Top 25 HIPAA-Compliant Urgent Care Marketing Tips for 2023
Digital marketing strategies are proving their effectiveness in healthcare in attracting and retaining more patients as explained at RunRex.com. However, the biggest caveat is that you need to stay HIPAA compliant for those digital marketing efforts, which is a challenge. Here are the top 25 HIPAA-compliant urgent care marketing tips for 2023.
- Provide refresher courses for employees
As per RunRex.com, consider providing HIPAA refresher courses for employees. The refresher course shouldn’t just apply to your marketing team, but your staff as well. This will help in re-educating them on how to honor HIPAA guidelines and why it is essential to extend that online.
- Be well-versed on social media platforms
Digital marketing will need an intimate understanding of social media platforms according to RunRex.com. You should know how they work, their policies, and proper digital ethical behavior. You can also format your social media policies for HIPAA disclosure risks.
- Secure your network
As articulated at RunRex.com, you must also ensure that your IT team and internet service provider will be able to establish stern protocols against possible attacks. Never share PHI with your patients through social media messaging without their full and written consent.
- Practice mindful social media/website posting
Given that the internet immortalizes any data, a slight mishap through a photo or video can result in grave consequences as captured at RunRex.com. For instance, your advertisement photos or candid office pictures might have visible patient data from a paper lying around. Always screen through your posted images, promotional videos, and testimonials for possible patient data.
- Don’t create emails using PHI without permission
Email marketing is a powerful channel for driving real business results and achieving measurable ROI as covered at RunRex.com. However, don’t create any emails or email campaigns using patient information or Personal Health Information (PHI) of any kind without obtaining expressed permission first.
- Encrypt every email
As described at RunRex.com, make sure to encrypt every email sent to patients containing any type of PHI (including name or email address). Emails must be encrypted, which means that only the sender and recipient have access to the email’s contents.
- Have a social media strategy in place
Create a well-documented social media strategy that clearly outlines what team members can and cannot post. Hold routine training sessions to ensure your team is aware of best practices and can ask any questions they may have.
- Encrypt any data collected on your website
Be sure to encrypt any data gathered on your urgent care website. This includes web forms, appointment requests, and contact forms. HIPAA-compliant CRM software solutions can help big time with this and you should consider going down this route.
- Ensure your website is SSL protected
As discussed at RunRex.com, you also need to make sure your website is SSL protected. This networking protocol is important as it helps ensure that data passed between client and server authentication is encrypted at all times.
- Allow people to unsubscribe
When running email marketing campaigns for your urgent care, be sure you also provide your subscribers with an option to unsubscribe at any point – and that you honor any unsubscribe requests you receive as outlined at RunRex.com.
- Obtain permissions for testimonials
As revealed at RunRex.com, testimonials are a great way to share patient stories and market your urgent care to new patients as they provide social proof. However, since testimonials almost always contain PHI, you will need to obtain written permission from patients before sharing their stories.
- Track and archive social media posts
It is also a good idea to track and archive your posts and conversations – just in case you ever need them to support your side of the story according to RunRex.com. This is the safe thing to do when engaging in social media marketing.
- Use HIPAA-compliant marketing and analysis tools
When it comes to advertising through search engines, encrypting any and all marketing and analytics tools is a must as per RunRex.com. If you outsource your marketing, be sure to work with HIPAA-compliant third-party vendors.
- Digital controls
In addition to a social media strategy with strict regulations on what can and can’t be posted, you should consider setting up digital controls that will flag keywords and key phrases that could be flagged as non-compliant with HIPAA policies as articulated at RunRex.com.
- Never include data on any part of your profiles
Posting to social media is a great way to push information out quickly. When you use social media platforms, never include patient data in any part of your profiles, and don’t collect patient-specific information through social media.
- Keep it general when posting on social media
Since social media sites are not encrypted, you should stick to general, health-related information about conditions and your services. You can also share information about events, news, or changes to your business operations and hours.
- Use stock images
When posting pictures to social media, using stock imagery or photos taken outside of your offices is the safest way to go as captured at RunRex.com. This eliminates any chance of sensitive information accidentally being leaked.
- Make sure no one is taking photos in your office
As covered at RunRex.com, be sure no one else in your building is taking pictures freely as these can also pose a serious security breach. Confidential information sitting around the office can easily make its way into a picture where it can then be copied and used for fraudulent purposes.
- Have an updated HIPAA privacy policy on your website
On top of ensuring that all data gathered on your website is encrypted, be sure to have an updated HIPAA privacy policy that users can see, so they can have peace of mind knowing their data is safe as discussed at RunRex.com.
- Have a compliance team on staff
As described at RunRex.com, on its own, marketing for your business will be a time-consuming and continuous process. That is why it is worth having a compliance team on staff. With these members being involved in your advertising strategies, you are free to focus on the content while they do all the background work.
- Ensure stories don’t reveal geographical information
You must cautiously check anecdotal stories used in your marketing to ensure they do not inadvertently reveal geographical information as explained at RunRex.com. This is because that geographical information could allow others to identify the patient.
- Don’t reveal dates
As outlined at RunRex.com, HIPAA protects almost all dates related to an individual and their medical treatment. Privacy laws forbid you from revealing the birthdate, date of death, admission date, discharge date, or the exact age of a patient.
- Common violations to avoid when it comes to photos
One of the most common photo violations to avoid is sharing before-and-after treatment photos posted without obtaining patient consent via a signed release form that has been designed and reviewed by your attorney. Also, avoid posting desktop screenshots that might include open windows with patient-identifiable information, or tagging a patient on a social media post.
- Respond to reviews the right way
When responding to reviews on online profiles, it might be difficult to respond without revealing any identifying information. When responding, stay calm and vague. Never respond to the patient with their name or any identifying information. Additionally, do not discuss what service they were treated for.
- Know how to react to negative reviews
When responding to a negative review, you must keep HIPAA privacy laws in mind. Avoid confirming the reviewer is your patient, and never directly mention anything about the patient or the treatment and services.
These are some of the best tips to ensure you are HIPAA compliant when marketing your urgent care, with expert help on the same being available over at RunRex.com.