Suggested Practices Regarding Electronic Communications with Patients

AutoRemind offers tools that enable you to more efficiently communicate electronically with patients. These tools allow you to send a variety of electronic communications such as appointment reminders, payment reminders, and birthday greetings, among others, by phone call, email, and SMS text messages. To minimize the risk of offending applicable laws when sending such electronic communications, you should refresh your understanding of all applicable laws and regulations, such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act), and the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act), among others. As a courtesy, below please find brief overviews of several laws that govern various aspects of electronic communications with patients. The basic information provided in this document is not an exhaustive summary of applicable laws and rules and is intended only to serve as a general and incomplete overview for your preliminary guidance.

1. HIPAA

HIPAA was enacted to protect patient data (also referred to as “Personal Health Information,” or “PHI”). Among other things, HIPAA governs the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of PHI and imposes limits upon the use and disclosure of PHI.

Because PHI includes patient names and contact information (such as email and phone numbers), it is important for healthcare practitioners to obtain patient consent in advance of communicating with the patient electronically. Consider telling your patients that, as part of your business practices, you would like to send them non-sensitive materials (such as newsletters and information about treatment, diagnosis and prescriptions), and send them appointment reminders and information regarding follow-up care.

It is imperative that in providing such information, you inform your patients that you intend to use standard, non-encrypted and unsecured means of communication. Let your patients know that they can always opt-out of such electronic communications or change their communication preferences by contacting your office. If you would like to communicate more sensitive information to your patients, you should only use a secure platform (such as a HIPAA-compliant patient portal).

For more information regarding HIPAA compliance, you can visit:

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/index.html

2. TCPA

The TCPA was enacted to protect consumers from receiving unsolicited marketing messages in the form of pre-recorded or artificial voice messages, automatic dialing technology, SMS text messaging and fax. The TCPA allows consumers to obtain monetary awards for each violation. Certain healthcare-related messages (such as appointment reminders, follow-up care reminders, and various healthcare instructions) are exempt from several of the TCPA’s restrictions. However, if you would like to contact your patients regarding products or services that may not be directly related to your patients’ health (such as marketing or sales messages) via methods that are restricted under the TCPA, it is imperative that you advise your patients that you intend to use such methods of communication, obtain their explicit consent to do so and give them the option to opt-out from receiving the intended communications. Additionally, you must record and honor any opt-out or “do not call” request made by your patients. If AutoRemind is chosen as your communication partner for your marketing and sales communications, AutoRemind will always allow patients to opt-out of electronic communications at any time.

For more information regarding the TCPA, you can visit:

https://www.fcc.gov/tags/telephone-consumer-protection-act-tcpa

3. CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act governs the sending and content of commercial and transactional emails and messages. It establishes certain requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to opt-out of emails, and imposes costly penalties for violations of its restrictions.

Commercial messages (i.e., messages that advertise or promote a commercial product or service) are the main area of regulation under the CAN-SPAM Act, and they are subject to all of the CAN-SPAM Act’s restrictions, including restrictions against false or misleading header information and deceptive subject lines. Additionally, the CAN-SPAM Act requires commercial messages to provide an opt-out mechanism, to include the sender’s valid physical postal address, and to identify the message as an advertisement or solicitation. Transactional messages (i.e., messages that facilitate an existing business relationship) are subject to less restriction under the CAN-SPAM Act, but such messages still cannot contain false or misleading header information. As a business, it is recommended that you keep the content of your messages to your patients either clearly transactional or clearly commercial in nature, and that you comply with the respective requirements that the CAN-SPAM Act imposes over each category of messages. AutoRemind makes it easier to maintain compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act and allows your patients to opt-out of communication at any time.

For more information regarding the CAN-SPAM Act, you can visit:

 Here you can download sample consent form >