Purpose: To provide email communication between patients and providers that is appropriate and secure.
1. Communication with patients can only occur after the patient has been notified of the risk associated with communicating via email and has agreed to use email after considering these risks. See the “Email Consent Message” below.
2. A copy of the patient’s email indicating agreement to use email, along with information that sufficiently identifies the patient such as full name and birth date, should be included in the patient’s medical record.
3. Appropriate correspondence should be included in the patient’s medical record.
4. If possible emails with patient health information should not contain individual patient identifiers. If email are sent that contain patient health information, then include the “PHI Message” below.
5. Guidelines should be set with your patients with whom you communicate via email. These include:
a. Do not use email for emergencies
b. Response via a given time period can not be guaranteed
c. If there is no response after a reasonable time, it is up to the patient to follow up
6. Providers may not communicate to patients whose primary residence is outside of Minnesota unless the provider is licensed to practice medicine in that state.
Email Consent Message
You have requested that we communicate with you by e-mail in regard to your private health information. Due to the risk that electronic messages can be misdirected or intercepted by unintended parties, the University of Minnesota can not and does not guarantee the confidentiality of messages sent over the Internet. In addition, messages sent to or received from work e-mail accounts also may be monitored or viewed by your employer. We do not believe that we should communicate private health information with you via e-mail unless you agree to do so, after you have considered these risks.
If you wish to communicate by e-mail, please respond to this e-mail with “I agree”. In order that we can properly record your agreement, please include your full name and date of birth.
PHI Message
Electronic messages can be misdirected or intercepted by unintended parties.
The University of Minnesota can not and does not guarantee the confidentiality of messages sent over the Internet. Messages sent to or received from work e-mail accounts also may be monitored or viewed by your employer. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the information.