The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that healthcare professionals and their employees secure patient information. Protected health information (PHI) is any identifying patient data, including names, social security numbers, birth dates, and more. Securing this information will help prevent healthcare employees from dealing with legal repercussions. Here are a few ways to use HIPAA secure emails to protect healthcare employees:
Implement Encryption Measures
Encryption protocols scramble PHI so only the intended recipient with the decryption key can view it. Hackers and other unauthorized individuals will not be able to decode the information, enhancing compliance with HIPAA regulations. This is beneficial for healthcare employees sending data to patients or other authorized providers.
Enterprise Guardian’s HIPAA secure emails come with advanced encryption software to protect your information in transit and at rest. In-transit information is data moving from one place to another, while at-rest data can be in a sender’s or recipient’s inbox. Keeping this information secure safeguards patient information and protects employees from fines or lawsuits for violating patient privacy laws.
Review Outgoing Information
Before sending data to a patient or healthcare provider, employees should review the email to verify they are only sending the necessary information. Enterprise Guardian’s emails offer a feature that will scan your outgoing emails for sensitive information. If private data is included, our software will automatically stop the message from sending and notify the employees. They can then review this email and send it as is or encrypt the information. The software review helps protect employees from accidentally sharing sensitive information that needs to be kept private.
Set Access Levels
Establish email access permissions among employees to make sure only authorized individuals can send or review confidential information. Healthcare providers need access to all patient information, including their medical history, test results, and birth dates. Healthcare administrators or secretaries who work in the practice may only need access to payment methods and appointment dates. Implementing varying access levels will make sure information is only shared with employees when necessary. Providers can also train employees to use two-factor authentication to secure their email communications further.
Back Up Valuable Data
Healthcare employees use secure email platforms to send and receive information. If a platform is corrupted or data is accidentally deleted, backups are valuable tools that help to restore your information. Enterprise Guardian offers real-time backups for incoming and outgoing messages. This will protect employees from losing information that could impact patient care.
Data backups also help to protect healthcare business operations. Healthcare providers may need to temporarily shut down operations during a data loss incident, affecting their bottom line. Secure backups allow providers and employees to keep working because they can recover any necessary data.
Promote Email Safety
Educate your employees on proper email security measures. This includes not clicking on suspicious links or recognizing phishing emails. Phishing emails trick employees into providing private patient information, such as credit card details or social security numbers. The scammers then use this information to steal an individual’s identity or remove money from a bank account.
Our secure email software helps to block 95% of spam, helping to reduce the risk of data breaches. Teach your employees to watch for common signs of a phishing email, like misspelled words or irregular URLs. Our team is available to answer questions about setting up this software on your server to protect you and your employees from harmful email breaches.
Implement HIPAA Secure Emails Today
Incorporate secure email software into your healthcare practice to safeguard valuable PHI. Keeping information secure through encryption, backups, and other tools helps protect providers and their employees from legal repercussions. Reach out to the team at Enterprise Guardian today to learn more about our secure email services.