Patients and/or personal
representatives who want to communicate with their health care providers by
email should consider all of the following issues before signing an
Authorization to Email Protected Health Information:
1.
Email communications can be forwarded, intercepted, printed and stored by
others.
2. Email communication is a convenience and is not appropriate for emergencies
or time-sensitive issues.
3. Highly sensitive or personal information should only be communicated by
email at the patient’s discretion (i.e., HIV status, mental illness, chemical
dependency, etc.).
4. Employers generally have the right to access any email received or sent by a
person at work.
5. Staff other than the health care provider may read and process email.
6. Clinically relevant messages and responses will be documented in the medical
record at the provider’s discretion.
7. Email message content must include (1) the subject of the message in the
subject line (i.e., appointment request, medical records request, etc.) and (2)
clear patient identification including patient name, telephone number, and date
of birth in the body of the message.
8. The
Stone Clinic will not be liable for information lost or misdirected due to
technical errors or other failures.
9. The Stone Clinic will take reasonable measures as outlined by HIPAA to
protect patient information, but will not be liable for information that is
viewed or otherwise accessed by unauthorized parties for email messages sent or
received through unencrypted third party email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo,
Hotmail, Microsoft Outlook, and other such carriers.