Four Reasons Why You Need a HIPAA Compliant Email Disclaimer

93% of adult patients want email communications with their physician.
That fact alone proves that in 2020, and for the foreseeable future, email is one of the most popular forms of communication on the planet.
But there’s just one small problem when it comes to using email, it’s not secure.
The data sent between the sender and recipient isn’t inherently encrypted among some of the most popular services like Gmail or Outlook. And if you happened to overlook that aspect and accidentally sent protected health information or PHI through one of these popular email providers, the Department of Health and Human Services would determine your actions as a willful, negligent breach.
In other words, you’d face a fine somewhere between $1,000 and $50,000 for something that you could’ve easily prevented.
So your patients want you to communicate to them via email but you could end up facing a massive fine that most smaller practices couldn’t recover from. Is it worth it?
Yes, communicating to your patients based on their preferences increases your engagement.
Let me explain a quick example to emphasize that point. Do you know someone who never checks their mail? I imagine that that person is a Millennial because 66% of people in that cohort don’t check their mail at least six days a week. That means that mail isn’t the preferred method of communication for Millennial patients. Thus, your efforts to communicate to through via a letter wouldn’t work.
OK, so does HIPAA allow the use of email? If it does, how do you ensure you and your workforce stay compliant?
Well, what if I told you that adding a simple HIPAA email disclaimer within the signature section of what you send could save you from facing massive fines?
LINKS:
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etactics.com/blog/hipaa-email...
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Before we go any further I need to mention that adding a HIPAA email disclaimer to all of your electronic correspondence isn’t going to solve all of your compliance needs. Healthcare compliance is much more complicated than that.
However, this type of disclaimer does help boost your efforts in four main ways.
First and foremost, it acts as a constant reminder to your employees.
Every time they send an email or receive one back in a chain they’ll see that company-wide, HIPAA-compliant email footer staring them in the face - explaining to them how important HIPAA compliance is t your organization. It’s such a simple addition to your efforts towards boosting awareness for the most important law you have to abide by as a healthcare organization or business associate.
Second, believe it or not, a HIPAA-Compliant email disclaimer places some responsibility in the hands of the recipient.
Your disclaimer lets them know that the message they’ve received may contain sensitive information that’s not 100% secure.
As a disclaimer here, if you’re sending any sort of PHI through email you’ll need to use a secondary service that encrypts the data attached within the email. However, it helps point out that if the recipient chooses to respond to you with private information they’re doing so at their own risk.
Third, it helps protect against sending to the wrong recipient.
A well-written clause contains a statement requiring that unauthorized users are to forward the email to the correct party and/or properly dispose of it. Of course, this doesn’t 100 percent guarantee that the person who received the email in error will dispose of it but it puts further pressure on them to comply with your rules that wouldn’t otherwise exist.
Finally, and most importantly, HIPAA-compliant email disclaimers help guide patients on how to respond. The best examples of these footers explain to patients what they should and should not include in order to protect their privacy. Ther also indirectly guide them through their conversation with you.
Since there are two separate parties involved in an email exchange, you can’t control everything that happens or gets sent your way. But as a healthcare provider, it’s your responsibility to do whatever you can in order to protect your patient’s most sensitive information.
Before I conclude this video I want to reiterate that, although you should include a HIPAA-compliant email disclaimer, it doesn’t absolve you from your liabilities.
Do not ever send PHI through email unless it’s encrypted.
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[@angelaaglaee6879]

I like how Hippa has its own way of helping us send emails to patients and not violating the rules. I didn't know that you had used the HIPPA disclaimer in your email. I am glad I do know.
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