HIPAA compliant transactional email

What is Transactional Email?

A Transactional Email is a type of email sent to assist an agreed-upon interaction between a sender and recipient. For example, a marketing email delivered between you, the customer, and your favorite store is a transactional email. In US Healthcare, this is often between a provider and a patient. Transactional Emails may also be called “triggered” emails because they can include any email generated by a patient’s specific action with a patient portal or smartphone app. In US Healthcare, common transactional email use cases include medication reminders, lab test results, medical proof of delivery, and billing reminders.

Why does a Transactional Email need to be HIPAA compliant?

Patient portals were designed by US Healthcare providers to allow patients easy access to their medical records and to allow communication with their provider. In theory, they were designed for patients to interact easily with their healthcare provider.

In a recent study by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) however, 66% of US hospitals reported zero patients attempted to access their patient portals. In a nutshell, the frustrating user experience introduced by patient portals defeated their very purpose.

Transactional messages for most businesses often don't contain sensitive information and can be sent without the worry of encryption. This is because you can send transactional emails as part of an email marketing campaign, or on the consumer's end, you can receive a transactional email about a password reset, confirmation email, welcome email, account creation, order confirmation, or more. But because a transactional email can have protected health information (PHI), it requires email providers, and by extension email solutions, to be HIPAA compliant.

However, there are limited options when it comes to HIPAA compliant transactional email providers, so most email service providers (and, as a result, consumers) are left out in the cold. But by using HIPAA compliant transactional email to secure email deliverability containing PHI to a patient’s inbox, US healthcare providers can meaningfully increase patient user engagement.

HIPAA compliant transactional email use cases

As we mentioned, common transactional email use cases in Healthcare include medication reminders, lab test results, medical proof of delivery, account updates, password reset emails, and billing reminders. Let’s take a quick look at some of these use cases.

Medication Reminders

For people who suffer with chronic illness, medications are a necessary part of their daily routine. In fact, remembering to take a daily medication can be the difference between life and death. Medication

Reminder use cases to consider include:

• Daily reminders to take pills
• Reduce Medication Forgetfulness
• Customized email reminders

Lab Test Results

Patient Portals are often designed to allow patients to obtain lab test results. A majority of Patient Portals however, are difficult to navigate and use, especially from smartphones. It's no secret: A dizzying array of Patient Portals from myriad Healthcare providers often result in tremendous friction for patients to view their lab test results.

Lab test result use cases via HIPAA Compliant Transaction Email include:

• Increased patient engagement
• Timely delivery of lab test results to a patient's smartphone
• Email Attachments are also encrypted and HIPAA compliant

Medical Proof of Delivery

One of the biggest challenges faced by Durable Medical Equipment (DME) companies is obtaining proof that a delivery was made to its recipient.

Proof of Delivery, or POD, is part of the Documentation Requirements for Medicare DME Suppliers. In a nutshell, POD provides a documentation trail that a patient or facility received a piece of Durable Medical Equipment.

Medical Proof of Delivery use cases to consider include:

• Optimize Durable Medical Equipment deliveries
• Achieve compliance with 42 CFR 424.57(c)(12)
• Create audit trail of POD documentation

Billing Reminders

Recent changes to US Healthcare have resulted in new economic challenges for providers and patients. For example, frequent revisions of billing rules and regulations can cause significant revenue losses for healthcare providers. From an ROI perspective, sending a HIPAA Compliant Transaction Email is much cheaper than mailing a statement.

Billing reminder use cases can include:

• Faster collections on outstanding patient balances
• Reduce or eliminate the need for mailing statements
• Improve Revenue Cycle Management (RCM)

Use the Paubox Email API to Support Your HIPAA Compliant Transactional Email Requirements

HIPAA Compliant Transactional Email is at the forefront of patient engagement in US Healthcare.

Benefits:

• Flexible Transactional Email API and SMTP integration setup for easy transactional email Integration
• Business Associate Agreements included with all paid accounts
• Industry-leading Solution

Send HIPAA Compliant Transactional Email With Confidence

Partner with the leader in HIPAA Compliant Email Service for compliance, patient engagement, and security.

SEE ALSO: Why Healthcare Businesses Choose the Paubox Email API