HIPAA Blog

[ Monday, July 14, 2003 ]

 

E-mail issues?

There's a new study out by ZixCorp indicating that many health professionals send out e-mails without sufficient privacy or security protection. Of course, you knew that. I'm not sure what exactly counts for "sufficient," but since ZixCorp sells e-mail protection packages, I'm suspecting that they are quick to determine that what folks are doing isn't sufficient.

Of course, you should take a look at your e-mail patterns and make sure you are doing what you can to keep information safe. But keep in mind that there are few hard-and-fast rules in either the privacy or security provisions of HIPAA that dictate when you can or can't use e-mail or when you must or needn't encrypt. Don't send e-mails with PHI if you don't have to, but don't let fear of doing so prevent you from taking care of your patients in the manner that's best for them.

Jeff [5:27 PM]

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