Pridecare

Pridecare is a home healthcare agency that provides certified infusion nurses and registered nurses to administer intravenous infusion medications to patients in their homes. The staff of about 50 nurses works with people with a variety of complex health conditions, from auto-immune disorders and hepatitis to hemophilia and HIV/AIDS. The company has four locations across the United States, providing in-home infusion care when and where patients need it. Pridecare’s mission is to maximize clients’ quality of life and dignity.

In the course of their work traveling back and forth to patients’ homes, Pridecare’s nurses often need to send emails including protected health information (PHI) to pharmacies, providers, and hospitals. Because of that, the company must have an effective HIPAA compliant email solution.

Challenge

Initially, Pridecare used Microsoft’s email encryption. This portal-based solution required email recipients to create an account and keep track of a password to view secure messages. It was a real hassle, according to Patrick Denney, IT director for Pridecare. “Having someone type in ‘encrypt’ is not always reliable. On the other end of the spectrum, it’s very cumbersome to remember passwords,” Denney said.

Pridecare’s business model made these barriers even more challenging. Because some nurses work on a per diem or hourly basis, and because all of them travel, it’s more difficult to conduct ongoing security training than it would be for full-time, office-based employees. Some of the nurses work with multiple agencies, juggling different company policies and security requirements. These factors led to ongoing struggles as the company strived to maintain HIPAA compliance.

Pridecare was dealing with a lot of display name spoofing emails that appeared to come from the CEO. After solving the HIPAA compliant email problem with Paubox Email Suite Standard, the company turned to Paubox to help with inbound email security as well.

Solution

Paubox Email Suite Plus was the easiest-to-use solution than the other email encryption product that Pridecare evaluated. Unlike the other solutions available, Paubox works in the background, encrypting every email automatically – with no action needed on the part of the sender or receiver. In addition, Paubox uses modern TLS 1.3 encryption and is HITRUST CSF certified.

Paubox’s patented ExecProtect feature is an effective way for Pridecare to mitigate inbound security threats, especially display name spoofing emails. “Using this solution, we’ve caught all the potential threats,” Denney noted. “ExecProtect is blocking [email hacking] attempts that we’re getting on almost a daily basis.”

Our Plus plan also comes with Zero Trust Email which requires an additional piece of evidence to authenticate an email sender’s mail server for every single email before being delivered. Because the identity authentication is unique to each customer (and changes continuously), it’s tough for bad actors to impersonate.

Integration was seamless. “It took about five minutes,” Denney confirmed. He gives Paubox customer service high marks, noting that the team was highly responsive and took care of any third-party hiccups right away.

Overall, Paubox Email Suite Plus removed communication barriers for Pridecare. “Technologically speaking, Paubox’s approach is more pragmatic than that of other systems. It’s easier for employees to follow a process when it’s seamless and integrated, so they don’t have to think about it,” Denney said. “It’s much better than locking everything down because we don’t trust that everyone is using security tools properly.”

Results

Using Paubox has lowered Pridecare’s risk profile significantly. Since November 2020, Paubox has encrypted nearly 9,100 emails from 43 email addresses. In April 2021, Pridecare upgraded from Standard to Paubox Email Suite Plus for access to inbound email features, including ExecProtect and Zero Trust Email. Since then, Paubox has caught 393 spam messages, 13 viruses, and 4 phishing attacks.

Paubox has resulted in a better experience for everyone involved. “Our physicians and providers were frustrated at having to use a portal. Paubox’s email encryption is easy to use, which improved communications with clinicians,” Denney explained.

Paubox also eased the burden on Pridecare’s IT team, as they no longer have to chase down every malicious email that comes in. For the patients who depend on Pridecare, and the providers who care for them, Paubox has made a real difference.