A consultation summary is a detailed report provided to patients after a medical visit, summarizing key aspects such as diagnoses, treatment plans, medication instructions, and follow-up recommendations. Its purpose is to ensure patients have a clear and comprehensive understanding of their health status and the steps they need to take for ongoing care. By including specific information tailored to the individual's health needs, consultation summaries contribute to personalization, making patients feel acknowledged and cared for.
Based on a Patient Education and Counseling study, “Despite the literature’s relative silence on patient’s personalized written summaries, clinicians are well placed to recognise the importance of patients being able to understand and remember key details and outcomes of consultations.” The patient-provider relationship is the ongoing partnership between a patient and their healthcare provider, built on trust, communication, and mutual respect. As a relationship, it encourages patients to share their concerns openly and follow their provider's advice. These summaries serve as a bridge between appointments, keeping patients engaged and informed about their health journey.
Consultation summaries present a wealth of sensitive information, including diagnoses, treatment plans, prescribed medications, personal health histories, and follow-up instructions. This data is highly valuable to malicious actors who could use it for identity theft, insurance fraud, or to illegally obtain medical services and medications. Given the potential misuse of this sensitive information, consultation summaries need to be sent through HIPAA compliant means.
HIPAA compliant communication is tailored towards protecting this information at a fundamental level. One of the main features, secure encryption, makes sure that all data is protected during transmission and storage, preventing access by these threat actors. This allows for a degree of security not afforded by regular communication channels that leave patient data open to unwanted exposure.
One highly effective method for creating consultation summaries that work well with HIPAA compliant email is using electronic health record (EHR) systems with built-in summary features. These systems streamline the process by automatically pulling relevant patient information from the medical record into a standardized summary template. This makes sure that details, like diagnoses, treatment plans, medication instructions, and follow-up steps, are included and accurately documented.
Once the summary is generated, it can be sent to the patient using a HIPAA compliant email. These emails use encryption to protect the content during transmission, and secure authentication methods verify the identity of both the sender and the recipient.
Healthcare providers can efficiently create and deliver comprehensive consultation summaries by integrating EHR systems with HIPAA compliant email. Overall, it improves communication so that patients have a clear understanding of their care.
See also: Top HIPAA compliant email services
One can verify if an email service is HIPAA compliant by ensuring it will sign a business associate agreement (BAA).
Patient consent for email communication should be obtained by explaining the risks and benefits, and then getting their written agreement.
The process for reporting a data breach involves notifying affected individuals, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and possibly the media, depending on the size of the breach.