Organizations regulated by HIPAA must comply and put these practices in place. However, need to comply with regulations puts particular pressure on healthcare industry to enhance their use of technology and “catch up” with other industries of similar size and scope. Privacy and Email Security The privacy protection provisions in HIPAA pose a major compliance challenge for healthcare industry. These provisions are intended to protect patients from disclosure of any of their individually identifiable health information. Organizations that fail to protect this information face fines ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 for each instance of unauthorized disclosure. If disclosure is found to be intentional, HIPAA provides for fines ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 and possible jail time for individuals involved in violations.

The clock is ticking – it’s time to get started Bringing an enterprise into compliance with rules set by HIPAA can seem like a very daunting task to even most experienced executives. Nonetheless, growing dependence on email as a mission-critical application requires that your organization implement comprehensive security and privacy policies – and soon. A solid combination of security policies and technologies to enforce those policies can ensure improved security as well as HIPAA readiness and ongoing adherence.

Despite immediacy of new HIPAA security rule, your organization can still achieve compliance. Learn more about how IronMail helps organizations comply with HIPAA by downloading CipherTrust’s free whitepaper, "IronMail Compliance Control: Contributing to Corporate Regulatory Compliance".

4. It should go without saying that forwarding of chain letters (regardless how noble topic may seem), virus warnings or anything that says "forward to everyone you know" simply shouldn't be forwarded because it is plain old B.S. or commentary that many will not appreciate. But I have to say it because folks do so anyway.

5. If you must forward to more than one person, put your e-mail address in TO: field and all others you are sending to in BCC field to protect their e-mail address from being published to those they do not know. This is a serious privacy issue. Again, be sure to take time to type a nice little comment about why you are forwarding e-mail to recipient(s) at top of your forward.

The above 5 rules will help qualify if an e-mail is worth forwarding and right way to do so if it is. If one cannot make these extra efforts, then they really have no excuse to get mad or have hurt feelings when asked to stop. And if asked to stop forwarding, don't get mad; just realize person on other side certainly has right to make that request.

At end of day, if you fear hurting someone's feelings by asking them to stop forwarding you e-mail, know they probably meant well, were really thinking of you, were trying to make a point - ahhh, just hit delete!