Can I use a fake email address for Moz Local submission? This is for a medical practice, that has been advised not to publish an email address due to HIPAA concerns.

[irapasternack]

I work with medical practices, who due to HIPAA do not want to publish an email address in listings.

Would it cause a problem if I just submitted a non-working address (like noreply@client.com) that is not set up at all, so any email sent there would just bounce?

Obviously, one option is to use a HIPAA compliant email account, but there are other considerations (timeliness of responses related to clinical issues, for example) that make it less than ideal for a many medical practices to publish a public email address of any sort.

I'm interested in any options or solutions that could allow me to use Moz Local (which requires an email address) for businesses with HIPAA concerns.

Ira

[irapasternack]

Thanks.   I submitted a feature request:

https://seomoz.zendesk.com/entries/49105990-Make-email-address-an-optional-field-for-Moz-Local

[EGOL]

What if someone emails this phony address and does not get a prompt reply?  Is that a problem?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Ira,

I've chatted with the team and learned that we will not reject a listing with a fake address, but I do share the above concerns about a poor user experience, because that address will be published on your listings. I think the idea of setting up an autoresponder is as good as any, here, so you'd likely want to implement this.

I'd also like to suggest that you make a feature request here https://seomoz.zendesk.com/forums/293194-Moz-Feature-Requests regarding the possibility of Moz Local not making the email a required feature of the .CSV. I think you've raised an important point about medical practices!

Hope this helps!

[irapasternack]

Thanks for your help.   While we are on the topic, any idea why it is required?   I'd love it if there was a "Moz Local Light" that submitted to only the sites that do not require an email.   That would be helpful for medical practices, as well as for any other business that prefers not to use (or at least publish) an email address.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Ira,

While I know that an email address is a required field of our .CSV template you'll be filling out, I'm not actually sure if there would be negative outcomes of using a non-working address in that field, in terms of updating your listings on our partners' platforms or otherwise. Let me bring this up with the rest of the Local team to get a consensus of opinion. I'll come back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for asking a smart question!

[irapasternack]

I agree, they should.   But you  might be surprised at the number of medical practices that simply do not have a knowledgeable security advisor.

[irapasternack]

Agreed, this is precisely the option I recommend...    at the same time, I'm trying to be creative about alternatives.   In some cases, the issue is NOT keeping the email secure, as required by HIPAA, but the ability to respond in a timely fashion.   The autoresponder should handle this issue, but not all clients understand.

[EGOL]

This medical practice should have a security advisor who they can go to for answers on this type of question.   They are who you should be asking.

[LesleyPaone]

I think if it was me and my client, what I would recommend is getting a HIPPA compliant email hosting account and making a submission email with it. Then setting an auto responder to the email account telling them that it is not checked. Also I might try to put a disclaimer some where in the listing as well not to email medical issues.

You can only hurt your business so much by being compliant to peoples stupidities.