PSST! – Safeguarding Sensitive Information by E-Mail

Here is latest monthly blog from the HIMSS Privacy and Security Committee…called PSST!  Keep reading to learn more about this month’s topic –E-mail Encryption, by HIMSS P&S Committee member Marlowe Schaeffer-Polk, JD, DO, Physician Advisor for Crozer Keystone Medical Centers and Lee Kim, JD, FHIMSS, Director of Privacy and Security at HIMSS.

A frequently asked question about the HIPAA Security Rule is whether the Rule permits the use of e-mail communications to create, send, receive, or transmit electronic protected health information (ePHI).  The answer is that the HIPAA Security Rule does not prescribe or prohibit e-mail communications for ePHI.