Webinar Overview

Patients have a right to communicate with their providers using convenient, everyday tools like regular email and text messaging, even when these messages contain Protected Health Information (PHI). While these unencrypted channels are effective for patient engagement, they also pose significant risks, including the threat of medical identity theft if intercepted.

Navigating this area is fraught with misinformation, often leading Covered Entities to either avoid these tools entirely (frustrating patients) or use them in a way that violates HIPAA. This webinar cuts through the confusion by explaining a straightforward, OCR-aligned 3-Step Safeguard that fully protects your organization from violations when complying with a patient's request for unencrypted communication.

We will clarify the broad, often surprising definition of PHI under HIPAA and dissect the critical rules from the OCR and CMS that dictate when you must encrypt. Furthermore, we will address the impact of the Supreme Court's TCPA decision on text messaging and why it does not provide a free pass to text patients without regard for HIPAA.

Why You Should Attend

Failing to implement the proper safeguards for digital communication is a high-risk compliance failure. This webinar provides the definitive guide to using email and text messaging both legally and effectively.

You will learn how to:

• Implement a Proven Framework: Use and document the simple 3-Step Safeguard to create a "safe harbor" from HIPAA violations when using unencrypted email and text messages.

• Clarify Patient Rights: Understand and comply with a patient's right to receive PHI through their preferred, unsecured channels.

• Identify Encryption Mandates: Know precisely when the rules require you to encrypt emails and text messages containing PHI.

• Avoid Costly Misinformation: Correct common misunderstandings about the TCPA and HIPAA that could lead to serious legal and financial repercussions.

Areas Covered in the Session

• HIPAA & TCPA Fundamentals: A brief review of key regulations, including the impactful Supreme Court decision on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

• Accurately Defining PHI: Understanding the extensive scope of Protected Health Information—it's far more than just diagnosis or treatment details.

• The Patient's Right to Choose: How to honor a patient's request for communication via standard, unencrypted email and text messaging.

• The Core Safeguard: A detailed, step-by-step walkthrough of the 3-Step HIPAA Safeguard that protects Covered Entities from liability.

• The Encryption Threshold: Clear guidelines on the specific scenarios that legally require the use of encrypted communication channels.

Who Will Benefit

This webinar is essential for all individuals and organizations involved in patient communication and HIPAA compliance, including:

• Health Care Covered Entities & Providers: Hospitals, Clinics, Private Practices, Therapists.

• Health Plans & Administrators: Group Health Plan Administrators, Third-Party Administrators (TPAs).

• Executive & Compliance Leadership: C-Suite Executives, Compliance Officers, Privacy & Security Officials, Practice Managers, Risk Managers.

• Patient-Facing Teams: Patient Engagement Specialists, Outreach Coordinators, Marketing Personnel.

• Legal Counsel & Business Associates: In-House and Outside Attorneys, Billing Companies, IT Vendors, Marketing Consultants, and any vendor handling patient communication.