The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute describes pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) as "a supervised medical program that helps people who have lung diseases live and breathe better."
Individuals “may need pulmonary rehabilitation if [they] have a lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). During the program, [they] will learn exercises and breathing techniques.”
According to a research letter on the Accessibility of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in the US, PR enhances exercise capacity, reduces the severity of dyspnea, and improves overall health-related quality of life.
Despite these clear benefits, access to PR remains limited, particularly for patients living in rural and underserved areas. More specifically, the abovementioned study notes, "densely populated urban areas and major cities offered the shortest travel times, with approximately 47.8% of the total US population living within a 15-minute drive of a PR program."
However, "for individuals living in rural and sparsely populated regions…many regions (representing more than 14 000 000 people) necessit[ed] more than a 1-hour drive to reach the nearest PR program."
To address this gap, healthcare providers must improve access to care. HIPAA compliant emails are a great way to support patients, enhance adherence, and expand PR program reach.
Pulmonary rehabilitation is a comprehensive program designed to address the multiple dimensions of chronic respiratory disease management. It typically involves:
Therefore, integrating these elements, PR helps patients maintain functional independence, reduce hospitalizations, and improve quality of life. Yet, as the study notes, "access to PR services remains a substantial issue, particularly for patients residing in rural areas."
According to the research letter, more than 14 million Americans, largely in rural western and midwestern regions, faced travel times exceeding one hour.
Access was particularly unequal among American Indian and Alaska Native populations, with 26.9% living within 15 minutes of a PR program, yet 29.7% living more than 60 minutes away.
Since this barrier cannot be solved simply by expanding physical facilities, healthcare providers must use technology to improve PR access.
HIPAA compliant email solutions, like Paubox, use advanced encryption, access controls, and multifactor authentication (MFA) to safeguard patients’ protected health information (PHI). Providers can use these secure emails to share sensitive information, provide education, deliver reminders, and coordinate care, even when patients cannot physically attend PR sessions.
Patients must understand their disease, recognize early warning signs, and learn self-management strategies. Providers can use HIPAA compliant email to deliver targeted educational content directly to patients’ inboxes, including:
These emails could be particularly valuable for patients facing long travel times. Instead of missing critical education due to distance, patients can access content virtually, maintaining engagement and promoting adherence to PR protocols.
While the study “relied solely on travel time and does not account for…patient-level factors such as walk distance or disease characteristics," HIPAA compliant email allows healthcare teams to address these logistical barriers. More specifically, it allows healthcare providers to:
HIPAA compliant emails can also enhance virtual PR programs, sharing secure links to telehealth sessions, and delivering individualized exercise plans and progress reports. It also allows providers to collect patient-reported outcomes, like breathlessness scores or fatigue levels, while safeguarding patients’ PHI.
The study notes, "while innovative solutions such as virtual PR can help bridge these gaps in the short term, long-term solutions will require collaboration between policy makers and those providing health care to those in underresourced areas."
Consequently, secure email is a great foundational tool that will enhance these virtual approaches.
Healthcare providers can use HIPAA compliant emails to monitor the success of their PR programs. Their secure emails can include:
Moreover, continuous communication can help patients who are far from a physical PR center stay actively involved in their care, strengthening the patient-provider relationship and leading to better health outcomes.
The research letter also found racial and ethnic disparities in access to PR programs. HIPAA compliant email can help mitigate these inequities with access to education and resources, regardless of location. Paubox email can also be personalized to create culturally tailored content for diverse populations.
These secure emails do not replace physical programs but can help lessen the geographic or systemic barriers that prevent patients from receiving their care information.
To maximize the benefits of HIPAA compliant email for PR patients, healthcare organizations can use the following practical strategies:
Tailor emails based on patient profiles, including disease severity, age, and prior engagement. For example, COPD patients could receive daily exercise reminders and weekly educational content. On the other hand, patients with pulmonary hypertension may receive tailored monitoring questionnaires and medication reminders.
Including videos, interactive forms, and links to telehealth sessions enhances patient engagement, so patients can participate meaningfully, even from remote locations.
Integrating email systems with EHRs allows clinicians to track patient engagement, monitor responses, and update care plans securely. It also maintains continuity of care and reduces the risk of miscommunication.
Paubox email can facilitate feedback loops for patients to report symptoms, ask questions, or provide progress updates. Providers can respond securely, creating a dynamic, continuous care experience.
All staff must be trained in HIPAA compliant email use, encryption, authentication, and secure storage of communications. With Paubox, emails are automatically encrypted, protecting PHI and reinforcing patient trust.
The City University of New York suggests that emails can be used “to address existing barriers to treatment, provide frontline assessment, and increase access to [healthcare] services.”
As such, providers must check that HIPAA compliant emails are formatted for accessibility with clear fonts, appropriate sizes, and high contrast between text and background colors. Additionally, email layouts should be optimized for usability and interaction, with clearly labeled buttons and easily clickable links.
Healthcare organizations should simplify the patient experience to reduce friction and encourage consistent use of HIPAA compliant email. Messages should be concise, written in plain language, and structured so that information, like next steps, appointment details, or action items, is clear. Avoiding medical jargon and long text blocks can help patients with varying literacy levels easily understand and act on the information provided.
Providers should also consider flexibility in communication preferences. Allowing patients to choose how frequently they receive emails, what types of updates they want, and whether reminders or educational content are delivered separately can improve engagement.
Personalized emails can also help reduce message fatigue, especially for patients managing chronic respiratory conditions, who may already feel overwhelmed by frequent healthcare interactions.
Furthermore, if patients hesitate to share their information digitally, providers must clearly explain security measures and obtain informed consent for electronic communications.
Finally, monitoring patient engagement, like response rates or follow-through on recommended actions, can help providers identify barriers that remain unaddressed. Patient feedback can further inform adjustments to tone, timing, and content.
Providers must use a Business or Enterprise plan, sign a business associate agreement (BAA) with Google, and use a HIPAA compliant platform to protect patient information.
Learn more: How to set up HIPAA compliant emails on Google
Paubox encrypts emails in a way that recipients do not need to install additional software or plugins to access encrypted emails, making it user-friendly.
Yes, AI-powered features can be integrated with HIPAA compliant emailing platforms, like Paubox, to automate processes like patient consent management and sending personalized emails while maintaining HIPAA compliance.