Why should your email be HIPAA compliant?

If you’re a healthcare service provider, you know how important that it is to protect your patient’s information under HIPAA requirements. But in a digital world, where a lot of records and forms of communication are moving online, it can be a challenge to ensure that same level of protection.

All of a patients’ public health information is legally protected, and this doesn’t end at the front door of your facility. This legally extends to any correspondence written about a patient, to a patient, or their medical history and records.

Because so many healthcare facilities have switched over to electronic systems for patient records and scheduling, it makes sense to utilize technology and email information for a patient – whether it’s to another doctor or nurse at the facility – or maybe you’re referring them to a specialist.

In order to ensure that your patients’ information is safe, and that you are legally protected under HIPAA regulations, it is important for your facility to secure your email system. Training employees on the appropriate ways to handle private information and transmitting it electronically is part of this, but the other part is making sure that your email is secured.

Hackers are coming up with new ways to invade online systems every day, and this means that you need to be utilizing professional tools and a technology solutions provider like JTC, Inc. to help maintain your email system so that it’s HIPAA compliant.

One of the biggest ways that a hacker or virus can infiltrate an email system and compromise patient data is with spam mail. You unknowingly click the link and before you know it, the entire network at your facility has been breached.

While most email systems offer a simple spam filter, in a lot of cases that’s not enough.

“They may have a spam filter that doesn’t provide that for them,” said Kristen Maxey, a spokeswoman for JTC, Inc.

All of JTC’s clients that need this sort of protection use a program called EdgeWave, which is certified as HIPAA compliant, according to Maxey. JTC, Inc. has been working as a partner with EdgeWave for 7 years.

Along with EdgeWave’s advanced spam filter, which will be able to keep hackers and viruses out, there are other benefits to using their system to keep your medical data secure. They offer around the clock network monitoring, web threat detection and cloud-based messaging.

So don’t put your business – and your patients’ information – out there. Make sure that your email is HIPAA compliant and be prepared.