How a Hospital Secured HIPAA Compliance Without Sacrificing Marketing Performance

The Problem

For starters, the OCR bulletin stemmed from the fact that many third-party trackers pair user identifiers with patient health information (PHI). Without signed business associate agreements (BAAs), these platforms became a massive issue for HIPAA compliance. This limitation struck the heart of their digital marketing strategy, which relied on platforms like Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta, and The Trade Desk.

Several point solutions claim to offer HIPAA-compliant web tracking, but like many large hospital systems, our client’s security policies prevented them from implementing quick-fix point solutions. Any new tool it adopted had to integrate into its existing server.

As if that weren't enough of a challenge, our client’s web presence included multiple websites. They needed a scalable solution to safeguard PHI across every site while preserving the ability to measure ad performance and optimize marketing strategies.

What they didn't need? Overpromising vendors suggesting duct tape solutions that only covered Google Analytics or expected them to compromise their internal security standards.

The Solution

Penrod worked closely with our client’s IT and marketing teams to ensure the integration met every requirement of their internal and external compliance needs. A customized implementation plan focused on quick wins (Google Analytics became compliant first) while planning a phased rollout incorporating Google Ads, Meta, and The Trade Desk.

Penrod Destinations addressed each of our client's multi-layered problems head-on. The result? A fully secure, compliant, and scalable privacy platform that does not compromise the performance of their marketing efforts.

Redaction Engine
The redaction engine ensured that PHI never reaches third-party platforms like Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta, or The Trade Desk. By blocking PHI at the source, Destinations quickly makes these ad platforms compliant.

BAA-Supported Flexibility
Unlike point solutions, Destinations seamlessly integrates into multiple server environments like Google Cloud Platform, Azure, and AWS, aligning perfectly with internal security policies.

Retention Without Risk
Destinations retains conversion data securely within BAA-supported environments, allowing the marketing team to optimize campaigns, and giving the legal team peace of mind that they’re doing it compliantly.

Scalability Across Marketing Platforms
Our client’s campaigns don't stop at Google Analytics, and neither does Destinations. It also makes other popular ad platforms like Google Ads, Meta, and the Trade Desk HIPAA-compliant.

Multi-Website Support
Destinations’ unified approach to safeguarding PHI complies with every one of our client's websites.

The Results

Penrod's Destinations solved a compliance problem. It empowered our client to safeguard patient data, protect its reputation, and implement impactful marketing strategies while meeting increasingly stringent HIPAA requirements.

The partnership is the backbone of an on-going strategy to protect patient privacy in an evolving regulatory environment. Together, the future looks compliant.

Compliance is hard enough. You deserve a privacy solution that works for you. If your organization is navigating challenges around HIPAA compliance and marketing performance, we'd love to help. Click here to book a demo of Penrod's Destinations platform today.

The impact of Penrod's Destinations solution was transformative. With every challenge addressed, here's what our client accomplished.