Using AI ethically in HIPAA compliant email

AI has become a popular resource in healthcare organizations because of its ability to provide ease in common tasks. When applied to communication practices like HIPAA compliant email, organizations can benefit from automating tasks that result in administrative burdens. Any application is, however, accompanied by the understanding that specific practices should be in place to ensure that human oversight and careful policy planning is necessary. 

The rise in AI popularity in healthcare 

Healthcare systems are faced with the pressure of growing patient populations and vast amounts of data that need to be handled accurately. With factors like the legislative climate around reproduction and a world post-COVID-19, the demand can become overwhelming and costly to handle. AI has become a solution to this challenge, with its application integrating with a host of commonly used software. 

Through the automation of repetitive tasks, when used correctly, AI has the ability to improve cornerstone tasks like diagnostic accuracy and data handling. These capabilities often result in administrative and physician burdens that lend themselves to factors increasing the chances of physician burnout. 

AI's benefits also come with a price tag that often makes it more cost effective than human labor. A study published in the PMC COVID-19 Collection provides, “There is great optimism that the application of artificial intelligence (AI) can provide substantial improvements in all areas of healthcare from diagnostics to treatment.” The push for the use of AI is however based on the consideration of its predictive and decision making outcomes which does not always factor in the vast disparities in ethical care that can occur from its overreliance. 

The challenge of AI biases

Despite AI’s central tagline of removing human error, a central issue exists with ensuring that AI is used ethically. Perfect ethics is impossible but when the developers of AI models integrate personal idealisms into its code there is the potential for biases that can negatively impact decision outcomes. These biases in models, especially racial biases, applied in healthcare further exasperate already present gaps in care for minority and marginalized patient groups.  

The core principles for the use of AI in communication policies 

• AI models or features in healthcare should clearly disclose their presence and purpose in communication. 
• The responsibility for decisions made by AI models should be traceable to human operators. 
• AI driven communication policies should adhere to privacy standards. 
• AI should be designed to avoid biases in communication systems, no matter how it is applied. 
• There should be an understandable and explainable reasoning behind each decision. 
• AI policies should consider linguistic and cultural diversity in processing data and creating outputs. 
  
  

Best practices  

Use HIPAA compliant email

• When sharing protected health information (PHI) with patients, make sure to always start off by using a secure HIPAA compliant email platform like Paubox. 
  
  

Remain transparent about the use of AI

• Patients should be clearly informed about the use of their information in AI models. While not required explicitly, it serves as a best practice for ensuring patients fully understand how their information is used and shared especially with concerns around AI. 
  
  

Set in place a system of human oversight

• AI should complement and not take over tasks that require human judgment. This means that AI should assist and not make primary decisions. 
• Create an oversight system to track email language applied by employees and that created by AI. 
• Use AI to create email templates for staff to use in specific scenarios instead of providing all staff with access to AI systems for communication purposes. 
  
  

Look for AI models that comply with HIPAA

• Although patient information should never be input in AI chatbots or systems, AI might become a feature of preexisting software. Make sure that this software outlines the AI model used and how information is shared and stored. 
• When using AI decision making software, look for HIPAA compliant options so that even if patient information is accidentally input or connotation to patient identity is possible it remains secure. 

Related: Top 12 HIPAA compliant email services

FAQs

What is HIPAA compliance? 

Compliance with HIPAA’s standards for the protection of privacy and security of PHI. 

Is Paubox Email Suite secure?

Paubox Email Suite provides a host of features tailored to protect PHI and provide convenience for its users. 

Why do EHRs commonly use AI?

It improves patient care by analyzing data to automate admin related to patient care.