When you use a patient’s email address for any type of advertising, you have to have expressed permission to use it.
Secure written permission for email collection While birthday email campaigns are a marketing trend that seems like a good idea, they are best avoided in the healthcare industry. Why? Personal information is protected - even the patient’s name or birthdate. What’s better is to leave out anything that could be personal and have at least one other set of eyes (within your practice) review the email. When you send an email that contains any personal information, the email should be encrypted. Don’t share protected health information (PHI) in campaigns 5 ways to keep your healthcare marketing plan HIPAA-compliantġ. Looking for a quick guide that’s detailed to HIPAA for Professionals? HHS.gov has you covered. Know the laws so you can strategize for your business with them top-of-mind. But to do this, extensive thought, knowledge, and planning must go into a campaign to make it successful and law-abiding. Running social media campaigns, email marketing campaigns, or even PPC ads can be done without breaking HIPAA laws. A 2016 law made it so that any business (even those with fewer than 500 patients) could be audited and investigated.įor example, this dental clinic had to pay $10,000 for social media breaches, some of which anyone could have made without realizing. And don’t think you won’t be caught because you’re small. This is good news for those who accidentally break a rule however, the goal should be to avoid any fine. That said, the cost of the violation increases depending on whether it was an unintended violation or a proved intended violation. That's a lot of money for what could have been a simple mistake. Sharing a patient testimonial on social media or using a patient's email for a campaign without permission can incur a $100 to $50,000 fine with a maximum penalty of $1,500,000 per year. HIPAA violations are very costly and hurt patient privacy, yet they are easy to make accidentally. How HIPAA requirements impact marketing in healthcare Healthcare marketers must familiarize themselves with HIPAA regulations to avoid massive fines and prevent potential campaign shutdowns. Sound like an easy success? Unfortunately, each of these activities is breaking at least one HIPAA law for marketing in healthcare. Finally, you use a “look-alike” list in the paid social to find people who match their current patients.
Then, you use client testimonials, photos, and stories on their organic social. Next, you try a retargeting PPC campaign to convert people who’ve already visited the site. To begin, you use their current patient list to run an email campaign asking for referrals. This campaign includes email marketing, PPC ads on Google, and organic and paid social media marketing.
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You're looking to run a full digital marketing campaign for your doctor's office to reach new potential patients.