{"id":278,"date":"2021-12-03T13:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T13:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlanticrcm.com\/blog\/?p=278"},"modified":"2021-12-03T13:17:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T13:17:00","slug":"exhibiting-hipaa-compliance-is-vital-in-email-correspondence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlanticrcm.com\/blog\/exhibiting-hipaa-compliance-is-vital-in-email-correspondence\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhibiting HIPAA Compliance Is Vital in Email Correspondence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Email is the most popular medium for sharing information across industries. Research suggests patients prefer emails over any other mode of communication. Emails however are susceptible to interception and information misuse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Healthcare data breaches<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

An email from a sender to a recipient passes through at least four different machines. Each of these machines stores a copy of the email. Also, while an email traverses the internet, it is vulnerable to interception.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the healthcare domain<\/a> communication between covered entities and patients is routine. Data breach incidents are increasing in direct proportion to the number of email users. Per recent reports as of 2020, 37% of data breaches were due to emails sent without any security, which is a HIPAA Security Rule (2003) violation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HIPAA<\/p>\n

Healthcare data security is crucial and HIPAA has laid out rules for all organizations to adhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>The HIPAA Security Rule has two main features:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The rules mandate ePHI security on workstations, servers, and during transmission.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The rule mandates a business associate agreement between the healthcare organization and its business associates. This agreement ensures two aspects:<\/span>\n