As HIPAA related fines (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) continue to rise, more people in the healthcare industry are turning to HIPAA compliant email as a way to secure communication with their patients. In fact, a recent study showed that 93% of patients expect emails from their physician.
That being said, over the past few weeks I have contacted various dental offices in the Bay Area to see if they were in fact interested in learning how HIPAA compliant email can make life easier for themselves and their patients. I expected that most would already have a provider and I would be spending most of my time explaining how Paubox provides more value versus other email encryption services. My results were rather shocking. The majority of the dentists I contacted were either not using HIPAA compliant email, had no interest in the matter, or both.
Here are some of the more common email hosts that the Bay Area dentists I contacted were using:
Not using HIPAA compliant email while sending Protected Health Information (PHI) can result in serious fines ranging anywhere from $150,000 and up in fines and may even result in probation. Recently an article was written about a woman who broke HIPAA compliance by sending PHI to her Gmail account and as a result was not only fired but now faces 18 months probation. Now more than ever dentists, doctors and really anyone dealing with PHI must ensure they are taking the necessary steps to protect themselves, their patients and their associates from HIPAA violations. Having HIPAA compliant email not only protects your associates and yourself from HIPAA violations, but it also makes life much easier for your patients, other healthcare providers, and business associates by making communication more convenient and operations more efficient. Just take a look at our success stories to see how others are addressing their email security needs with our solutions.
Try Paubox Email Suite for FREE today.
