While nothing is more important than good health, privacy comes a close second in marketing. In the case of marketing automation, healthcare marketers play a crucial role in upholding patient privacy, making healthcare marketing and privacy inseparable. As a result, healthcare has become one of the most heavily regulated sectors in a marketing industry already deeply concerned about protecting individuals’ data.
Healthcare marketers in the United States must comply with all the global rules and regulations covering the marketing of everyday products and services, like GDPR and CPRA, as well as the healthcare industry-specific Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
What is HIPAA and What Does It Mean for Healthcare Marketing?
HIPAA is a U.S. federal law established in 1996 to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals’ health information. It has significant implications for marketers in the healthcare sector, particularly when handling Protected Health Information (PHI) data.
Protected Health Information (PHI)
PHI refers to any information relating to an individual’s health status, healthcare provision, or healthcare payment that can be used to identify that individual. Under HIPAA, PHI includes a wide range of data, including:
- Personal Identifiers: Names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and other identifiers that can link the information to an individual.
- Health Information: Details about an individual’s medical history, diagnosis, treatment plans, test results, and other health-related information.
- Healthcare Provider Information: Information about healthcare services provided to the individual, including the names of doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers.
- Payment Information: Data related to the payment for healthcare services, including billing and insurance information.
- Demographic Information: Data such as age, gender, race, and other demographic factors that are linked to the individual’s health information.
HIPAA Marketing Rules Relating to PHI
HIPAA demands that marketers adhere to very specific rules relating to PHI. Here’s a quick overview of the various restrictions and regulations that healthcare marketers must comply with:
- Limits on data usage: Marketers cannot use or disclose PHI for marketing purposes without explicit patient consent.
- Patient consent required: Any marketing that involves PHI, such as using patient records to promote a product, must have prior written authorization from the patient.
- Restricted access to PHI: Only authorized personnel within a healthcare organization can access PHI, reducing the availability of data for marketing campaigns.
- Business Associate Agreements (BAAs): Marketers working with healthcare organizations must enter into a BAA to ensure they comply with HIPAA rules regarding data protection.
- Penalties for violations: Non-compliance with HIPAA can lead to severe penalties, including hefty fines and even jail time.
- Anonymization of data: Marketers can use health data only if it has been adequately anonymized, ensuring that individual patients cannot be identified.
- Educational content vs. product promotion: HIPAA allows marketing educational content, such as wellness tips, disease prevention strategies, or general health advice, but prohibits direct promotion using PHI without consent.
- Transparency in communications: Any communication sent for marketing purposes must clearly state whether it involves PHI and whether patient consent has been obtained.
Penalties for HIPAA Violations
HIPAA isn’t a “nice-to-know” marketing best practice; it’s non-negotiable.
Organizations that violate HIPAA regulations can find themselves facing highly punitive civil and criminal penalties.
Civil penalties for HIPAA violations will vary significantly depending on the severity and nature of the breach. Currently, the minimum fine for a violation is $137 per breach, with the maximum fine reaching up to $68,928 per incident, with an annual cap of $2,067,813 million for repeat or uncorrected violations.
Individuals who violate HIPAA regulations may also face criminal penalties. These penalties are categorized into three tiers. Tier 1, a misdemeanor, can result in up to one year of imprisonment. Tier 2, which involves more serious offenses, can lead to up to five years in prison. Tier 3, the most severe, is classified as a felony and can carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Regardless of how you look at it, these civil and criminal penalties represent a significant health risk to your business.
Promoting a More Healthy Marketing Strategy
Despite such strict and rigorously enforced regulations, healthcare marketers shouldn’t consider HIPAA a barrier to doing their jobs. Instead, it creates a framework for deploying more relevant, engaging, and trustworthy marketing campaigns, which can ultimately lead to better patient engagement and improved healthcare outcomes.
HIPAA-Compliant Marketing Automation
Just like in any other industry, successful healthcare marketing starts with great marketing technology.
The good news is that when it comes to marketing automation technology, healthcare marketers don’t have to compromise with an industry-specific platform. That’s because the emfluence marketing platform isn’t just a best-of-breed marketing automation solution. It’s also fully HIPAA compliant. This means our software adheres to all those aforementioned and strictly governed policies and procedures to ensure data is fully secure and encrypted.
This guarantee gives healthcare marketers the ability to deliver their HIPAA-compliant email marketing automation campaigns with confidence.
Learn More
To learn more about emfluence’s HIPAA-compliant marketing automation technology, contact us today at expert@emfluence.com or click here to book a demo of the emfluence marketing platform.
