We’ve been getting asked by customers and prospects about Return Path and whether it can be used in a HIPAA compliant manner.
We know the HIPAA industry is vast so we can empathize with just how many people need to use cloud-based services in this sector.
Today we will determine if Return Path offers HIPAA compliant email for marketing or not.
SEE ALSO: HIPAA Breaches and Cloud Providers
About Return Path
Return Path helps marketers optimize their email marketing campaigns.
Return Path was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in New York.
Return Path and the business associate agreement
We’ve previously talked about how a business associate agreement (BAA) is a written contract between a covered entity and a business associate. It is required by law for HIPAA compliance.
We checked Return Path’s site and could not find any mention of their ability to sign a BAA.
For example, we checked their Provision of Services page and did not find any mention of Business Associate, HIPAA, PHI, or healthcare.
We also checked:
- Return Path Data Privacy Policy
- Privacy Policy
- Certification Privacy Policy
- Return Path Corporate Privacy Policy
- Return Path Terms of Service
We could not find any mention of business associates, HIPAA, PHI, or healthcare on those pages either.
Does Return Path offer HIPAA compliant service?
The BAA is a key component to HIPAA compliance between a covered entity and a business associate.
Since Return Path does not mention signing a BAA anywhere on their site, we conclude that Return Path is not a HIPAA compliant email service.
Conclusion
We do not recommend using Return Path if you are bound by HIPAA regulations.
HIPAA email marketing tools comparison
To meet the unmet need for HIPAA compliant email marketing, we created Paubox Marketing. It is the only solution that will:
- Sign a BAA
- Provide military-grade encryption
- Allow you to include PHI in your marketing emails
- Allow patients to read your emails directly from their inbox with no extra steps
In addition, Paubox Marketing is HITRUST CSF certified.
Compared to the standard marketing tools, Paubox Marketing is the best option for maintaining HIPAA compliance while harnessing the power of personalized email marketing.
SEE ALSO: Why Paubox Marketing is the Best HIPAA Email Marketing Solution Available
| Company | Will they sign a BAA? | Can you send PHI? |
| Adobe Campaign | NO | NO |
| Campaign Monitor | NO | NO |
| Campaigner | NO | NO |
| GetResponse | NO | NO |
| Hubspot | NO | NO |
| Mad Mimi (GoDaddy) | NO | NO |
| MailChimp | NO | NO |
| MailerLite | NO | NO |
| Marketo (Adobe) | NO | NO |
| Salesforce Pardot | NO | NO |
| Schedulicity | NO | NO |
| Sendgrid (Twilio) | NO | NO |
| Zoho Campaigns | NO | NO |
| ActiveCampaign | YES | NO |
| Constant Contact | YES | NO |
| Infusionsoft by Keap | YES | NO |
| Salesforce Marketing Cloud | YES | NO |
| Eloqua (Oracle) | YES | YES ** |
| Paubox Marketing | YES | YES |
(** To use Oracle Eloqua in a HIPAA compliant manner, recipients receive two emails for every message you send. Patients must also log into a secure message center to view your message – it does not appear in their inbox. This creates friction and makes it less likely that your patients will read your marketing email.)
