HIPAA compliance – top priority in medical software development

Penalties for HIPAA violations are cruel but having your business HIPAA compliance friendly will guarantee peace of mind and perfect reputation. Here is our step-by-step guide to you becoming a security expert.

HIPAA compliance requirements embrace a lot. Privacy, first of all. The patients’ right to have their sensitive data safe so that no third party has access to it. By the way, if you are interested more about Protected Health Information, we recommend you to join our 7 minute read here. Then comes Security of all kinds – technical, corporate and physical safety means (you can see the examples of each on the figure below). Actual Implementation of Rules is meant to do the necessary inspections when data breach occurs. It is followed by the Breach Notification, naturally, all the important stages of it should be followed. And finally, the Compilation of business allies.

So, our main question is – how can we manage to live in accordance with all these requirements? Let’s dive deeper now and see what the requirements look like in 2022. As the owner of a healthcare business you have to make sure your company faces HIPAA rules. Financial punishment is not in our plans, right? Even with no data breaches, there may be precautionary sanctions and fines, but if the breach does happen, that is already a criminal responsibility. So let us not play with fire as ignorance of the laws is a very bad excuse and it will never be taken seriously. The officials hardly care whether the crime resulted from something accidental or it was a willful disrespect.

Which kinds of businesses have to follow HIPAA compliance?

Companies of two types are referred to the HIPAA regulation field – Covered Entities and Business Associates. The first ones create or gather patients data, or share it digitally. Insurance companies, financial institutions, health care providers fit this category.

The companies of a second type deal with protected health information during the processes where the data was compelled to display for a covered entity. It may be a cloud storage provider, or some billing organization, an IT office or an attorney, ect. There are many examples, in fact, but we suppose you have already got the essence. 

A reasonable question occurs at this point about HIPAA compliance software – whether it should be the same for both types of companies described above. Not really. It is true that both of them must follow all requirements of HIPAA. Nevertheless, a covered entity needs more extensive supervision through the legislative intricacies. 

Talking about covered entities, the most substantial feature of the software is determined by the fact of disagreements between the efforts made and how they work in reality. Some companies may find breach notifications the most important, others will need to focus most on the risk assessment, etc. 

Figuring out where these differences are in your business exactly, an expertise may be needed and our ZenBit team offers you a helping hand in that. Just leave us a message or call. 

Same goes with business associates, the features to focus on the most are very individual. Yet, the cool advantage of HIPAA compliance software for the companies of this type is assisting in a better perception and knowledge of contracts. As a rule, business associates tend to sign agreements that have no valuable meaning and could be avoided, instead they become open and unprotected if an issue occurred at a covered entity. Keep in mind any suspicious offers of compliance services like fast and cheap certificates for around 15 dollars or less than an hour – they won’t do for your business reputation. Anything that has less than 100% compliance rate is not worth your attention. We also recommend you to set a nice habit of first source monitoring HIPAA journal. There you will find everything that your company needs to stay compliant.

Recommended Software

The most effective HIPAA compliance software is a complete all-inclusive scheme that guides users through all the steps from setting up, staff training and further regular maintenance. The modern ones have important templates like contracts or data breach reporting documents, etc. This way a lot of time is saved for those who are responsible for compliance policies. 

That’s why the most helpful HIPAA compliance software is the one that makes everything easier, faster and more effective. 

Consider a software for your staff security culture education. It will guarantee that every member of your team is aware and responsible. 

It is also great for your healthcare company to have, for example, such solutions that make it possible to share self-audits with your business partners. Moreover, you can also access the outcomes of those audits at any time as well as monitor each of your contrats. 

And finally, you should find a good and trustworthy advisor for routine consultations on HIPAA updates and evaluation of your company’s progress.

HIPAA Compliance Checklist

Following these simple steps you ensure the honest and respectable workflow of your company. 

• All mobile devices should have data encryption and they must be protected from any wildcat usage. Remote wipes are cool when the sensitive data has to be erased. 
• Check whether your policy-making efforts go in accordance with the Privacy and Security requirements, do not forget about the staff education and training. Remember about data access and administrative strategy in use. This way you empower your business with tools for an effective HIPAA compliant style of work. 
• The newest versions of software updated go without saying. 
• Keep all the safety devices and software in order. Having centralized data access tactics is an optimal way for a nice and steady compliance supervision. 
• Review your Business Associates, they must be compliant too, and their issues affect your company directly. 
• Choose technology partners with a good reputation. They will empower you with save data sharing tools, cloud storage, and reliable software. 
• Appoint a HIPAA Compliance Officer for the best management.