All businesses need a good web presence, but for healthcare-related businesses, securing and maintaining a website is a more complicated affair due to the data security requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
As a trusted HIPAA training provider, we’ll help you get a start on this journey by exploring the whys, hows, and challenges of website HIPAA compliance.
Does Your Website Need to Be HIPAA-Compliant?
HIPAA’s requirements apply to all covered entities as well as any business associates that handle protected health information (PHI).
However, the defining question of whether a website needs to be HIPAA-compliant is less about whose website it is than what the website does.
What do you want online visitors to be able to do on your website? If the answer includes the ability to look up appointment information and health records, your website certainly must be HIPAA compliant. If your website supports communication with a healthcare provider, including the filling out of online forms, HIPAA will also likely apply.
It’s a matter of whether you’re dealing with PHI. PHI includes any information that can be used to link an individual – directly or indirectly – to their health information. This can include obvious identifiers like names, phone numbers, and emails, as well as more roundabout details like zip codes, personal trivia, and pictures.
To decide whether or not your website must be HIPAA compliant, you must ask yourself the following questions.
- Am I collecting PHI on my website?
- Am I transmitting PHI through my website?
- Am I storing PHI on a server on my website?
If your answer is yes to any of these three questions, you’re responsible for ensuring that your website meets HIPAA standards.
Why Do You Need A HIPAA-Compliant Website?
Simply put: if you answered yes to any of the above, it’s the law.
HIPAA’s Security Rule has long regulated the measures that covered businesses must take to safeguard protected health information (PHI) in both analog and digital forms.
In 2009, the HITECH Act updated the security requirements for electronic health records. Relevant changes included:
- Increasing the scope of penalties for security and privacy violations.
- Making it possible to hold business associates directly responsible for security breaches.
- Requiring covered entities to provide patients with breach notifications.
- Reversing the burden of proof for breaches to encourage covered entities and business associates to tighten security.
Failing to meet best practices for online security can result in expensive legal issues, including HIPAA penalties and closer government scrutiny.
Additionally, data breaches are becoming more and more common, with HIPAA-level security as a constant arms race against hackers. With breach notification requirements now the law, there is no keeping a lid on an embarrassing security breach. You risk a real loss of trust with clients, not to mention potential lawsuits.
The Importance of HIPAA-Compliant Partners
Below, we’ll talk through some of the technical details necessary in a HIPAA-compliant website, but the best step you can take is to hire or contract with technical professionals who already have experience with HIPAA compliance.
HIPAA-Compliant Hosting and Cloud Services
These days, HIPAA compliance starts in the cloud. It doesn’t matter whether your website is transmitting data securely if the servers that host it are insecure.
Look for a website hosting service already relied on by other covered entities. Their data centers must meet HIPAA security requirements, and they should be eager to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
HIPAA-Experienced Web Developers
The technical challenges of HIPAA-level security are complicated, so you can’t afford to work with budget-level web developers. Sure, you can find HIPAA training for web developers, but things will go more smoothly if you work with those who already have extensive HIPAA experience.
You’ll pay for their expertise, but you’ll be thankful for their competence when it prevents web breaches and passes HIPAA audits.
HIPAA and SaaS Providers
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers prevent you from having to reinvent the wheel when it comes to functions like web chat, and it can be a smart business decision to contract with one or more SaaS providers.
That said, HIPAA compliance is also crucial here. If patients or healthcare providers are interacting with an SaaS function, you’re probably dealing with PHI. Make sure their security is HIPAA-compliant and secure a BAA before services begin.
HIPAA for Website Admins
Once your website is up and running, you’ll need HIPAA-competent website admins to keep things running smoothly. These are the people who will serve as a gateway for who has access to what information, ensuring that permissions are removed promptly when needed and access is monitored.
In other words, they play a key role in ongoing HIPAA compliance.
Technical Safeguards for HIPAA
The technical safeguards required by HIPAA for electronic PHI are complicated, and the industry’s best practices constantly evolve to keep up with the tactics of malicious actors.
Below, we’ll introduce you to a few of the necessary security steps; just keep in mind that this is far from a comprehensive list.
Encryption
Employing end-to-end encryption technology is the bedrock of a HIPAA-compliant website.
Encryption converts PHI and other data into text that becomes unreadable without the use of an encryption key. Encryption is possible through software and algorithms that alter the input information. The encryption key deciphers that data and is only available to you.
Encryption protects sensitive information by making the data useless to outside parties without the key to convert it back to readable text.
Access Control Measures
PHI doesn’t just need to be protected from outside actors. HIPAA requires covered entities to restrict PHI access to only what is necessary for their role. This means doctors need a higher level of access than scheduling agents.
However, HIPAA requires you to go beyond role-specific permissions. You also need to take measures to prevent unauthorized access using technology like multi-factor authentication and automatic timeout. It’s also best practice to track user login activity so that improper access to PHI can be traced, should it occur.
Secure Communications
All communication that might include PHI must have secure access and end-to-end encryption, from emails to chat systems and file transfers. Any communications using unsecured channels, like normal email or mobile text, should point right back to the secure system without revealing any PHI.
Security Risk Assessments
Since security technology is always changing, HIPAA requires organizations to regularly scrutinize their own security vulnerabilities. By assessing potential hazards, identifying gaps in security, and taking steps to compensate for these risks, you can prevent your organization from becoming a victim of the next generation of breach or cyberattack.
Incident Response Strategies
In addition to assessing potential risks, you need a well-defined plan for how to respond when a security incident or data breach does occur.
These plans should include detailed plans for assessing the scope of the problem, containing and mitigating potential damage, notifying affected individuals, reporting to the necessary authorities, investigating the cause of the breach, taking steps to prevent a recurrence, and documenting the incident and response actions.
Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
The loss of health data can be catastrophic to patients’ continuity of care, which is why HIPAA requires organizations to institute data backup redundancies and recovery procedures. Having a plan in advance can minimize downtime and save lives.
Encourage Staff HIPAA Compliance with Role-Specific Online Training
HIPAA compliance is a team sport, requiring everyone – from IT to patient care – to do their part. That’s why role-specific HIPAA courses with a trusted training provider like us are so important.
Our online, self-paced courses provide a convenient and effective HIPAA training solution, targeting the HIPAA rules that employees need to know for their jobs. We offer HIPAA for Healthcare Workers for clinical positions, HIPAA for Medical Staff for office and administrative workers, HIPAA for Dental Offices, and HIPAA for Business Associates.
Get started by enrolling today!
