Switch guide

Switching from Hushmail

Hushmail hosts your mailbox, so the usual path is a migration to PXCMail Hosted. If you use Hushmail’s forms, read the forms section first.

Paths

Hushmail with your own domain → PXCMail Hosted: full migration (mail, contacts; calendar if used), device re-setup, DNS switch. Most practices: one afternoon.
@hushmail.com or @therapyemail.com address: you will get a domain of your own (we help you buy one) and a new address; we set up forwarding guidance and a notice to clients.

What you gain

Native Outlook, iPhone and Android with device policies; 50 GB; a dedicated encryption key; automatic detection instead of a manual encrypt toggle; audit trail and evidence packs; migration and DNS done with you.

What you give up

Hushmail’s built-in forms and e-signatures. PXCMail does not do forms; we recommend Jotform HIPAA or IntakeQ and will help you move templates. If forms are central to your practice, weigh this honestly.
Opening encrypted messages with a Google/Apple/Microsoft sign-in — on our roadmap; today it is a one-time code.

Timeline

Trial + BAA; create users with the same names.
Connect Hushmail as an IMAP migration source (app password); sync runs in the background.
Cutover call: DNS switch, final sync, device setup; clients see no change if your domain stays the same.
Keep Hushmail read-only 30 days; export forms data separately.

Full comparison → · Migration guide →

What stays and what changes

Moving from Hushmail for Healthcare to PXCMail Hosted is a mailbox migration. If you own your domain, your addresses and your clients’ view of you stay the same. What changes is where the mailbox lives, how encryption is decided (detection and policy instead of a toggle) and how phones and Outlook connect (native sync with device policies instead of IMAP). What goes away is Hushmail’s built-in forms and e-signatures; you replace them with Jotform HIPAA or IntakeQ before cutover, not after. Plan a week for the sync to run and one afternoon for the cutover.

To be fair to Hushmail: it has protected therapists’ email since 1999, it signs a BAA, its recipients can open encrypted mail with a Google, Apple or Microsoft sign-in, and for a solo practitioner who runs intake through its forms it may still be the better product. Practices switch for size and control: more than a handful of clinicians, a front desk that should not have to remember a toggle, a 50 GB mailbox, a dedicated encryption key, managed devices, and an audit trail someone other than you can read.

Stays: Your domain and addresses; your mail history (migrated by IMAP); encrypted delivery to anyone, with no account on the recipient’s side; a BAA, now signed with PacinfraX at signup.
Changes: Mailbox host and size (50 GB); encryption decided by detection packs and policy, with [SECURE] to force it; Outlook, iPhone and Android by native sync with PIN and remote wipe; an archive with journaling and legal hold on Pro; a per-message audit trail; support with a 15-minute chat response.
Goes away: Hushmail forms and e-signatures (replace with Jotform HIPAA or IntakeQ). Recipient sign-in with Google, Apple or Microsoft is ROADMAP at PXCMail; today recipients use a one-time code by SMS or email. Outlook and Gmail add-ins are also ROADMAP.

How Pacific Behavioral did it

Pacific Behavioral is a group therapy practice: clinicians, a front desk and a biller, 22 seats, on Hushmail with its own domain and two intake forms linked from the website. The practice manager wanted everyone on managed phones and the encryption decision off the clinicians’ shoulders.

Week 1, Monday. Trial started; the owner signs the BAA at signup. Users created with the same names and addresses. Each Hushmail mailbox is added as an IMAP source with an app password; the sync starts and runs in the background while everyone keeps working in Hushmail.
Week 1, Wednesday. The two intake forms are rebuilt in IntakeQ, with its BAA signed. Past submissions are exported from Hushmail as PDFs into the chart system. Website links are ready to swap but not yet swapped.
Week 2, Monday evening, the cutover call. With a PXCMail engineer on the line: MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC switched; final delta sync; phones and laptops set up with native sync; the Healthcare detection pack moved from test mode to enforce. Form links swapped the same evening.
Week 2 onward. Hushmail kept read-only for 30 days. Clinicians notice that treatment summaries with a diagnosis code go out encrypted on their own, and that a client who replies to an encrypted message lands in the same thread.

Cost: 22 Hosted seats at $12 is $264 a month, billed yearly; migration was free (under 50 seats). At Hushmail’s list of $11 to $16.50 a seat, the same 22 seats are roughly $242 to $363, so for a group this size the money is similar and the difference is what you get for it.

By the numbers

Documentation the Security Rule requires must be kept six years (45 CFR 164.316); keep your Hushmail BAA and termination records that long after you leave.
A breach of unsecured PHI must be notified within 60 days, and breaches of 500 or more go to HHS and the media (45 CFR Part 164 Subpart D); mail that was encrypted per HHS guidance is not “unsecured” (HHS guidance). That is the reason to make encryption automatic rather than a toggle.

Step by step

Export. From Hushmail, export contacts (and calendar if you use it) and every form submission as PDF. List every form link on your website, in appointment reminders and in email signatures.
Prepare. Start the trial, sign the BAA, create users with the same names, turn on the Healthcare pack in test mode. Build your forms in Jotform HIPAA or IntakeQ and sign that vendor’s BAA.
Sync. Connect each Hushmail mailbox as an IMAP source with an app password. The sync runs for days in the background; nobody stops working.
DNS and cutover. On a call we switch MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC, run the final delta, and set up Outlook and phones with native sync and the device policy you chose.
After. Keep Hushmail read-only for 30 days. Swap every form link. If your address did not change, your clients need no notice; if it did, send ours.

What to check before cutover

Do you own your domain? If you are on an @hushmail.com or @therapyemail.com address, buy a domain first; we help, and we draft the client notice.
Auto-replies, forwarding rules and shared addresses: list them and recreate them in PXCMail (shared mailboxes).
Signatures and disclaimers: set them once at the organization level (disclaimers).
Older threads: spot-check a sample from each mailbox after the sync before you cancel Hushmail.
Staff briefing: encryption is now automatic; [SECURE] forces it; recipients get a one-time code and a help page in English and Spanish.

Questions practices ask before switching

Do my clients have to do anything?

No, if your domain stays the same. They email the same address. When a message is encrypted they get a notification and open it with a one-time code; no account, no app. Messages expire after 30 days by default (configurable 1 to 90) and you can revoke any time.

What happens to messages that were encrypted in Hushmail?

The IMAP sync copies what your mailbox holds. Keep Hushmail read-only for 30 days and check a sample of older threads before cancelling; keep Hushmail’s own export as well.

Can I keep Hushmail forms and move only the email?

Ask Hushmail whether they will keep a forms-only plan for you. Most practices move forms to Jotform HIPAA or IntakeQ so they hold one fewer BAA; we help move the templates.

How long does it take?

The sync runs for a few days in the background. The cutover itself is one afternoon or evening on a call. Migration is free up to 50 seats.

Is it cheaper?

Per seat, Hosted is $12 against Hushmail’s $11 to $16.50, with a $49 minimum per organization (four Hosted seats). Gateway at $6 only applies if you keep a Google or Microsoft mailbox, which Hushmail users usually do not have. Forms are a separate line either way. Pricing

Can recipients open mail with a Google or Apple sign-in like Hushmail?

Not yet. That is ROADMAP. Today it is a one-time code by SMS or email, with every open logged.