:format(webp))
HIPAA, otherwise known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act , applies to all healthcare providers, healthcare clearing houses, and organizations that send health data electronically in the United States.
Essentially, if you have access to personal healthcare data and send emails to medical patients, you must use a suitable HIPAA email disclaimer.
The financial penalties are severe if you don't include a compliant HIPAA email disclaimer on all messages . In fact, the maximum fine can be over $1.5 million for each violation and even involves up to ten years of prison time.
Now, a HIPAA disclaimer for email is only meant to inform patients. It doesn’t make a company fully compliant with HIPAA law. However, HIPAA does require that your disclaimer tells the recipient the following:
Below are our top 4 HIPAA email disclaimer examples used by healthcare organizations across the U.S. to aid in their HIPAA compliance.
WARNING: CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE – The information enclosed with this transmission are the private, confidential property of the sender, and the material is privileged communication intended solely for the individual indicated. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any review, disclosure, copying, distribution, or the taking of any other action relevant to the contents of this transmission are strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately at (xxx) xxx-xxxx or xxxx@xxxxxxx.com.
The information contained in this transmission may contain privileged and confidential information, including patient information protected by federal and state privacy laws. It is intended only for the use of the person(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution, or duplication of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
Please keep in mind that communications via email over the internet are not secure. Although it is unlikely, there is a possibility that information you include in an email can be intercepted and read by other parties besides the person to whom it is addressed. Please do not include personal identifying information such as your birth date, or personal medical information in any emails you send to us. No one can diagnose your condition from email or other written communications, and communication via our website cannot replace the relationship you have with a physician or another healthcare practitioner.
Regulations require encrypted messaging systems for confidential communications. Since our e-mail/text communications are not encrypted, it is the policy of [PRACTICE NAME] not to use e-mail/text for sharing confidential information. We are sorry if this causes inconvenience for you in receiving information from us. Please call us at (xxx)xxx-xxxx. Further information about our practice can be found on our website at www.xxxxxxx.com.
So, you now realize what you need to include in a HIPAA email disclaimer. But how are you going to apply this across your whole organization? What’s to stop an employee from removing any important text or changing the font?
Sure, you could use the native functionality of Office 365 (Microsoft 365) , Google Workspace , or Microsoft Exchange . However, you’ll end up cluttering a recipient’s inbox with lots of disclaimer text. They’ll be much less likely to read the important information contained within your email.
To overcome these limitations, you should use Exclaimer email signature management solutions . You can then ensure everyone has a suitable HIPAA email disclaimer that they can’t change. Even better, you’ll get peace of mind from managing everything within one centralized console.
Learn more about Exclaimer or get yourself a free trial to see the power of email signature software for yourself.
