Blue Orchid Marketing has been mentioned on calls with our customers recently, so we decided to dig into the details of its HIPAA compliance.
About Blue Orchid Marketing
Blue Orchid Marketing was founded in 2007 as an automated marketing support system. In 2010 it became a full-service marketing agency, offering support for SEO, social media management, reputation management, website development, direct mail campaigns, and email marketing.
Blue Orchid Marketing and the business associate agreement
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. I looked thoroughly through Blue Orchid's website and found no information about whether or not the company will sign a BAA, and I saw no mention of HIPAA compliance. I chatted with a support representative, and she did not seem to know what a BAA was. She said someone from sales would email me to follow up, but no one ever did. Strangely enough, however, Blue Orchid seems to market itself to healthcare providers. Its Who We Are page states, "Blue Orchid Marketing was created in 2007 as an automated system to help doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs to market their practice." It also has blog posts on how physicians can use social media and how doctors should engage with Yelp. This seems very strange considering the company does not seem to sign a BAA.
SEE ALSO: Social Media & HIPAA Compliance: The Ultimate Guide
Is Blue Orchid Marketing HIPAA compliant?
The BAA is a key component to HIPAA compliance, and we found no evidence that Blue Orchid will sign one, even though the company positions itself as a resource for covered entities.Conclusion
We are unable to determine if Blue Orchid Marketing is HIPAA compliant or not.
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 |
| Blue Orchid Marketing | NO | NO |
| Campaign Monitor | NO | NO |
| Campaigner | NO | NO |
| Drip | NO | NO |
| Emma | NO | NO |
| GetResponse | NO | NO |
| Hubspot | NO | NO |
| L-Soft | NO | NO |
| Mad Mimi (GoDaddy) | NO | NO |
| Mailchimp | NO | NO |
| MailerLite | NO | NO |
| Marketo (Adobe) | NO | NO |
| Salesforce Pardot | NO | NO |
| SendGrid (Twilio) | NO | NO |
| Yesware | 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 inboxes. This creates friction and makes it less likely that your patients will read your marketing email.)