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Is HubSpot HIPAA compliant?

Is HubSpot HIPAA compliant?

A customer recently asked us about whether they were able to use HubSpot in a HIPAA compliant manner. We know the HIPAA industry is vast so we can empathize with just how many people need to use cloud-based services in this sector.

Today we will determine if HubSpot offers HIPAA compliant email for marketing or not.

 

HubSpot

HubSpot is a developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing and sales. It was founded by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah in 2006. Its products and services provide tools for social media marketing, content management, web analytics and search engine optimization.

See also: Inbound Marketing (Revised and Updated): Our Takeaways

See also: HubSpot and AWS Meetup: Partnerships, Startups, and HubSpot Ventures

See also: Our Takeaways from The Sales Acceleration Formula

 

What is a business associate?

A business associate is a person or company that performs certain functions or activities that involve the use or disclosure of protected health information (PHI) for a covered entity. In a nutshell, the role of a business associate is to help covered entities comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule. In the case of HubSpot, it would certainly qualify as a business associate if it provides services to covered entities.

 

Business associate agreement provisions

If a business associate provides services to a covered entity, then a business associate agreement (BAA) must be in place. A BAA is a written contract between a covered entity and a business associate and is required by law for HIPAA compliance. At a minimum, a BAA contains 10 provisions.

Read full article: Business Associate Agreement Provisions

 

HubSpot and the business associate agreement

We checked the HubSpot site for mention of a BAA. We found the answer we were looking for on HubSpot's Terms of Service page.

 


You may not use the Subscription Service if you are legally prohibited from receiving or using the Subscriptions Service under the laws of the country in which you are resident or from which you access the Subscription Service. The Subscription Service is not designed to comply with industry-specific regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), or the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), so you may not use the Subscription Service where your communications would be subject to such laws.

 


In addition, we found several references to HubSpot's inability to service the HIPAA market in the HubSpot Community pages:

 

Does HubSpot offer HIPAA compliant service?

The BAA is a key component to HIPAA compliance between a covered entity and a business associate. On its Terms of Service page, we clearly see that HubSpot is not in the business of providing HIPAA compliant service.

 

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.)

 

Try Paubox Marketing for free and make your email marketing HIPAA compliant today.

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