HIPAA Compliant Email for Therapists | Make G Suite HIPAA Secure

HIPAA Compliant Email for Therapists | Make G Suite HIPAA Secure

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

G Suite Options:

UPDATE: The process of signing the BAA is slightly different now with Google Workspace. Watch the update video showing you how to do that here:

When it comes to using email in private practice, HIPAA is top of mind for most of us. But it’s not always clear how to make sure your email is HIPAA-secure. I’m personally a big fan of G Suite, so in this video I break down step-by-step how to make your G Suite HIPAA-Secure.

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This video is geared for therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field.

Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Insta: PrivatePracticeSkills

Music Credit:
"Digitally Speaking" by Ikson

This video is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

If you haven’t heard of G Suite, it’s Google’s suite of services (such as gmail, docs, calendar, forms, and more) adapted for businesses.

In my opinion, G Suite is a great option for therapists in private practice.

In order to make any online software HIPAA-secure, you need to be in an BAA Agreement.

What is a BAA?
BAA stands for Business Associate Agreement. A BAA is a legal contract between a healthcare provider and a contractor. HIPAA requires that all healthcare providers enter a BAA contract when exchanging protected health information (or PHI) with a contractor.

In short, if you want to use any type of software to transmit PHI, HIPAA requires that you enter a BAA contract with the contractor of that software.

This means ALL of us intending to use email to contact our clients must sign a BAA with our email service providers in order to be HIPAA compliant

In the case of G Suite, you as the healthcare provider must enter a BAA contract with Google in order for the platform to be considered HIPAA-Secure.

How to sign a BAA with Google

G Suite only offers the BAA option to those using the paid version. At the time of this recording, G Suite costs $6 per month - a total steal of a deal!

1. Choose a G Suite Option. There are a few price points for G Suite. Pick the one that works best for you and set up an account. I’ve linked to this page in the description box

2. Continue with the Setup Process. I’ve linked below to a page that walks you through linking your G Suite to your website. I highly encourage setting this up from early on so you can have an account that ends with your name

4. Click “Company Profile”
5. Click “Show More”
6. Click “Legal & Compliance”
7. At the bottom, in “Security and Privacy Additional Terms” click “review and accept” under “G Suite/Cloud Identity HIPAA Business Associate Amendment”
8. Answer the questions and click, “I accept.”

Just because a platform is HIPAA secure, it’s still possible to use the platform in ways that are not HIPAA-Compliant.

I hope you found this helpful as you set up HIPAA-secure email through G Suite. Until next time, from one therapist to another: I wish you well!

[wasuwatsiewsrichol]

Email is one of the best ways that I teach all of my clients to stay connected with their patients. Great work

[ItsAndie]

This is really helpful! Would love to see you do a tutorial for clients exploring different insurance providers methods of reimbursement

[PrenatalYini]

Exactly what I was looking for, and so EASY! Thank you for sharing! I’m a lactation consultant in private practice. Currently setting up my business using G Suite. Wish me luck. :-)

[jutonelajoie]

Just went through this and it is updated! It’s now under account settings and then Legal and Compliance! Super helpful thanks!

[shancissell]

Thank you very much for this video. It would've taken me forever to find the HIPAA compliant BAA.

[jefftaylor]

Thank you so much for these most helpful videos. You have no idea how much I value your support!

[DDayLove]

This video was very helpful. G suites now google workspace is very difficult to navigate.

[Quarantined-jsse]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is not secure email that you showed. It is just executing your HIPAA agreement with Google.

[cmhaml]

You are the best! And I have already begun sharing your video (and two others of yours) with fellow therapists. I subscribed and am going to leave a like and comment on all 3 of these videos, because I want to promote you and your channel. Thanks again for all this excellent, excellent help!

[sandyapolinar]

Thank you so much. I was just able to do it for my new PP.

[soulventrus]

Thank you so much!!! You are such a wealth of information! Exactly what I was looking for and needed! You’ve given me hope and always give such helpful knowledge!! Very appreciative!

[TheStarlight]

Your videos have been helping me so much as I start my practice. Thank you!

[theawakenedheart]

This is so helpful (takes note of everything!) thank you! 🙏🏼 hope you’re resting.

[StephanieMcGregor-th]

I have had nothing but issues trying to sign up for workspace so that I have a BAA. Lower versions of workspace do not offer baa or hipaa compliance. However, it automatically defaults to a lower version since it is just me. Is there no easy way to do this? Getting help from google has not worked.

[amyknapp]

Thank you for all your wonderful videos! As a new clinician I really appreciate these

[blinkk]

HIPAA-enabled G Suite is my fave because of all of the included apps and integration. I tried this other one called Hushmail before but the interface felt too 1990s AOL lol.

[timjenkins]

Curious which teleprompter system you use for your videos.

[micheleruland]

I’m starting a private practice and want it to be HIPPA compliant so
I purchased a Domain, a Google business account and added Google voice . I paid for everything. I was at the point where Google was porting my cell number and it never went any further!
I need help….please.

[Enchanteralle]

Your video is so helpful as I'm working on building my practice step by step. It really helps when you have visuals to show us how to implement such programs. Thank you!

[amgjar]

I've just signed up for g suite for solo as I'm just starting out pp, but it will not acknowledge me as the administrator of my own email account. I can't get to the admin page to even sign a BAA