Over the years, clinical communication has witnessed a significant change. The advent of digital media and telemedicine has reduced in-person interactions in the sector, especially following the pandemic. According to a 2021 survey, 80% of healthcare consumers showed an inclination toward digital channels, such as virtual visits and online messaging, to communicate with their providers.
Healthcare IT News reports that clinics may lose 55% of their patients if they fail to implement seamless digital communication. For this reason, providers are going the extra mile to ensure these channels operate smoothly.
Email, of course, has emerged as a major communication channel, with its ability to facilitate the fast and secure delivery of information. While emailing reports and information sounds easy, securing data in emails can be challenging, considering the prevailing cyber threats.
Additionally, healthcare organizations must follow the email retention aspects of HIPAA compliance protocol, which continues to evolve. Email archiving is the process of saving and storing email communications systematically, so as to maintain HIPAA email compliance and prevent penalties in the long run.
In this article, we will highlight HIPAA’s email archiving and retention guidelines that healthcare providers must follow to meet regulatory requirements.
HIPAA-Compliant Email Archiving: What It Means
HIPAA lays down stringent guidelines to protect the security and privacy of patients’ health information. These include rules regarding the safekeeping of protected health information (PHI) in emails. Additionally, these emails should be archived and retained for future use, similar to the requirements for any other health record.
HIPAA-compliant email archiving guidelines include measures to secure emails and ensure their retrieval when required. This usually happens during legal inquiries, audits, and disaster recovery. The guidelines stipulate how emails should be protected, how long they should be retained, and what measures are required to recover data when needed.
Here are a few key guidelines organizations must follow to ensure HIPAA-compliant email archiving:
- Retention Period
HIPAA does not indicate the exact retention period for email archives for healthcare companies. However, providers can follow other federal and state laws to retain medical records.
For example, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, providers submitting cost reports must retain patient records for a minimum of five years after the closure of these reports. Similarly, Medicare-managed care program providers need to retain their records for 10 years.
On a state level, Arizona requires providers to retain records for at least six years following the patient’s most recent appointment. These laws vary considerably from state to state, though. Arkansas hospitals, for example, must retain adults’ records for 10 years after discharge and keep the master patient index data permanently. Providers must follow these regulations as part of their email retention policies.
- Data Security
When it comes to email archiving, data security is another aspect that cannot be overlooked.
Last year witnessed a breach of over 124 million health records in 725 hacking incidents. These numbers highlight the importance of using encryption to protect emails containing PHI against unauthorized access.
- Audit Controls
HIPAA also requires providers to implement audit controls to monitor access to email archives. A proper audit control process helps them detect and respond to unauthorized access or other security incidents affecting email archives.
- Disaster Recovery
A disaster recovery plan is another key element of HIPAA-compliant email archiving. It ensures that archives can be restored after data loss if disaster strikes in the form of a system outage, cyberattack, or a natural disaster.
Best Practices for HIPAA-Compliant Email Archiving
HIPAA-compliant email archiving may seem like a lot of work, considering the requirements it entails. However, small and large organizations can implement them by following these actionable best practices.
Outline Clear Archiving Policies and Train Your Staff
Human error is at the heart of most cybersecurity incidents. That means organizations must prioritize sealing this weak link to protect the email archives they retain over the years. Developing comprehensive email archiving policies is a great start. Ensure that they clearly specify how emails should be archived, accessed, and retained.
Further, document these policies and communicate them to all staff members to keep them on the same page. Also, implement training programs to explain the importance of compliance and educate team members about following the established procedures.
Protect Sensitive Data with Encryption
PHI in email communications should be protected from unauthorized access, both at rest and in transit. Encryption is the ideal solution as it adds an extra layer of safety for the sensitive data in emails.
Even if a hacker intercepts an email, they cannot read the information without the encryption key.
Ensure Regular Backups
Regular backups can help healthcare providers to recover data in the event of a disaster.
Ideally, real-time or daily backups can minimize data loss during breaches or system failures. Implement a robust backup strategy and ensure secure storage of backup copies.
Continuously Monitor Your Email Archive
Continuous monitoring of email archives is another measure to detect potential security threats and ensure HIPAA compliance.
You can do this with monitoring tools that can track access to email archives, identify suspicious activities, and generate alerts for unauthorized access attempts.
Maintain HIPAA-Compliant Email Archives
HIPAA-compliant email archiving and retention is something healthcare organizations should not get complacent about. By implementing these measures, providers can ensure the security and accessibility of PHI in emails. Additionally, they can stay ahead of the regulatory standards set by HIPAA and prevent the penalties and legal hassles related to non-compliance.
