While trying to sell their services and software, many businesses are facing questions from healthcare organizations “Is your software HIPAA certified?” or “Do you have HIPAA Certification?” or “Are you HIPAA compliant?” and many more of similar nature.
What is HIPAA-compliant Software?
HIPAA compliant software refers to software applications and systems that comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations in the United States. HIPAA sets standards to protect sensitive patient health information, ensuring its confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Software that is HIPAA compliant typically includes features and safeguards to secure electronic protected health information (ePHI). This may involve encryption, access controls, audit trails, and other security measures to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure of patient data.
In a nutshell, if a software product is HIPAA compliant, it means it meets the necessary security and privacy requirements to handle sensitive health information by HIPAA regulations.
All covered entities are trying to ensure they meet the HIPAA Privacy and Security rule requirements to comply with HIPAA regulations. To achieve total HIPAA compliance, it is also necessary that all third-party tools, applications, and software meet HIPAA compliance requirements.
By ensuring that the third-party software, tool, or application is HIPAA compliant, covered entities reduce the chances of HIPAA violation. Different software will have different requirements based on the functionalities & processes performed by the software.
HIPAA compliant software is a requirement to ensure that all the privacy and security guidelines for HIPAA are being met.
Healthcare Software Developer: Things to Consider for Achieving HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA regulators recommend that covered entities collaborate with their software vendors to create software aiding privacy and security rule compliance. Consequently, during the systems design requirements analysis phase, clients (covered entities) may inquire how your system design aligns with various HIPAA security rule standards. In some instances, software applications may need to be redesigned or adjusted to meet individual covered entities’ specific security compliance objectives.
When developing software related to Protected Health Information (PHI), the HIPAA Security Compliance Officer on the client side will likely provide input into the design requirements.
The HIPAA security rule establishes criminal and civil liability in cases where covered entities face security breaches due to the non-implementation of required standards outlined by the security rule. Informed healthcare software developers recognize that this, coupled with potential cost savings, is a significant motivator for covered entities to pursue compliance.
Software developers should be mindful of the objectives of the HIPAA security and privacy rules, aiming to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information. PHI data must remain accessible to authorized entities, kept private from unauthorized viewing, and safeguarded against unauthorized modification or deletion.
FIRST STEP: The software developer, product Architect, product Manager, or software team lead should take the HIPAA Compliance Training of Certified HIPAA Privacy Security Expert (CHPSE) to ensure that the product design meets the privacy and security rule requirements. This will help in avoiding major changes to the product to meet HIPAA requirements.
Let us audit your software for HIPAA compliance and help you make your application HIPAA compliant. Call Bob Mehta at Supremus Group today at (515) 865-4591 or email at Bob@HIPAAcertification.net for more details about the HIPAA compliance solutions.