My wife recently told me that the saying, "cold as hell" is incorrect. It's actually, "cold as hail." Apparently this is a viral TikTok thing?
Being naturally skeptical, I started researching. But every Google result came from TikTok, Threads, Reddit...nothing reputable.
So I kept digging down this rabbit hole of etymology. And as it turns out, "cold as hell" is the correct saying. Different cultural and religious traditions (like parts of Norse mythology and Dante’s Inferno) describe hell as an extremely cold place. In Dante’s Inferno, the deepest circle of hell is a frozen lake, which is where the saying originally comes from.
So to recap, "cold as hail" isn't a saying. It never was. And "cold as hell" has linguistic history and common usage on its side. Case closed.
Now that we've put that debate to rest, let's move on to the rest of this newsletter...which is supposed to be about healthcare marketing...not Dante's Inferno.
Anyway, here’s what’s new this week:
Ad Performance product update
See you in Puerto Rico or Vegas?
Class action lawsuits
Let's get into it...
Product Update
Measuring the true impact of digital advertising in healthcare has always been...difficult to say the least. But it doesn’t have to be.
Our latest product release makes it easier to track and prove marketing ROI while staying HIPAA-compliant.
With this approach, you can:
Accurately measure ad performance without exposing PHI.
Gain full visibility into campaign effectiveness with compliant tracking.
Optimize budget allocation based on real, privacy-safe insights.
Healthcare payers, join us for an evening of bold flavors and big ideas at La Central by Mario Pagán, steps from the RISE Medicare Marketing Summit. Connect with payer leaders, share insights on privacy-first engagement, and discover how Freshpaint enhances outreach while ensuring HIPAA compliance. Sign up now!
Join us at the iconic Sphere for an unforgettable evening during HIMSS 2025! Experience the V-U2 Immersive Concert Film, where U2’s performances come to life through state-of-the-art visuals and sound. Network with fellow healthcare marketing leaders while enjoying appetizers, beverages, and an experience like no other. Save your seat here.
Sphere Las Vegas: U2 Experience Immersive Concert Film
On-Demand Webinar In this on-demand webinar, we’ll show you how to enhance ROI by linking appointment data to your campaigns, supercharge your Google Ads performance with accurate data for better bidding, and gain end-to-end insights into the patient journey. You'll also get a chance to explore how to optimize your marketing budgets with privacy-compliant ROI insights to help secure growth.
Join marketing and healthcare strategy leaders as they explore the results of an insightful survey on payer marketing, shedding light on how payers are allocating budgets, implementing funnel strategies and tackling privacy challenges to drive growth and compliance in an evolving landscape. Watch the webinar here.
Healthcare marketers face stiff competition from providers and retail giants, making exceptional online experiences crucial. Privacy concerns, however, add complexity. To overcome this, you need a privacy-first foundation that safeguards data while enabling personalization. Watch this on-demand webinar to explore full-funnel strategies and learn how St. Elizabeth Healthcare delivers personalized experiences at every stage of the consumer journey.
Freshpaint's Compliant Corner
The rest of this newsletter is all about a growing threat in healthcare: class-action lawsuits over data privacy. And they’re everywhere.
In the past year alone, more than 200 class-action lawsuits have been filed against hospitals and health systems over alleged privacy violations. We asked a healthcare lawyer if that number was high or low. Their response? "Unprecedented."
Yikes.
Hospitals and health systems have become prime targets, navigating a maze of privacy laws while facing legal challenges over tracking technologies, data-sharing practices, and inadequate disclosures. From HIPAA to the FTC Act to an evolving patchwork of state laws, the compliance landscape is only getting more complex.
To reduce risk, healthcare organizations should:
Audit tracking technologies to ensure compliance with HIPAA and state laws.
Obtain proper patient consent before collecting or sharing health-related data.
Implement privacy-first tracking solutions that safeguard patient data while enabling marketing performance.
With regulators and plaintiffs’ attorneys increasingly focused on health data, proactive compliance is critical to avoiding legal and financial risks.
Not a great day for Amazon. The e-commerce giant is facing one of the first major lawsuits under Washington’s My Health My Data Act (MHMDA), accused of misleading consumers about how it collects and uses their health-related data. The lawsuit claims Amazon failed to properly disclose its data practices and may have shared sensitive health information without adequate consent.
This case signals that state-level health data privacy laws are becoming a serious compliance risk for companies handling consumer health data. With Washington’s MHMDA setting a new standard, other states could follow suit with stricter enforcement. We expect more legal actions as regulators crack down on privacy violations.
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