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ZenGRC is your all-in-one solution for HIPAA compliance.
ZenGRC’s platform’s user-friendly interface and automated workflows significantly reduce the administrative burden and potential for human error, giving organizations a better, easier path to achieve and maintain HIPAA compliance.
ZenGRC supports painless self-auditing so you can prove HIPAA compliance. With so much of that heavy lifting done for you, the compliance process (complete with security features) is simplified, to create peace of mind.
ZenGRC offers an array of tools and features designed to assure healthcare organizations can efficiently manage compliance requirements. ZenGRC is designed to help show your compliance program is well equipped to remain compliant, manage cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and support data security.
Enhance your compliance strategy with Universal Control Mapping to address multiple requirements efficiently, comprehensive Risk Management for thorough assessments and treatments, and interconnected monitoring of threats, vulnerabilities, risks, and controls for deeper insights.
The ZenGRC platform presents HIPAA regulations in an easy-to-understand format, complete with guidance to achieve compliance. The dashboard shows where you already comply, where you don’t, and the contextual insight you need to fill in the gaps.
By integrating various aspects of compliance management into a single platform, ZenGRC enhances the efficiency of HIPAA compliance efforts and provides valuable insights to help organizations strengthen their overall privacy and security posture.
Effective HIPAA compliance software should offer real-time monitoring capabilities, which provides the continuous oversight of sensitive healthcare data you need to meet HIPAA requirements. This feature is crucial to promptly identify potential unauthorized access or unusual patterns that could indicate a data breach. Real-time monitoring allows organizations to keep a vigilant eye on their data flow, user activities, and system changes, which altogether enhances the overall security and integrity of protected health information (PHI).
Quick detection of security incidents is a critical component of HIPAA compliance software. The software should be equipped to detect any breaches or anomalies in PHI handling and trigger immediate alerts. The software should also provide a clear and structured response plan, detailing steps to mitigate the damage, investigate the breach, and report the incident in compliance with HIPAA’s stringent reporting requirements. This active approach to incident management is essential in minimizing the risks and repercussions of data breaches.
Comprehensive reporting features are a must-have in HIPAA compliance software. These features enable organizations to generate detailed reports on their compliance status, audit logs, risk assessments, and training activities. Effective compliance reporting tools not only facilitate internal reviews and continuous improvement, but also assure readiness for external audits and inspections. The ability to produce clear, concise, and up-to-date compliance reports is vital for demonstrating adherence to HIPAA regulations.
Proper management of user access rights plays a pivotal role in safeguarding PHI. HIPAA compliance software should offer robust user and access management tools that allow for the granular control of permissions. This includes the ability to assign role-based access, monitor user activities, and revoke access swiftly when necessary. Effective user and access management assures that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive data, significantly reducing the risk of internal data breaches and ensuring compliance with the ‘Minimum Necessary’ standard set by HIPAA.
With more than 115 pages of HIPAA requirements to consider, assuring that you’re compliant with each applicable rule can be a challenge.
Indicate in your privacy policy why you’re collecting a patient’s sensitive data and what you plan to do with it.
Be sure that your patients have given you permission to process, store and use their information and have signed your privacy policy notices.
Assign a compliance officer to oversee HIPAA Privacy Rule implementation.
Review your third-party business associate agreements (BAAs) to make sure they require HIPAA-compliant handling of PHI.
Test your processes for honoring patient requests. If patients ask who has seen their health records and when, can you show them?
Check your procedures to ensure you can honor patients’ requests to hide their medical records from view or remove them from your database.
Provide HIPAA compliance training, to educate employees in the proper handling of PHI, including electronic health records.
Set and document your risk management and data security compliance program. Keep detailed records of PHI breaches, noting whom you notified and when, post-breach assessments and remediation efforts.
Undertake regular risk assessments of your organization regarding the privacy and security of PHI and ePHI. A HIPAA security risk assessment checklist can help assure that this assessment meets HIPAA protocols. Where necessary, mitigate the risks you find or adjust your policies.
Set texting, smartphone and email policies to restrict internal and provider-patient text messaging and emails to HIPAA-approved applications only.
Strengthen your controls around the PHI that you store. This might include mobile device and email encryption, firewalls, multi-factor authentication and workforce security training and testing.
Establish technical safeguards around e-PHI, including administrative safeguards like access control and authentication, encryption and decryption, continuous monitoring and auto log-off protocols.
Which companies need to be HIPAA-compliant?
HIPAA compliance is required for a specific set of organizations that handle health information in the United States. These organizations are broadly categorized into two groups: covered entities and business associates.
Covered Entities:
Business Associates:
Notably, HIPAA compliance is not limited to entities within the United States. If a company based outside of the country handles PHI for U.S. patients or works with U.S. healthcare providers, that overseas business must also be HIPAA-compliant. This wide net is meant to assure that patient data is protected through every step of healthcare operations and associated services, regardless of the specific nature of an entity’s business.
Is HIPAA compliance software the same for covered entities and business associates?
Any organization that is required to be HIPAA compliant can benefit from compliance software that enables it to survey its sensitive data and security controls to see where the business is already compliant, as well as where it isn’t, and how to fill the gaps.
What is the difference between HIPAA and HITECH?
HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and HITECH (the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) are both U.S. laws that deal with health information, but they have different focuses and were enacted at different times. While the HIPAA Privacy Rule empowers patients to obtain and control their own PHI, the HITECH Act increases those rights by allowing patients to obtain copies of health records in electronic form if the covered entity maintains the records in electronic format.
HIPAA (1996):
Primary focus: HIPAA was enacted primarily to improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage, with a strong emphasis on the confidentiality and privacy of Protected Health Information (PHI). It sets national standards for the protection of PHI by healthcare providers, insurance companies, and their business associates.
Privacy and security rules: These are the two significant components of HIPAA. The Privacy Rule dictates how PHI should be used and disclosed, whereas the Security Rule sets standards for the secure handling of electronic protected health information (ePHI).
Enforcement: HIPAA violations are enforced by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
HITECH Act (2009):
Primary focus: The HITECH Act was a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and was primarily aimed at promoting and expanding the adoption of health information technology, specifically the use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) by healthcare providers.
Strengthening HIPAA: HITECH enhanced HIPAA rules by introducing stricter data breach notification requirements and increasing the penalties for HIPAA violations. It emphasized the importance of safeguarding ePHI, reflecting the growing use of digital technology in healthcare.
Encouraging use of EHRs: A significant part of HITECH was the introduction of the Meaningful Use program, which provided financial incentives for healthcare providers to adopt and use certified EHR technology, to improve patient care and efficiency in the healthcare system.
While HIPAA established the foundational rules for protecting health information privacy and security, HITECH came later to reinforce these rules in the context of rapidly advancing health information technology. HITECH also introduced incentives and penalties aimed at accelerating the adoption of EHRs and enhancing the protection of electronic health data. HITECH also prohibits organizations from selling PHI except under limited, specific circumstances. This effectively stopped providers from profiting off treatment recommendations.
How much does it cost to be HIPAA compliant?
It’s difficult to provide a broad estimate of HIPAA compliance costs because those costs depend on each organization’s own unique systems and operations That said, some rules of thumb can provide a sense of the potential expenses involved:
Risk Assessment and Gap Analysis:
Technology and Infrastructure Upgrades:
Training and Workforce Education:
Policy Development and Legal Consultation:
Compliance Management Software:
Ongoing Compliance Activities:
Breach Response and Incident Management:
Cyber Liability Insurance:
These figures are approximate and can vary based on the specific needs and circumstances of each organization. It’s also important to note that these costs are spread over several areas, and not all of them may apply equally to every organization.
Find out what HIPAA auditors are specifically looking into by registering for the step-by-step guide
What is the HIPAA Security Rule?
The HIPAA Security Rule sets out security standards for protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of ePHI. It requires covered entities to implement technical safeguards to prevent unauthorized access and related security incidents.
How is HIPAA compliance software different from a firewall?
While a firewall is an important part of a comprehensive cybersecurity program, HIPAA compliance software has a somewhat different purpose.
The purpose of a compliance management software solution like the ZenGRC Pro Platform is to help organizations assure that they’ve met all cybersecurity and data privacy controls and documentation required by HIPAA rules.
A firewall is only a single requirement, of many, that an organization might be required to implement to meet its compliance obligations.
What programming language do hospitals use? Is Python HIPAA compliant?
No programming languages are inherently secure. Instead, the software is made compliant by the developer who adopts the HIPAA compliance best practices while creating the software.
That said, a variety of programming languages can be used in various medical settings, so long as the language is used in a compliance-ready environment.
And on that note, Python is one of the most frequently used programming languages for HIPAA compliant software.
With ZenGRC Omada Health is doing more than improving its information security — it’s paving the way for a more secure industry.
