Can We Email Patients During COVID-19?

Posted on March 11, 2021 by Meghan in Blog

Q: Can we send an email to our recent patients to inform them that we are open during the current COVID restrictions?

We know that some patients are reluctant to see their care provider in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are worried that they may have to wait in a crowded waiting room, or they are concerned about the possibility of waiting outside in the cold. They may not know about new care options, such as a phone consultations or video meetings.

Can we email our patients to let them know how we are addressing their concerns?

Update – This works for letting your patients know that you are offering vaccinations, too!

A: Yes, with certain limitations

In my opinion, if you are reaching out to **recent** patients / clients to assist them with their **current** health care questions, it is OK to send an email to let them know how you can provide health services within the current pandemic restrictions.

Here are some tips to help you review or create your procedures how to use email with your patients.

Make sure you have previously collected a patient's email address and their consent (verbal is OK, written is better) to use their email address for health service related messages before emailing them.
Do not accept work email addresses for patients; it must be a personal email address for the patient.
Update the patient’s demographic information, including the email address, regularly. Make this part of your process every visit as part of your identity verification.
Update the patient's consent to use their email address every time you have an in-person or telephone conversation with the patient.
Use a script for calling patients to update information and to get consent for using their email address

Use the EMR system to send patients appointment reminders or patient education resources related to their recent visit.

If you also want to send your patients engaging articles about your healthcare providers, services that you provide, or classes or products that you sell, I suggest that you use a system different from your EMR. Use an autoresponder email system to send your patients marketing materials, engaging articles and other pieces of information on a separate marketing email platform. Remember, your patient must opt-in to consent to receive information from you using your auto-responder system.

There are many autoresponder systems to select from, including MailChimp, Active Campaign, Constant Contact and many more.

Join me on the FAQ video to find out when you can email patients during COVID. Click the button below to watch!

Watch the FAQ video HERE!

Interested in learning more about Email Marketing to your patients / clients?

Check out this blog from Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing For Physical Therapists & Chiropractors by CallHero .

If you use Social Media to connect with your patients / clients, you might need the Practice Management Success Tip Social Media Management.

Get it here!

Show me Social Media Management

clinic, COVID-19, email and patients, health, healthcare, pandemic, public health restrictions, social media

Fax vs. Email Debate in Clinic Practices

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Jean Eaton in Blog

Which is safer to send personally-identifying information – by fax or by email?

Sending information by the (now old-fashioned) fax uses telephone technology, which is its own type of encryption – it is a direct message between the sender and receiver and is often the more secure communication solution. (Note – many fax services are now using fax to email technology which, for this article's purpose, is handled more like email.)

Email is not automatically encrypted – it is not in a code that can only be read by the sender and receiver. It is easy to forward email messages from the intended receiver to someone else or to another type of mobile device (smart phone, forwarded to another email address, multiple computers), and can be saved in many different locations. There is a greater risk of the information going to the wrong person or kept in more than one place – which creates a greater risk to the security of the information.

If you send clinical information by email referring to ‘Client J' instead of full identification, you create 2 new potential problems. If you have not completely and accurately identified the client in your clinical notation, it probably doesn't meet the standards of practice of clinical documentation. If you send a message to another provider about ‘Client J', it is likely that:

a) Someone other than the intended receiver will be able to identify the person of interest. This means that you may be sharing the client information with someone not authorized to receive it – for example, the email may get printed and left in an area that is not secure and be seen be someone not authorized to see it. This privacy breach will be, in part, the responsibility of the sender of the information – you.

b) If the information is sent without full identification, and the receiver makes an error in matching the information to the correct individual and takes further action – like notifying the client of the new action plan that may not be appropriate for them – you have potentially compromised the privacy and confidentiality of the original client and contributed to an error to the second client.

c) If the intended receiver is away, the email message might be overlooked or there may be a delay in response – which might be a delay in client service. In a fax world, there is usually more than one person assigned to monitor the incoming faxes.

Poorly managed fax communication is one of the most frequent sources of privacy breaches. Even though email is now commonly available, it doesn't mean that it is any more secure than faxes. Sometimes, convenience can create more security problems!

Keeping client information confidential and secure is a key requirement in clinical practices. Whatever methods you use, you need to ensure that you have well documented policies and procedures that meet your profession's standards of practice and legislative requirements. You need to identify the risks and strategize how best to mitigate or minimize those risks.

email, email and patients, fax, healthcare

Email and Patients – is it right for your practice?

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Jean Eaton in Blog

Just because we use email daily to communicate doesn't mean that it is the best communication method between healthcare providers and patients. The challenge is to get both the provider and the patient to appreciate the risk in e-mail exchanges.

Mary was looking forward to the course next week, “Ready to leave your job?”

Unfortunately, Mary used her work email address to register for the course. Now she was getting emails at work about looking for a new job. What if her boss or co-workers saw the emails?

Then, she thought, what if she had asked her doctor’s office to send her an email to remind her of her counseling appointments?

Sending personal information into cyberspace is like writing on the back of a postcard. Anyone can see it! It doesn’t need to have detailed personal information to be private or important to us.

Below is an outline for discussion that you can use to help you decide if using email with patients is the right choice for your practice.

What are the steps to use email with patients?

Plan. Establish clear policies and procedures about when you will – and when you won’t – use email with patients in your practice. The provider is responsible for disclosure of information and to ensure reasonable safeguards. On a case by case basis, one needs to determine what is reasonable. You need to balance the risk with the benefit of disclosing the health information. If you aren't prepared to put in the energy (and it takes effort!) to put in a comprehensive risk mitigation program, then you should not be using email to send health information or other sensitive information.

Remember- even a plain email confirming an appointment at a clinic can be sensitive if it seen by the wrong person at the wrong time!

Educate. Establish clear, consistent, easy to read and understand education to the patient about the risks of using email for sending health information. Even then, the healthcare provider, as the person of authority, still maintains the responsibility for the security of the information.

Authorize. The patient must provide their personal email address and authorize the use of email as a method of contact and the specific purpose that the email address may be used. This infers to me that the first contact with the patient cannot be by email.

Help patients understand their important role in maintaining their personal privacy.

Here is a sample authorization form that you can use:

Patient Authorization for E-Mail Communication SAMPLE

I would like to communicate by e-mail with my provider.
I have been given information guidelines about how to e-mail with my provider and have been given the opportunity to ask questions.
I will only use my personal e-mail address and personal devices to communicate with my provider (i.e. will not use work/school e-mail address or public computer as personal information could be viewed by others).
I will be responsible for maintaining any information regarding my care that I have saved onto my personal computer.
I understand that my email authorization and a copy of the e-mail guidelines I have received will be called my permanent medical record.
I agree to follow the guidelines for e-mail communication of my provider and will use e-mail for nonemergency purposes only.
E-mails containing transitory information (routine or short-term transactions, and contain little or no information of ongoing value, i.e. confirmation of appointments) will be securely deleted by the Clinic.
E-mail correspondence containing clinical or significant information will be entered into my permanent medical record by the provider.
I agree to inform my provider in writing if my e-mail address changes.
I understand that the Clinic will normally respond to email communications within ____ hours (or business days). If I have not heard from the Clinic by this time, I will phone the Clinic. This email communication may be read by someone that the provider has assigned to preview or respond to in his absence.

It is a challenge to get both the provider and the patient to appreciate the risk in e-mail exchanges and the public nature of the exchange. Walk carefully through this mine field if you go at all.

See our e-book, Can You Use Text Messaging With Your Patients for more tips, tools, and templates you can use right away!

email and patients, healthcare, Practical Privacy Coach, templates