HIPAA Compliance Solutions
Keeping the most sensitive information safe from loss or theft.
WHAT IS IT?
What does HIPAA stand for?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, is a federal statute enforced by the United States legislature. Its primary function is to uphold the integrity of health data. Any healthcare organization that stores, processes, or transmits protected health information (PHI) must meet HIPAA compliance requirements. PHI can take many forms, but its digital counterpart is ePHI — electronic Protected Health Information.
Since most modern healthcare organizations store patient data digitally, ePHI has become the primary private patient data archiving method. Failure to comply with HIPAA regulations can deal a devastating financial blow to many organizations and the recovery of business trust in customers’ eyes often can’t be amended.
Who needs to be HIPAA compliant?
Healthcare providers
This includes doctors, clinics, psychologists, dentists, pharmacies, health insurance companies, and any other entities directly involved in creating and transmitting PHI by performing treatment or other procedures and accepting payments for health services.
Partners of healthcare providers
This includes consultants, accounting firms, IT suppliers, lawyers, and other entities that encounter PHI from covered entities but aren’t involved in its creation. This type covers many enterprises providing services to the healthcare industry.
Subcontractors
Organizations hired by partners of healthcare providers to help with specific niche roles. These organizations can be anything from cloud hosting providers to shredding companies since it also means they could have some PHI access, meaning that HIPAA applies to them.
COMPLIANCE STANDARDS
HIPAA Requirements
HIPAA requirements for covered entities include and are limited to:
- The security concepts of access controls (centrally-controlled unique credentials for each user and procedures to govern the release or disclosure of ePHI)
- Integrity controls (policies and procedures to ensure that ePHI is not improperly altered or destroyed)
- Audit controls (hardware, software, and/or procedural mechanisms to record and examine access and other ePHI-adjacent activity)
- Network security (encryption, firewalling, etc.).
HIPAA Privacy Rule
HIPAA Privacy Rule outlines a patient’s rights regarding their health information and regulates who can access it. Remember, the privacy rule is not exclusive to digital data. Parts of this rule also list the required paperwork and consent forms to be filled out by those handling PHI.
HIPAA Security Rule
HIPAA Security Rule establishes standards for safeguarding information when transmitted or stored electronically. So, while the privacy rule defines procedures for keeping the data confidential, the security rule is about the technical safeguards to make it inaccessible for unauthorized individuals.
HIPAA Breach Notification Rule
As the name implies, the Breach Notification Rule details the course of action in case of a data breach. This rule assumes that no system is 100% hackproof and that it’s better to have a detailed plan of what to do in case of an emergency. It defines how to notify the affected patients and what steps to take to limit the damage.
HOW WE HELP
How NordLayer helps get you HIPAA compliant
NordLayer provides remote access to internal company resources. It makes it easier to comply with HIPAA rules without requiring advanced setups or long deployment. Secure every data security endpoint in your organization, locking down essential apps and databases while keeping user-friendly access.
Secure Remote Access
Modern organizations need modern security solutions that easily adapt to the complexities of today’s hybrid working environments and HIPAA rules. Wherever their location, users, devices, apps, and data must have the same advanced level of protection. That’s where NordLayer comes in.
Implement Access Control
Whoever you’re giving access to - enterprise users, third-party administrators, or business associates - the experience should be efficient, seamless, and safe. With NordLayer, all user identities are verified before network access permissions are granted, ensuring data security and compliance with HIPAA rules.
Data Encryption
Whenever protected health information or other sensitive data is being sent between networks, it may be vulnerable to a number of attacks. NordLayer encrypts this data using AES 256-bit encryption, which is the most optimal solution to protecting that sensitive data and avoiding security incidents.
Ensure Compliance in Cloud Environments
When using any communication service provider (CSP) such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, or others, compliance becomes a shared responsibility between the CSP and the customer. You are responsible for configuring and using cloud services in a way that complies with HIPAA privacy requirements.
Multi-factor Authentication
One of the foundational security measures used in most devices today is also a great ally in preventing the theft of PHI. Multi-factor authentication ensures more security and adds another technical safeguard to protect sensitive data.
Activity Monitoring & Visibility
Monitoring and verifying user access allows businesses to understand who is inside the enterprise network and where they are attempting to access. This monitoring is crucial to ensure compliance with HIPAA.
How to ensure HIPPA compliance with the NordLayer solution
With NordLayer, you can protect your sensitive information and meet HIPPA compliance requirements. Get in touch with us to learn how our product will help you achieve it.
ARE YOU COMPLIANT?
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Additional info
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is HIPAA important?
HIPAA helps protect the personal private data of patients. Without it, this sensitive data would be accessible to potentially malicious entities.
How can you become HIPAA compliant?
HIPAA compliant entities must evaluate potential risks targeting PHI confidentiality. The key areas are administrative practices, physical security, IT systems security, and crisis recovery plan. After identifying the risks, they must implement an action plan to eliminate them and enable certain administrative safeguards.
What safeguards does HIPAA include?
HIPAA establishes three rules for safeguarding the privacy and security of a patient’s medical information. Each provides a framework for a specific field detailing how to proceed to HIPAA compliance.
- HIPAA Privacy Rule
- HIPAA Security Rule
- HIPAA Breach Notification Rule