Since the pandemic, lawmakers and healthcare professionals alike agree there should be fewer in-person doctor visits. In fact, Congress is working on legislation to make telehealth more accessible (and more affordable).
However, telehealth providers, large healthcare organizations, and everyone in between still need to ensure their mail management is HIPAA-compliant. And that’s where virtual mailboxes come in.
A virtual mailbox can serve as a compliant bridge to patients for telehealth practices or a managing service for larger organizations. Here, we’ll look at how virtual mailboxes work, why they’re necessary, and which services stand above the rest.
A virtual mailbox is a service that digitizes physical mail, so you can conveniently review and take action on all correspondence from your computer or phone. It offers you a real physical mailing address for your business, rather than P.O. box, allowing you to process mail off-site instead of in-house.
Healthcare professionals can use a virtual mailbox to:
When you sign up for a virtual mailbox, your mail service provider receives and processes all of your mail and packages on your behalf. They scan the envelopes and upload the information to your secure inbox, so you can view each piece of mail and decide what to do with it.
You can request that your provider open the item and scan and upload a copy to your mailbox or forward it to any location you choose. If it’s unwanted mail, your virtual address provider will securely shred and dispose of it for you.
Mail service providers like Stable offer different addresses to choose from. So you can select one nearby for easy mail pickup, or you can choose an address in a prestigious area to give your business more legitimacy.
To get the process started, simply choose your provider and fill out USPS Form 1583, and your new mail service will take it from there. (Tip: Some providers — like Stable — will fill out Form 1583 for you!)
P.O. boxes and virtual mailboxes are both managed by third-party providers. However, a virtual mailbox uses a real street address rather than the standard P.O. box designation.
A P.O. box also has more restrictions, meaning not all healthcare businesses can take advantage of the service. In some areas, you may not be able to register your business, open a business bank account, or file your taxes using a P.O. box address.
Finally, a P.O. box only accepts USPS mail. You can’t receive packages from FedEx or UPS, and the post office will not digitize your documents nor provide mail management support.
Depending on the size and nature of your organization, a virtual mailbox may be more of a necessity than you realize. Whether you’re bursting at the seams, constantly on the move, or growing your business from scratch, here are the core benefits of using a virtual business address.
Protected health information (PHI) falls under HIPAA regulations, and any violations can incur steep fines from the Department of Health and Human Services. HIPAA updates occur more often than even healthcare administrators realize, so it’s easy to unintentionally violate a rule or become non-compliant.
A quality virtual address provider will have multiple safeguards in place to keep your mail under lock and key. Providers like Stable offer robust security measures, such as data encryption, access control, and secure shredding, going beyond the suggested standards to cover all the bases.
Digital access eliminates the need to manage mail at your physical site. If you have a high volume of mail, whether it’s junk mail or patient documents, remote access offers a more efficient way to manage the flow.
For telehealth providers or traveling professionals, a virtual mailbox provides full access to your mail while keeping your home address private. Once you review the correspondence, you can assign action items to each piece of mail.
A virtual mailbox costs a fraction of what standard office space goes for, and you might be surprised by how much time you can save by outsourcing mail management.
Andros, a healthcare company that streamlines the credential process for new hires, saved 20 hours a month by handing their mail management over to Stable.
If you provide telehealth or traveling healthcare services, you can also use a virtual mailbox to file your taxes and register your LLC — without disclosing your home address to the public.
Virtual mailboxes are popular with businesses and individuals alike, so there are plenty of providers to choose from. However, healthcare companies have to prioritize HIPAA compliance when selecting a virtual address provider, as not all of them offer this feature.
Here, we’ll look at the top contenders and review their services, features, and pricing, so you can choose a reliable, practical, and secure service that fits your budget and your needs.
Thatch is a virtual mailbox that markets itself as HIPAA-compliant. It provides ChatGPT mail summaries, shredding, and mail receipts, allowing providers to summarize content, securely discard mail, and document delivery.
However, Thatch does not offer a registered agent service, which is a valuable resource for busy healthcare professionals. A virtual mailbox from Thatch is $45 per month, or you can bundle it with phone, fax, and email for $60 per month.
Legal Zoom is a popular virtual mailbox option that also provides help with legal services, like trademark assistance and annual reporting. They offer a wide array of physical addresses, making it easier to find a location near you, and they also provide add-on services like check depositing and parcel storage.
The downside is that, despite Legal Zoom’s affiliation with the legal world, they don’t guarantee HIPAA-compliant virtual addresses for healthcare professionals. Legal Zoom starts at $29 per month for lower-volume businesses and goes up to $70 per month for larger organizations.
Secure Scan is a HIPAA-compliant virtual mailroom and medical record scanner. The service implements access monitoring and data encryption to secure PHI data and offers seamless EMR integration for more comprehensive digital records.
Like Thatch, Secure Scan doesn’t offer a registered agent option. In addition, you have to pay for two separate services if you require EMR integration, which can quickly run up your expenses.
Secure Scan offers custom quotes for its virtual mailroom service and charges by the box for medical record scanning. The website offers a handy pricing calculator to help you estimate costs.
Virtual Post Mail caters to businesses and digital nomads, and it’s one of the more flexible options on our list. With Virtual Post Mail, customers enjoy two-factor authentication, a registered agent option, robust on-site security for every location, and Business Associate Agreements (BAA) to outline their HIPAA policies.
However, Virtual Post Mail doesn't have its own mail storage platform. Instead, the provider stores your mail in Amazon’s cloud, which can potentially increase security risks. Virtual Post Mail starts at $20 per month and scales through several packages to top out at $90 per month.
Stable is a leading choice for healthcare providers, thanks to our strict compliance with all HIPAA and SOC 2 regulations. With Stable, you get access to a variety of features, including:
Stable offers three business plans: Grow, Scale, and Custom. The Grow plan is $49 per month and includes unlimited business mail reception, mail viewing, open and scan, check deposit, and access for up to three users. With the Scale plan, priced at $89 per month, you can add on search tags, integration features, and unlimited user access.
If you require additional services or high-volume mail management, the Custom plan allows you to personalize your features and choose exactly what you need.
While there’s no shortage of virtual mailbox providers for healthcare, choosing the wrong one can threaten everything from your workflow to your legal status.
When you partner with Stable, you can trust our robust functionality and comprehensive security to protect both your and your patients’ sensitive data. Stable streamlines mail management for healthcare providers, so they can spend more time doing what matters — caring for their patients.
If you’re ready to take mail processing off your plate without compromising patient privacy, create a Stable address today!
