In order to be successful, healthcare companies need to safeguard patients’ personal health information (PHI) throughout the course of treatment. PHI includes confidential details, such as a patient’s birthdate, medical history, and health insurance claims. Not surprisingly, PHI is at risk at all times, especially when it’s transmitted via HIPAA email compliance.
The security risks of sending PHI via email include the possibility of the email being sent to the wrong recipient or intercepted en route. Whatever happens, a breach means that the information gets into the wrong hands. This can lead to loss of patient trust, reputational damage to the business, and HIPAA violations.
HIPAA email compliance is perhaps the biggest concern among these. Recent data shows that the industry witnessed 733 breaches in 2023 alone. The penalties for these incidents can be hefty, ranging from $137 to $68,928 per violation, based on the culpability details.
Despite the risks, sending emails with PHI is an integral part of running a healthcare business. As a provider, you may need to reply to patients and send emails with PHI to practitioners, billing companies, insurance companies, and in-house administrative staff. Knowing when you can send emails and to whom can help avert breaches.
Additionally, you can implement the following
5 steps to ensure HIPAA email compliance:
1. Use Encryption at Rest and in Transit
Using encryption on all emails sent outside a healthcare organization is critical. At the same time, encryption at rest keeps stored messages secure. Encrypted emails ensure that only authorized persons can access the messages and personal information inside.
The HIPAA email privacy guidelines mandate mechanisms to encrypt PHI whenever emails are sent or stored. Healthcare companies must also have technical security measures in place to curb unauthorized access to PHI on all devices that use the company’s email accounts.
Fortunately, several ways to encrypt emails are available. You can have an in-house IT team implement standard encryption measures. However, smaller companies do not have the budget to hire encryption specialists. Even bigger ones may want to focus on their core expertise. In these cases, you can opt for HIPAA-compliant email providers with encryption as a built-in feature.
2. Maintain a Secure Email Archive
Besides preventing unauthorized email access, you must also follow HIPAA email retention requirements to avoid non-compliance. These guidelines require an organization to retain certain types of records for six years. They should also have a data recovery process to retrieve these records during system failures or emergencies.
Maintaining a secure email archive is the ideal approach, but the sheer volume of data such companies handle requires considerable storage space. Even small to mid-sized companies may struggle with the storage of six years of emails with patient information and document attachments. Rather than creating their own email backups, which also necessitates implementing security measures, they can use a secure, encrypted email archiving service.
With this approach, you can free up space without compromising on storage processes or HIPAA privacy stipulations. It also allows you to retrieve data quickly and easily during a email compliance audit since an archive enables indexed searching for emails.
3. Get Patient Consent Before Emailing PHI
Indeed, informed consent is a fundamental healthcare process whereby patients and clinicians agree on future treatment and even how information is transmitted. This should apply to email communication as well. Providers must seek patient consent to send PHI via email, even when they use a HIPAA-compliant email service.
While obtaining patient consent, healthcare companies must educate them about the risks of sending information via email. Patients should also have a choice to opt in or opt out of receiving healthcare information by email. HIPAA email compliance does not have to be a problem if patients accept the risks and provide documented consent.
At the same time, you should understand that obtaining patient consent is not a one-time initiative but an ongoing process. Consent forms and email communication procedures must be reviewed and updated periodically. Additionally, patients must have the option to update their communication preferences and revoke their consent.
4. Sign a Business Associate Agreement with Your Email Provider
All HIPAA-covered companies must enter a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with their partners, including email providers. From defining the permissible and impermissible uses of PHI to specifying each party’s liabilities, and outlining the consequences of non-compliance, these legally binding agreements cover several points.
Under a BAA, your email provider will be responsible for the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of PHI included in emails. It has to set up physical, technical, and administrative measures to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure of PHI.
Besides the basics like the names of the parties and the date of the contract, the BAA should include specific information such as the nature of PHI being handled, liability and consequences, and compliance measures. It should also cover employee HIPAA training protocol and data breach procedures.
Thankfully, most healthcare-focused email providers are ready to sign Business Associate Agreements for HIPAA compliance purposes. Do your due diligence and review the agreement before going ahead with the collaboration.
5. Staying Ahead of HIPAA Email Compliance
To sum up, HIPAA email compliance is a complex process requiring stringent measures to protect PHI at rest and in transit. You cannot overlook it at any stage, because a single slip can lead to hefty penalties down the road.
While implementing a foolproof PHI protection plan is not possible, following these best practices can keep your healthcare organization on the right track. These steps may require some effort, but they are worthwhile, as they protect your finances, reputation, and patient trust.
