HIPAA Compliant Patient Communication
How To Ensure HIPAA Compliant Communication For Your Healthcare Related Organization?
As an expert in direct mail, we often see clients who want to ensure HIPAA-compliant communication for their organization. We noticed something after interacting with many such clients, including healthcare providers and insurance companies.
Most of them are still unsure about the status of HIPAA compliance requirements when it comes to patient communication in the healthcare industry. Furthermore, these healthcare entities are still uncertain about the platform they should choose for healthcare communication.
Seeing how confusing HIPAA-compliant communication is for these businesses, we decided it is best to explain it comprehensively. Hence, here we will explain the gritty details you need to know to ensure secure communication for your healthcare and related business.
What is HIPAA Compliant Communication?
According to HIPAA rules, Healthcare organizations and their business associates must safeguard their Protected Health Information. The HIPAA rules apply to PHI data in all formats, including electronic or ePHI. Any PHI data transaction that adheres to HIPAA rules is HIPAA-compliant communication.
Regarding patient communication in healthcare, covered entities and their business associates should be extra careful. Why? Because unauthorized PHI disclosure that could reveal the patient’s identity could lead to legal problems and a hefty fine.
It is best to consider a few things when dealing with HIPAA compliant patient communication for your organization. Consider the kind of information you are communicating with the patient and what channel you intend to communicate the same.
How To Ensure HIPAA Compliant Patient Communication?
Some of you might assume that it is okay to communicate PHI information with your patient freely. You might think that since you are communicating with the patients themselves, HIPAA compliant communication may not be necessary here. But in reality, things are not that simple.
Minimum Necessary Information
As per HIPAA regulations, all covered entities, including healthcare providers, must ensure HIPAA compliant communication when disclosing PHI data. Nonetheless, you are free to issue patient appointment reminders without authorization if you only disclose the minimum necessary information.
HIPAA clearly defines the minimum necessary information you can use without authorization in its Minimum Necessary Rule. But here are some of the data you can use in patient communication in healthcare without approval.
- Patient’s name
- Appointment date/time
- Covered entity’s name
- Phone number of the covered entity
HIPAA Compliant Patient Communication Through Different Channels
Patient appointment reminders are anything but a tiny portion of patient communication in healthcare. Other more complex healthcare communications will require more than just the minimum necessary information. For example:
- Explanation of Benefits (EOB)
- Explanation of Coverage (EOC)
- Patient billing statements
- Patient letters and notices
- Hospital and lab invoices
- And more
In the case of patient communication in healthcare, such as the ones listed above, you need to consider the communication channel you use. Below we discuss the various channel used in healthcare communication and how you can ensure HIPAA compliance.
The standard communication channel for patient communication in healthcare include
- Phone Calls
- Text Messages
- In-Person Communication
- And more
HIPAA Compliant Patient Communication Via Mail
Despite the ongoing digital revolution, many people still prefer to receive their healthcare correspondence via mail. There are some basic requirements regarding HIPAA compliant patient communication via mail.
For instance, you must use a certified mail or similar service that requires a signature from the recipient. In other words, you can’t use a standard mail for HIPAA compliant communication because you can’t track them.
Employing a HIPAA Compliant Direct Mail System
Most healthcare providers and insurers do not have the facility to print large numbers of mail for their patients. Hence, healthcare organizations often employ a HIPAA compliant communication platform like PostGrid.
Using a system like PostGrid streamlines your healthcare communication without compromising the security of your PHI data. Furthermore, PostGrid’s direct mail automation software ensures there is no manual error and optimizes the use of your resources.
Employing Address Verification
Besides direct mail automation, healthcare organizations also use address verification tools to ensure HIPAA compliant communication. In most cases, you can access the direct mail automation tool will also offer a CASS-certified address verification tool like PostGrid.
The address verification tool enables you to validate the patient data you have. Hence, it adds a layer of extra protection to patient communication in healthcare and ensures the deliverability of your postal mailers. Furthermore, you can use PostGrid’s address verification tool in the following ways.
- Claims Processing
- Claims intake & Customer data recording
- Fraud detection
- Data enrichment by recording customer information
- Customer onboarding
HIPAA Compliant Patient Communication Via Email
First, you need written authorization from the patient before you can send or share PHI with a patient via email. You might think you can have HIPAA compliant communication via email once you have the written authorization. Well, you might want to think again.
End-To-End Encryption (E2EE)
Even with written permission, you must add additional security to protect your PHI. In other words, HIPAA compliant patient communication via email requires end-to-end encryption. The E2EE or end-to-end encryption ensures that your healthcare emails safely reach the patient’s inbox.
As you may know, the healthcare emails you send must pass through a third-party server. The purpose of E2EE is to prevent hackers from reading healthcare emails as they pass through the third-party server. You can now see why the E2EE is vital for HIPAA compliant communication via email.
An important thing to remember when sending PHI via email is that you can not protect the subject line with E2EE. Therefore, to ensure HIPAA compliant communication, you must never use any PHI data in your healthcare email’s subject line.
Business Associate Agreement (BAA)
Every covered entity must sign a business associate agreement to ensure HIPAA compliant communication, including healthcare providers and insurers. The BAA is a legal document that allows your organization to dictate the terms and conditions for disclosing PHI data.
You must sign a BAA to ensure HIPAA compliant communication if your organization shares PHI data with a business associate. It applies to every business associate and not just to your email provider. So, if you are using a direct mail service provider, you must also sign a separate BAA with them.
HIPAA Compliant Patient Communication Via Phone
Did you know that the telephone was the primary channel patients used for booking appointments during the pandemic? You must ensure HIPAA compliant communication via phone because people still use it as a direct communication channel.
If the patient willingly provides their contact number, you have consent for PHI-related calls by default. However, the patient can withdraw their permission whenever they want. If they do, you may need their written permission to ensure HIPAA compliant communication for your organization.
Usually, healthcare organizations use phones as a communication channel for the following situations.
- Test results
- Appointment reminders
- Post-discharge follow-ups
- Pre-op instructions
Security Precautions
Implementing additional precautions to protect PHI data and ensure HIPAA compliant communication via phone is difficult. First, there is limited capability to provide security precautions over phone calls.
In this situation, you can request the patient’s name and two pieces of identifying information. It is a simple way to determine the patient and ensure HIPAA compliant patient communication for your organization.
It would be best to remember to explain who you are before asking for the patient’s details. Because otherwise, the patient may think yours is a prank or fraud call, and they may refuse to share their identifying information.
HIPAA Compliant Patient Communication Via Text Message
The text message is an excellent HIPAA compliant communication platform for conveying Minimum Necessary Information. However, if you want to use text messages as a primary communication channel for PHI, we suggest you reconsider.
Why do we say that? For one thing, traditional texting platforms are not HIPAA compliant. It is because these platforms do not have the security requirements for HIPAA compliant communication.
Healthcare Texting Platforms
You can consider specialized healthcare texting platforms if you are keen on using text messaging for your HIPAA compliant communication. Although these healthcare texting platforms are not as popular among patients yet, it has good potential for growth.
In-Person HIPAA Compliant Patient Communication
Although listed last in the list, face-to-face communication is the primary way medical professionals and their patients interact with each other. It is also the most secure and easiest way to ensure HIPAA compliant communication for your healthcare organization.
Of course, that does not mean that face-to-face communication is foolproof. There is still a chance that you leak PHI data even with face-to-face interaction. Hence, it is still essential that you ensure HIPAA compliant communication even while being physically inside your healthcare organization.
Protect Yourself From Eavesdroppers
The first concern you must address about face-to-face patient communication in healthcare is people overhearing your conversations. Do not communicate PHI in common areas, waiting rooms, or within earshot of other patients or staff.
Be Mindful Of Recording Devices
When discussing PHI with your patients, you should be mindful of recording devices. Your healthcare organization may have recording devices such as security cameras. You must get the patient’s explicit consent if any such device is present in the vicinity.
Conclusion
Ensuring HIPAA-compliant patient communication is not so challenging once you know its gritty details. You can go through our HIPAA compliance checklist to help yourself understand HIPAA and all you need to know to ensure HIPAA compliance.
However, HIPAA-compliant patient communication is a unique case. Above, you saw how you could efficiently communicate with your patients without compromising the PHI data. We even discussed ways to enhance the security of your healthcare communication.
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