Is Your Web site HIPAA-Compliant? | HIPAA & Well being Data Expertise

In case you are a HIPAA-covered entity or enterprise affiliate, you possible know that affected person PHI might solely be created, acquired, maintained, and transmitted as permitted by the HIPAA Safety Rule and the HIPAA Privateness Rule.  But chances are you’ll not have targeted in your firm’s web site as a spot the place PHI is collected and transmitted.  In case you are topic to HIPAA, you must regularly assess your web site information practices.  As described on this weblog put up, you must ensure that third-party trackers like Meta Pixel are usually not accessing and disclosing information behind the scenes.  However widespread customer-facing instruments shouldn’t be neglected.  Widespread methods through which PHI could also be collected and transmitted embrace:

• Reside Chat
• Affected person Portals
• On-line Affected person Kinds
• On-line Scheduling Instruments
• Opinions and Testimonials
• E-mail
• On-line loyalty Packages

The HIPAA Privateness Rule requires that entities that create, obtain, keep, and/or transmit PHI take particular measures to guard it. For instance, if your organization retains individually identifiable medical data on a server, that server should be encrypted and safe. Transmitting PHI consists of sending data through e mail, textual content, net varieties or different sorts of digital messaging. Storing PHI consists of storing data in apps, information facilities, and so forth. If your organization web site collects, shops, or transmits PHI and doesn’t take cheap measures to safe that information, it might violate HIPAA.

To start remediating dangers, firms ought to:

• Buy and implement an SSL certificates for the corporate web site
• Guarantee all net varieties on the corporate web site are encrypted and safe
• Solely ship emails containing PHI by means of encrypted e mail servers
• Associate with hosting firms which can be HIPAA-compliant and have processes for safeguarding PHI
• Execute BAAs with third events which have entry to PHI (together with hosting firms)
• Be sure that PHI is simply accessible by approved people inside your organization