HIPAA compliant email is vastly underutilized in U.S. healthcare, as many people working in the industry donʻt realize it can be used in their job.

What's happening: Earlier this week, I overheard a story where a tech executive in Silicon Valley could not get access to his lab results because they had not been faxed over yet.

Incredulous, he stood there in his doctor's office thinking, "why can't they just use email?"

Even in Silicon Valley, the world's heartbeat of technology, the fax machine continues its reign as the backbone of communication in healthcare. Even in 2024.

I can use HIPAA compliant email?

Yes, you can use HIPAA compliant email at your job. It's faster than sending a fax or making a phone call. It's also cheaper sending a fax. 

As a better alternative, Paubox removes the friction normally associated with sending secure, HIPAA compliant email. 

According to Dr. David Ho, owner of Van Ness Dental Care in San Francisco, his experience with Paubox is that, "it’s so easy to use, you don’t have to think about anything.”

Dr. David Ho, Van Ness Dental Care

HIPAA compliant email is relevant to my job

If you work in healthcare, here's how HIPAA compliant email is relevant to your job:

• Provider to patient communication. The most obvious use case for a HIPAA compliant email solution like Paubox is that it can be used to communicate with your patients. For example, you can use Paubox Email Suite to email patients directly from your work email address, either via Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. If you want to send transactional emails that contain PHI from your application or website, you can use Paubox Email API. If you need to send personalized marketing campaigns, either via email or HIPAA compliant text, you can use Paubox Marketing. 
• Provider to provider communication. If you need to refer a patient to another provider for treatment, rather than send a cumbersome fax, you can use HIPAA compliant email. For example, most of Dr. David Ho's peers use Paubox for patient referrals. If his practice needs to send someone to a specialist for wisdom tooth removal or a root canal, his office will simply send an email to the other practice with relevant information. 
• Provider to payer communication. Payers in the healthcare industry are organizations that collect payments, process claims, and pay provider claims. Seeing as how every business needs to get paid on a timely basis, submitting a claim via email secured by Paubox is much faster than sending a fax. 

Conclusion: Using HIPAA compliant email makes me better at my job

In conclusion, using a service like Paubox for HIPAA compliant email allows people working in healthcare to be more efficient at their job. 

Diving deeper: 

• HIPAA Compliant Email: The Definitive Guide
• Patient referrals via HIPAA compliant email
• What is protected health information (PHI)?
• The guide to HIPAA compliant text messaging