, ensuring that patients can directly and safely access portals for viewing health information, treatment plans, payments, promotions and more.

Benefits of Secure Texting for Healthcare

Adopting secure texting apps for healthcare, alongside other communication tools, including email and web forms, brings numerous benefits to both patients and providers, including:

Increased Engagement: Patients and customers are more likely to respond and engage with providers through their preferred communication method, not just a portal.
Improved Outcomes and Results: Engaged patients are more likely to adhere to their treatment plans, stay informed and use the right products, improving overall health outcomes.
Lower Costs and Greater Efficiency: Better communication leads to fewer missed appointments, more efficient processes and greater patient participation in their healthcare journeys.
Greater Satisfaction: Patients and customers appreciate having a choice in how they communicate with their providers and healthcare suppliers, leading to higher satisfaction, loyalty and trust.
Reduce Missed Appointments: Instant notifications and reminders via text can help patients stay on top of their appointments and follow-ups.

Secure Texting is Key to Modern Healthcare Communication

Patient portals alone are no longer enough to drive the kind of patient engagement needed for optimal healthcare outcomes. By integrating secure texting apps for healthcare with other communication tools like email and web forms, providers can offer a more patient-centric approach to healthcare communication.

At LuxSci, we’re committed to helping healthcare providers offer secure, HIPAA-compliant communication solutions that improve patient engagement, outcomes and results. By giving patients the flexibility to choose their preferred communication channel—whether it’s secure texting, email, phone, or a patient portal—you can increase engagement, improve outcomes, and lower costs.

Want to learn more about secure texting for healthcare? Reach out and connect with us today!

FAQs

What are secure texting apps for healthcare? Secure texting apps for healthcare are HIPAA-compliant platforms that enable encrypted, secure communication between healthcare providers and patients via text message.
Why are patient portals underutilized? Patient portals often have usability issues, complex login procedures, and limited functionality, making them less appealing to patients and customers.
Is secure texting HIPAA-compliant? Yes, when done through solutions like LuxSci Secure Text, communications can be encrypted and meet HIPAA’s stringent security requirements.

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LuxSci and Oiva Health Combine to Form Transatlantic Healthcare Communications Group

February 12, 2026
Pete Wermter

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

Rethinking HIPAA Compliant Email – Not Just a Checkbox

January 20, 2026
Pete Wermter

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.

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.

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.

Most Popular LuxSci Blog Posts of 2025

December 30, 2025
Pete Wermter

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

LuxSci Welcomes Angel Mazariegos as Head of Finance

December 9, 2025
Pete Wermter

LuxSci, a leader in secure healthcare communications and HIPAA compliant email, is pleased to announce the appointment of Angel Marie Mazariegos as the company’s new Head of Finance. With over 25 years of experience in financial management, accounting, and human resources, Angel will play a central role in advancing LuxSci’s operational excellence and supporting the company’s rapid growth in 2026 and beyond.

Angel brings a wealth of expertise to LuxSci, having held senior leadership positions at organizations focused on financial services, language and access services for healthcare, and human resources. In these roles, Angel has led multi-department Finance and HR teams, spearheading critical initiatives, including ERP implementations, streamlined employee onboarding, and financial process optimization.

In her role at LuxSci, Angel will oversee all aspects of the company’s finance operations, including budgeting, forecasting and reporting. Additionally, Angel will manage the company’s HR function, ensuring that LuxSci continues to foster a strong, people-driven culture based on its Secure, Trust, Responsible and Smart company values.

“Angel’s blend of financial and HR leadership makes her an invaluable addition to the LuxSci executive team and a real asset for our people,” said Mark Leonard, CEO of LuxSci. “We look forward to working with Angel to build the high-performing teams that will be critical to our future growth and serving the evolving needs of our customers.”

Angel holds dual MBA degrees in Accounting and Human Resource Management from Cappella University, as well as dual BS degrees in Business Administration (Accounting and CIS Business Systems) from California State University, Los Angeles.

“I am honored to join the LuxSci team at such an exciting time for the company,” said Mazariegos. “I look forward to working with the team and helping build on LuxSci’s reputation for excellence and reliability in secure healthcare communications.”

LuxSci Expands Executive Team to Scale Enterprise Growth and Operations

September 17, 2024
LuxSci

LuxSci, a leading provider of secure, HIPAA-compliant communications software, today announced new executive appointments as part of its strategy to drive future growth and further expansion into the enterprise market. Experienced B2B software executives Robert Sullebarger and Geneviève du Lac have joined the company as Head of Sales and Head of Finance, respectively – reporting to recently appointed CEO Mark Leonard. In addition, David Hillman has joined the company as Director of Engineering, reporting to Erik Kangas, Chief Technology Officer.

“LuxSci has proven its capabilities with some of the largest, most forward-looking companies in healthcare, including patient engagement platform, EHR systems, and payment providers, as well as healthcare retail and in-home care providers,” said Leonard. “Bob, Geneviève and David all bring deep leadership experience combined with a willingness to be hands-on in helping us optimize our operations and execute quickly for our customers and partners.”

Proven Sales Leader and Trusted Advisor

Bob’s career has focused on enterprise software sales and customer acquisition across both established and emerging technologies, including security & compliance, conversational AI and virtual assistant platforms, machine learning, and telecom & networking. Bob brings LuxSci more than two decades of experience in sales, marketing, and product management roles, serving as both a trusted business advisor and a technology expert for customers and partners. Most recently, he led the sales teams for AI solution providers ModuleQ and Interactions LLC, where he helped the company grow from $10 million to more than $100 million in annual revenue. He has also held leadership positions at contact center analytics provider CallMiner, and data security provider Vericept Corporation.

“LuxSci is the gold standard for HIPAA-compliant email and secure healthcare communications with a leadership position in the market,” said Sullebarger. “With healthcare portal adoption maxing out, we have a real opportunity to improve patient engagement and outcomes by opening up the email, SMS and marketing channels to bring more people into today’s healthcare conversation.”

Experienced CFO and Finance Leader

Geneviève joins LuxSci with more than 15 years of experience in CFO and Finance leadership roles. This includes building world-class Finance teams and organizations in the cybersecurity, consumer, and services industries at companies including Cypress Security, Astro Gaming and Wine Country Connect. Throughout her career Geneviève has established a proven track record of success in Finance leadership for ‘scale-up’ businesses, with focus on SaaS companies. Geneviève also brings LuxSci deep experience in implementing systems & processes aimed at building operational scalability, which will be a key part of her responsibilities at the company.

“I’m excited to be joining LuxSci as we build it into a world-class organization,” said Du Lac. “The company has achieved tremendous success to date, and we’re positioned better than ever to keep growing – and to help transform the healthcare industry with secure communications.”

Full Stack Software Architect and Data Scientist

David joins LuxSci with more than 20 years of experience across the entire spectrum of application development, data analysis and automated systems. This includes architect, engineer, developer, and consultant roles at innovative companies, such as Kapital Trading, Gogo, Monster, Livetext, and AT&T Bell Labs. David specializes in designing and building data-intensive applications that analyze large datasets and extract intelligence, as well as developing tools to empower users to interact with those resources. At LuxSci, David will play a key role in the future development of LuxSci technology, helping guide the company’s product direction and roadmap moving forward.

“I’m looking forward to collaborating with the outstanding team already in place at LuxSci and continuing to enhance our products to make our customers’ healthcare communications and operations both smoother and safer,” said Hillman.

In other recent news, LuxSci continues to innovate in secure healthcare communications, recently rolling out new email reporting capabilities and achieving best-in-class performance for email security.

LuxSci has been at the forefront of HIPAA-compliant communications since its inception, offering a full suite of products for secure email, marketing, text and forms. Today, LuxSci is used by nearly 2,000 customers for HIPAA-compliant communications across the healthcare industry, including athenaHealth, 1800 Contacts, Delta Dental, Lucerna Health, Hinge Health, and Rotech Healthcare.

If you’d like to learn more about how LuxSci can help you with secure healthcare communications, reach out to us today for a meeting or demo!

Is the Email Encrypted? How to Tell if an Email is Transmitted Using TLS

January 9, 2024
LuxSci

SMTP TLS encryption is popular because it provides adequate data protection without creating a complicated user experience for email recipients. Sometimes, though, the experience is too seamless, and recipients may wonder if the message was protected at all.

Luckily, there is a way to tell if an email was encrypted using TLS. To see if a message was sent securely, we can look at the raw headers of the email. However, it requires some knowledge and experience to understand the text. It is actually easier to tell if a recipient’s server supports TLS than to tell if a particular message was securely transmitted.

To analyze a message for transmission security, we will look at an example email message sent from Hotmail to LuxSci. We will explain what to look for when decoding the message headers and how to tell if the email was transmitted using TLS encryption.

An Example Email Message

First, we must understand how an email message typically travels through several machines on its way from the sender to the recipient. Roughly speaking:

The sender’s computer talks to the sender’s email or WebMail server to upload the message.
The sender’s email or WebMail server then talks to the recipient’s inbound email server and transmits the message to them.
Finally, the recipient downloads the message from their email server.

It is step 2 that people are most concerned about when trying to understand if their email message is transmitted securely. They usually assume or check that everything is secure and OK at the two ends. Indeed, most users who need to can take steps to ensure that they are using SSL-enabled WebMail or POP/IMAP/SMTP/Exchange services so that steps 1 and 3 are secure. The intermediate step, where the email is transmitted between two different providers, is where messages may be sent insecurely.

To determine if the message was transmitted securely between the sender’s and recipient’s servers (over TLS), we need to extract the “Received” header lines from the received email message. If you look at the source of the email message, the lines at the top start with “Received.” Let’s look at an example message from a Hotmail user below. The email addresses, IPs, and other information are obviously fake.

LuxSci:

The Outlook email was sent to a LuxSci user. The Received headers appear in reverse chronological order, starting with the server that touched the message last. Therefore, in this example, we see the LuxSci servers first.

Received: from abc.luxsci.com ([1.1.1.1])
	by def.luxsci.com (8.14.4/8.13.8) with ESMTP id r7JEfLgH003867
	(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT)
	for <user-xyz@def.luxsci.com>; Mon, 19 Aug 2019 10:41:21 -0400
Received: from abc.luxsci.com (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1])
	by abc.luxsci.com (8.14.4/8.13.8) with ESMTP id r7JEfK0Z030182
	for <user-xyz@def.luxsci.com>; Mon, 19 Aug 2019 09:41:20 -0500
Received: (from mail@localhost)
	by abc.luxsci.com (8.14.4/8.13.8/Submit) id r7JEfKXD030178
	for user-xyz@def.luxsci.com; Mon, 19 Aug 2019 09:41:20 -0500

Received: from dispatch1-us1.ppe-hosted.com (dispatch1-us1.ppe-hosted.com [2.2.2.2])
	by abc.luxsci.com (8.14.4/8.13.8) with ESMTP id r7JEfIkK030002
	(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT)
	for <someone@luxsci.net>; Mon, 19 Aug 2019 09:41:19 -0500

Proofpoint:

LuxSci uses an email filtering service, Proofpoint. Messages reach Proofpoint’s servers before being delivered to LuxSci. Here’s what their servers report about the email transmission:

Received: from unknown [65.54.190.216] (EHLO bay0-omc4-s14.bay0.hotmail.com)
	by dispatch1-us1.ppe-hosted.com.ppe-hosted.com
        (envelope-from <someone@hotmail.com>);
	Mon, 19 Aug 2019 08:41:18 -0600 (MDT)

Outlook:

And finally, here’s what we see from Oultook’s server.

Received: from BAY403-EAS373 ([65.54.190.199]) by bay0-omc4-s14.bay0.outlook.com
       with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675); 
       Mon, 19 Aug 2019 07:41:19 -0700

How to Use Received Message Headers to Tell if the Email is Encrypted

The message headers contain information that can help us determine if an email is encrypted. Here are a few helpful notes to help you decode the text:

We said this above, but the message headers appear in reverse chronological order. The first one listed shows the last server that touched the message; the last one is the first server that touched it (typically the sending server).
Each Received line documents what a server did and when.
There are three sets of servers involved in this example: one machine at Hotmail, one machine at Proofpoint, where our Premium Email Filtering takes place, and some machines at LuxSci, where final acceptance of the message and subsequent delivery happened.

Presumably, the processing of email within each provider is secure. The place to be concerned about is the hand-offs between Hotmail and Proofpoint and between Proofpoint and LuxSci, as these are the big hops across the internet between providers.

In the line where LuxSci accepts the message from Proofpoint, we see:

(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT)

This section, typical of most email servers running “sendmail” with TLS support, indicates that the message was encrypted during transport with TLS using 256-bit AES encryption. (“Verify=not” means that LuxSci did not ask Proofpoint for a second SSL client certificate to verify itself, as that is not usually needed or required for SMTP TLS to work correctly). Also, “TLSv1/SSLv3” is a tag that means that “Some version of SSL or TLS was used;” it does not mean that it was SSL v3 or TLS v1.0. It could have been TLS v1.2 or TLS v1.3.

So, the hop between Proofpoint and LuxSci was locked down and secure. What about the hop between Hotmail and Proofpoint? The Proofpoint server’s Received line makes no note of security at all! This means that the email message was probably not encrypted during this step.

Hotmail either did not support opportunistic TLS encryption for outbound emails, or Proofpoint did not support receipt of messages over TLS, and thus, TLS could not be used. With additional context, you can know which server supports TLS and which does not.

In this case, we know that Proofpoint supports inbound TLS encryption. In fact, from another example message where LuxSci sent a message to Proofpoint, we see the Received line:

Received: from unknown [44.44.44.44] (EHLO wgh.luxsci.com)
	by dispatch1-us1.ppe-hosted.com.ppe-hosted.com
        (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits))
	with ESMTP id b-022.p01c11m003.ppe-hosted.com
        (envelope-from <from@domain.com>);
	Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:28:27 -0700 (MST)

The red text makes it clear that the message was indeed encrypted. Based on the additional context, we can deduce that the Hotmail sending server did not securely transmit the email using TLS.

How To Tell if an Email is Encrypted With TLS

When analyzing your message headers, consider the following items to determine if the email is encrypted:
1. The receiving server will log what kind of encryption, if any, was used in receiving the message in the headers.
2. Different email servers use different formats and syntax to display the encryption used. Look for keywords like “SSL,” “TLS,” and “Encryption,” which will signify this information.
3. Not all servers will record the use of encryption. While LuxSci has always logged encryption use, not every email service provider does. It is possible to use TLS encryption and not log it. Sometimes, there is no way to tell from the headers if a message is encrypted if it is not logged.
4. Messages passed between servers at the same provider do not necessarily need TLS encryption to be secure. For example, LuxSci has back-channel private network connections between many servers so that information can be securely passed between them without SMTP TLS. So, the lack of TLS usage between two servers does not mean the transmission between them was “insecure.” You may also see multiple received lines listing the same server: the server passes the message between different processes within itself. This communication also does not need to be TLS encrypted.
5. If you are a LuxSci customer, you can view online email delivery reports to see if TLS was used for any particular message. We record the kind of encryption in the delivery reports, so it’s easy to see which emails were encrypted.

How can you Ensure Emails Are Securely Transmitted?

With some servers not recording TLS in message headers, how can you determine if a message was transmitted securely from sender to recipient?

To answer this question accurately, you must understand the properties, servers, and networks involved. It may be easy to determine that the message was transmitted securely if included in the header information. However, the absence of information does not necessarily mean the message was insecurely transmitted. You can only know this if you know what each system’s servers record.

In our example of a message from Hotmail to LuxSci, you need to know that:

Proofpoint and LuxSci will always log the use of TLS in the headers. We can infer that the Hotmail to Proofpoint transmission was not secure as nothing was recorded there.
The transmission of messages within LuxSci’s infrastructure is secure due to private back channel transmissions. So, even though there is no mention of TLS in every Received line after LuxSci accepts the message from Proofpoint (in this example), transferring the messages between servers in LuxSci is as secure as using TLS. Also, the same server can add multiple received lines as it talks to itself. Generally, these hand-offs on the same server will not use TLS, as there is no need. In the LuxSci example, we see this as “abc.luxsci.com” adds several headers.
We don’t know anything about Hotmail’s email servers, so we don’t know how secure the initial transmissions within their network are. However, since we know they did not securely transmit the message to Proofpoint, we are not confident that the transmissions and processing within Hotmail (which may have gone unrecorded) were secure.

Was the email message sent and received using encryption?

We skipped steps 1 and 3 and focused on step 2 – the transmission between servers. Steps 1 and 3 are equally, if not more, necessary. Why? Because eavesdropping on the internet between ISPs is less of a problem than eavesdropping near the sender and recipient (i.e., in their workplace or local wireless hotspot). So, it’s essential to ensure messages are sent securely and received securely. This means:

Sending: Use SMTP over SSL or TLS when sending messages from an email client or use WebMail over a secure connection (HTTPS).
Receiving: Ensure your POP or IMAP connection is secured via SSL or TLS. If using WebMail to read your email, be sure it is over a secure connection (HTTPS).
WebMail: There is generally no record in the email headers to indicate if a message sent using WebMail was transmitted from the end-user to WebMail over a secure connection (SSL/HTTPS).

You can typically control one side and ensure it is secure; you can’t control the other without taking extra steps. So, what can you do to ensure your message is secure even if it might not be transmitted with encryption or if the recipient tries to access it insecurely?

You could use end-to-end email encryption (like PGP or S/MIME, which are included in SecureLine) or a secure web portal that doesn’t require the recipient to install or set up anything to get your secure email message. These methods meet HIPAA and other regulatory compliance requirements for secure data transmission and provide complete confidence that the message will be sent and received securely.

LuxSci’s SecureLine offers flexible encryption options, including TLS, secure web portal, PGP, and S/MIME. Its dynamic capabilities can determine what types of encryption the recipient’s server supports to ensure your emails are always sent securely. Contact our team today to learn more about how to secure your emails.

LuxSci Achieves HITRUST Certification for Third Consecutive Term

October 21, 2024
LuxSci

We’re thrilled to announce our latest data security achievements here at LuxSci! Once again, LuxSci has achieved HITRUST CSF® certification, following a multi-step process that includes a deep assessment, validation, and quality assurance analysis for a company and its products. Our 2024-26 certification marks the third consecutive time that LuxSci has received the 2-year HITRUST certification, meeting the rigorous standards set by the HITRUST CSF framework.

In related news, LuxSci, which is GDPR compliant, has also renewed its US-EU Data Privacy Framework (DPF) certification for the next 12 months. According to the certification, U.S. companies that participate in the DPF provide adequate levels of security for personal data transfers received from the EU within the scope of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This renewal enables us to support customers in Europe, while ensuring we meet the highest data protection standards for cross-border data transfers. For customers that do business in the EU and UK, LuxSci ensures data privacy is upheld in compliance with regulations.

Our latest security certifications are a testament to our continuous and unrelenting commitment to delivering the highest levels of data protection for healthcare communications. This includes securing email, marketing, text, forms and hosting—while also improving patient engagement and outcomes with the use of protected health information (PHI) in communications.

Why HITRUST Certification Matters in Healthcare

In the healthcare industry, protecting sensitive patient data is not just a legal requirement—it’s an ethical responsibility and an imperative for any company or organization in existence today. While HIPAA compliance establishes a strong baseline for safeguarding patient information, HITRUST certification takes data protection a step further. The HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) integrates multiple regulatory standards, including HIPAA, to provide a comprehensive approach to information security, privacy, and risk management.

For healthcare organizations—and larger companies and enterprises, in particular—partnering with a HITRUST-certified provider like LuxSci provides peace of mind. You can trust that our security controls not only meet HIPAA standards but also go beyond them to address the latest industry challenges and emerging threats—we do this constantly, year after year.

How HITRUST Enhances Data Security Beyond HIPAA

HIPAA establishes the essential requirements for securing protected health information (PHI), putting a solid, but basic foundation in place. HITRUST certification is recognized for going beyond the basics. Here’s how:

Comprehensive Approach to Risk Management: HITRUST CSF combines various security, privacy, and regulatory standards such as NIST, ISO, and PCI-DSS, providing a more robust framework for managing risks in healthcare.
Continuous Monitoring and Improvement: HITRUST requires organizations to continuously monitor and improve their security measures, ensuring that their defenses evolve alongside new threats and new technologies.
Tailored Security Controls: HITRUST’s framework scales based on the size, complexity, and nature of the organization, offering flexibility while maintaining a high standard of security.
Third-Party Validation: Achieving HITRUST certification involves rigorous third-party audits, which demonstrate that an organization’s security practices are not only in place but have been thoroughly validated.

The Benefits of HITRUST Certification for Healthcare

For healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers, the advantages of partnering with a HITRUST-certified organization like LuxSci are clear:

Streamlined Compliance: HITRUST certification simplifies compliance with multiple regulatory frameworks, reducing the burden of managing multiple audits and certifications.
Enhanced Patient and Customer Trust: By choosing a HITRUST-certified partner, you show patients, partners, and regulators that your organization prioritizes the highest levels of security.
Future-Proofing: HITRUST ensures that you’re not just up to date with today’s standards but prepared for future regulatory requirements and security challenges as they arise.

At LuxSci, we remain committed to delivering secure, scalable, and flexible HIPAA-compliant healthcare communications solutions that our clients can depend on for the highest levels of data protection.

If you’d like to learn more about LuxSci’s secure healthcare communications solutions—and how we elevate your healthcare data protection to the next level—contact us today!

Data-Driven Healthcare: Leveraging PHI for Personalized Patient Engagement

February 28, 2025
Pete Wermter

As the healthcare industry moves toward delivering more efficient, value-driven care, the effective use of patient data, including Protected Health Information (PHI), to personalize communications is an essential component of data-driven care: strategies for improving engagement, fostering trust, and promoting healthier patient outcomes.

However, using PHI in email and communications to facilitate data-driven care requires careful attention to implementing the appropriate security measures required to safeguard sensitive patient data and satisfy HIPAA compliance requirements.

In this article, we detail how healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers can securely use PHI to tailor email messages and improve patient relationships using a data-driven approach, delivering greater efficiency and a greater experience for all.

What is data-driven care?

Data-driven care involves the use of patient data, analytics, and, in recent years, AI-driven insights to improve decision-making, personalize treatments, and improve health outcomes for patients.

In the past patient care was driven by clinical experience, generalized treatment protocols, and, the comparatively limited data kept on paper records. Naturally, despite healthcare professionals doing their best, this approach had several limitations. Clinical experience can easily be defied by unique health circumstances. Patients may not respond to general treatment plans, and paper records are prone to loss, damage, and human error, as well as being often slow and/or complicated to transfer.

Fortunately, the digitization of patient data (transforming it from PHI to ePHI (electronic protected health information) marked the advent of data-driven care. With patient data stored in Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, customer data platforms (CDP), and revenue cycle management platforms (RCM), it became easier for healthcare organizations to store, update and, most importantly, back up and share patient data.

Additionally, advanced analytics has made it easier for healthcare companies to offer more effective proactive outreach and engagement, based on pertinent data points, as opposed to merely reacting to symptoms that a patient may display over time.

Better still, technological advancements have shown that we’re just scratching the service when it comes to the advancement and potential of data-driven care. For example, AI models are becoming increasingly effective at designing personalized treatment plans for patients: using the ePHI collected by their healthcare providers.

As these digital solutions grow in sophistication and dependability, they’ll be able to consistently assist healthcare professionals in treating, engaging and marketing to patients effectively. Should these technologies reach their potential, patients will better respond to their personalized treatment plans, and healthcare providers will be able to treat more patients in less time – and a greater number of people will enjoy positive health outcomes and a better quality of life.

What Are the Benefits of Data-Driven Care?

Better Decision-Making: the more information a healthcare professional any segment of the industry has at their disposal, the better their ability to make decisions about potential treatment options, education and communications, and ongoing care.
Personalized Treatment Plans: using patient history, genetics, and lifestyle data, applications can tailor treatments to an individual’s state of health.
Early Disease Detection: predictive analytics help identify health risks before symptoms appear, increasing the chances of a condition being caught early and becoming more detrimental to the patient’s health
Operational Efficiency: better decision-making saves time, preserves scarce resources, and helps ensure healthcare practitioners are employed to their full capabilities.
Better Patient Engagement: data-driven insights promote proactive patient communication, such as appointment reminders, annual check-up or test reminders, and preventative care advice.

How Does Data-Driven Care Relate to HIPAA Compliance?

Data-driven care depends on collecting, storing, and sharing sensitive patient data, which must comply with HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules, both of which are designed to ensure that the proper safeguards are put in place to secure ePHI. With this in mind, key compliance concerns surrounding data-driven care include:

Data Security: ensuring end-to-send PHI encryption in transit and at rest.
Access Controls: limiting PHI access to authorized personnel only, i.e., those who have reason to access it as part of their jobs.
Third-Party Risk Management: ensuring you have Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) in place with any third parties with access to the PHI under your care, e.g., email platforms, equipment suppliers, online pharmacists, etc.
Audit Trails & Compliance Reporting: tracking who accesses patient data and how it’s used. Additionally, retaining copies of these logs for extended periods as per differing compliance regulations (e.g., retaining them for six years as per HIPAA regulations).

What Types of PHI Can Be Used in Email Communications?

When it comes to using PHI for personalized emails, healthcare organizations need to be clear about what information can be included. PHI can encompass a wide range of data, including:

Personal Identifiers: these identifiers include a patient’s name, address, contact details, Social Security number, and other personal information. On their own, they may not necessarily count as PHI, but when medical-related data, it must be secured as per HIPAA regulations.
Medical History: conditions, diagnoses, treatment plans, lab results, and medications.
Clinical Data: this includes test results, imaging reports, medical procedures, surgical history, and appointment information.
Treatment Information: recommendations for medications, treatments, and care plans, which can be personalized based on the patient’s health needs and the PHI held by their healthcare providers.
Insurance and Billing Information: Information related to insurance coverage, claims, and billing.

These valuable data insights of PHI can be included in email communications to craft relevant, tailored content that resonates with the patient or customer, but only of you’re email is HIPAA compliant.

For example, a healthcare provider might send an email about a new medication to a patient who has been recently diagnosed with a specific condition. Similarly, an insurance provider could send a tailored wellness program and preventative care tips based on the patient’s health data.

Benefits of Using PHI for Personalized Patient Engagement

When used effectively, and, above all, securely, personalized communication based on the intelligent use of PHI can lead to numerous benefits for healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers, which include, but aren’t limited to:

Improved Engagement: patients and customers are more likely to open and engage with email communications that are relevant to their health needs and concerns. Personalized email messaging that uses PHI, including treatment suggestions, appointment reminders, or wellness tips, increases the likelihood of the recipient engaging with the message.
Timely and Relevant Information: Sending timely messages, like reminders for health screenings, prescription refills, or post-operative care, keeps patients engaged with their care plan, ensures better adherence to prescribed medical advice, and takes a more active role in their overall healthcare journey. This is particularly important for chronic disease management, where proactive communication can help prevent complications and reduce hospital readmissions.
Better Relationships with Payers and Suppliers: healthcare payers and suppliers can also leverage PHI for personalized communications. For example, insurers can send targeted messages about new health plan options, plan renewals, claims processes, or wellness programs tailored to the patient’s health needs. Suppliers, meanwhile, can use data to communicate directly with patients about new product offerings, adherence tools, or therapies based on their present state of health. This personalized engagement can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Stronger Brand Loyalty: all combined, consistently engaging with patients and customers about topics related to their health needs and concerns – subjects, in some cases, they may not be discussing with anyone else – helps them develop trust in their healthcare providers. This, subsequently, makes them more receptive to future email communications, resulting in better adherence to treatment plans, better healthcare outcomes, and higher levels of satisfaction with their healthcare provision.

Ensuring HIPAA-Compliant Data-Driven Care

Before any PHI is included in email communications, healthcare organizations must follow proper security protocols to ensure HIPAA compliance. Here are some of the most fundamental ways to ensure HIPAA compliance when implementing data-driven care practices.

1. Patient Consent

First and foremost, healthcare organizations must obtain explicit consent from patients before sending their PHI via email. HIPAA compliant email marketing requires that all recipients opt-in before receiving emails. Patients should be informed about the types of communications they will receive and should have the option to opt in or opt out of receiving different types of communications containing PHI.

2. Encryption

Encrypting email communications is essential to protecting PHI. Email encryption ensures that the message is unreadable to a malicious actor if it’s intercepted during transmission. Any email that contains PHI must be encrypted end-to-end, i.e., in transit and at rest, which includes both the message content and any attachments. It’s also important that the email service being used is fully HIPAA-compliant, meaning it must have the technical safeguards required under its stringent regulations.

3. Secure Email Solutions

HIPAA compliant email platforms, such as LuxSci, offer built-in, automated encryption, authentication, and access controls to safeguard patient data. These solutions ensure that PHI is only accessible to authorized individuals and that the integrity and privacy of the data are maintained.

4. Access Control and Authentication

To protect PHI, email systems must be configured with strict access control measures. This includes setting up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for accessing email accounts or documents that contain sensitive data. MFA adds an additional layer of security, ensuring that even if a password is compromised, the account cannot be accessed without additional verification methods, e.g., a security access token, or biometric scan.

5. Data Minimization

When sending PHI via email, it’s important to limit the amount of information shared to what is necessary for the communication. For instance, while treatment instructions may be relevant, healthcare organizations must avoid sharing overly detailed medical histories or unnecessary personal identifiers when it’s outside the scope of the communication, or the topic being discussed.

By the same token, data minimization must also apply to access control privileges, ensuring that those who handle PHI only have access to the patient data they require for their job role.

How LuxSci Can Help with Data-Driven Care

At LuxSci, we specialize in providing secure, HIPAA compliant solutions that enable healthcare organizations to execute effective, personalized data-driven care communication campaigns. With over 25 years of experience, helping 2000 healthcare organizations securely deliver more than 20 billion emails, LuxSci thoroughly understands the intricacies of HIPAA compliance and has crafted powerful tools designed for the particular security and regulatory needs of the healthcare industry.

To learn more about how LuxSci can help your organization leverage PHI for personalized, secure email communications, contact us today. We’re here to help you create more meaningful patient and customer relationships using today’s latest healthcare strategies, including data-driven care.