HIPAA Compliant Direct Mail: A Guide to Data Security in Healthcare Marketing

Every industry can use direct mail marketing to gain new customers and maintain good relationships with the existing ones - and healthcare is no exception. However, the matter is slightly more complex in this case, as all of it needs to be done in compliance with HIPAA, making sure that the healthcare organization’s patient data remains protected. 

What are the requirements to make direct mail HIPAA compliant? What are some of the best practices as far as HIPAA-compliant direct mail marketing campaigns are concerned? You’ll find the answers to these and more questions below. 

How Can the Healthcare Industry Use Direct Mail?

The main reason behind using direct mail is marketing - however, there’s another, although less common, way to use direct mail in business, and that is to send operational mail, such as bills and invoices. 

That being said, there are plenty of ways in which just about anyone associated with the healthcare industry can utilize direct mail among both potential and current customers, including: 

• Bills, invoices, explanation of benefits letters
• Announcements of special events, including fairs, workshops, seminars, etc. 
• Marketing copy involving expert content, for example, lifestyle tips from professionals
• Appointment reminders
• Thank you notes

Why Use Direct Mail in Healthcare 

Since you know how direct mail can be used, let’s now move on as to why it should be used - after all, there are so many other marketing strategies, so what makes this one different? Well, there are several reasons why one should consider using it, some of which include: 

Direct Mail Caters to All Age Groups

When it comes to using marketing means like social media, they are effective in targeting younger audiences - however, not as much when you want to target older generations. Of course, there might be some older people who are savvy in technology and comfortably use social media applications, but in general, it’s a lot harder to reach them via those channels than it is with direct mail. This is mainly because, no matter the age, everyone receives mail in their postbox. 

Direct Mail Involves Less Competition

Many business people today believe that there’s no point in investing in direct mail, as this marketing channel is slowly dying. There couldn’t be anything further from the truth, however, as direct mail marketing is alive and well. This mindset gives you an advantage, though, as not as many business owners are willing to make it a part of their marketing strategy as would be the case with other channels like social media. 

Direct Mail Is Personalized

If you want to target a specific group of people, direct mail might be your best bet. You can select who you will receive your mail based on factors such as age, gender, geographical area, or needs, among other things. 

Direct Mail Makes Your Brand Memorable 

It’s no secret that an average person receives hundreds, if not thousands, of emails every week, making it easy to forget what you saw a few hours prior. The same goes for social media ads - while easier to remember, a regular person is exposed to several of them every day. 

All in all, marketing campaigns using means that users are exposed to several times a day, while helpful in reaching a larger audience, in most cases do not have enough impact to be memorable. Direct mail, on the other hand, is unique. As mentioned, there is not as much competition, meaning that it’s easier for someone to remember a flier they received along with five other letters than an email that’s already been replaced by twenty more. 

Healthcare Direct Mail Campaigns - Example

One non-profit organization used direct mail to get in touch with families who have recently moved to their area of operation and who might have been looking for a new healthcare provider in a convenient location. 

The postcards they sent included a QR code that directed them to a page dedicated towards those specific people rather than a page for all potential customers, which not only made it easier for them to reach information applicable to their situation but could also serve as a metric to measure the effectiveness of the campaign, specifically how many of those that received direct mail actually opened it and visited the organization’s page. 

How to Stay Compliant with HIPAA when Sending Direct Mail 

As a healthcare provider who wants to engage in a direct mail marketing campaign, you need to do your best to stay as compliant with HIPAA as possible - otherwise, if something goes wrong, and, for instance, patient information gets into the wrong hands, you might not only lose your reputation and customers but also face legal battles depending on the severity of what happened. 

So, here are some tips on how you can market yourself while still following the HIPAA guidelines. 

When creating HIPAA-compliant direct mail targeted toward potential customers, there are two things you need to keep in mind: 

• If you’re planning on putting on testimonials from people who are already your patients or customers of your healthcare business (e.g., a pharmacy), you need to first obtain their permission to do so. 
• When looking for new patients/customers, make sure not to target them based on their health status, as that might be seen as a violation of PHI and HIPAA. 

Your copy can be personalized, but it shouldn’t be specific. That’s why, when preparing direct mail materials, you should use neutral language. Don’t mention any specific medical conditions or treatments that could be used to identify a person or their health condition. 

Explain why the person who got the direct mail was considered suitable for it. Is it because they recently moved? Or maybe because of factors like their age or gender? Always make sure to add a disclosure with the reason. 

Another thing you need to do to ensure that you stay compliant with HIPAA during your direct mail campaign is to use only secure packaging. This means, for example, sending postcards in envelopes rather than on their own or using packaging that is not easy to rip at all. 

If your direct mail involves technology, for example, CDs or USB sticks, you also need to make sure that they are appropriately protected, e.g., you can establish a password needed to access the information on it. 

When sending direct mail, it’s always better to use a form of shipping that requires the recipient to sign a document that they’re the person who was supposed to receive the package and that it reached them. This way, you can be sure that it went to the right person. 

Also, make sure to have a written set of rules your employees need to follow in order to handle PHI in an appropriate way. Even if you trust them to do a good job every time, it’s still good to have a written manual that they can reach out to in case of any doubts. 

Finally, if you’re using a third-party provider for any of the steps of a direct mail marketing campaign, such as printing or shipping, it’s important that you sign Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with them. Those are legal contracts that, if signed, bind the other party to stay HIPAA compliant and make sure that PHI is handled securely. 

The Bottom Line 

Direct mail is a great way to obtain new customers and stay on good terms with the existing ones in any industry. However, in some of them, such as healthcare, the whole process requires more control than in others, as there are certain requirements that a direct mail campaign needs to follow.

In this case, that would be HIPAA - any organization within the healthcare industry that wants to engage in this type of marketing needs to make sure that their patients’ information is in no way used, and even if it is, it’s in a way that wouldn’t allow for identification of specific individuals. 

Based on this article, you should have at least basic knowledge about what to do in order to make sure that your direct mail copy stays HIPAA compliant. It might take some work in the beginning, but once you see the results, you will realize it was all worth it. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is HIPAA? 

HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It was first enacted in 1996 by the United States Congress and signed by President Clinton, and over the years, it has undergone several changes. 

The Act was introduced for two reasons. The first one was to make sure that any individual is able to retain health insurance even when going between jobs if they wish to do so, while the second was to create a sense of accountability among healthcare providers and ensure PHI (Protected Health Information) is handled by them in a secure and confidential way. 

What is PHI? 

PHI is an abbreviation for Protected Health Information, and it refers to any information held by “covered entities” in reference to a person's health, including the patient’s health status, treatments, and payments for receiving healthcare that can be used to identify them.

Some of the things that are included within PHI include insurance information, laboratory tests, records of doctor’s visits or prescriptions, but also more general information like name, any address related to the patient, Social Security number, dates (without the year), phone number, and more. 

As for “covered entities,” those can be divided into three categories: 

• Healthcare providers - examples include doctors, clinics, pharmacies, nursing homes, etc. 
• Health plans - this category includes health insurance companies, HMOs (Health Management Organizations), or government programs that finance health care (e.g., Medicare). 
• Healthcare clearinghouses - this category is used to refer to entities that receive non-standard health information and convert it into a standard or the other way around. 

Additionally, there is something called “business associate,” which refers to companies that, to some extent, perform tasks requiring the use or disclosure of PHI on behalf of a covered entity. A good example would be a doctor employing a lawyer whose scope of work involves PHI. 

What can happen if I don’t follow HIPAA regulations? 

If your marketing campaign ends up breaking one or more of HIPAA regulations, there are a few things that can happen, and which will apply to you will depend on the severity of what happened. Generally speaking, it could end in a fine or, in more severe cases, in criminal charges.