When dealing with sensitive PHI, it is critical to ensure that it is only accessible to authorized employees. This includes any and all data saved in one's software system, such as databases, backups, and event logs.
Fremont, CA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is one of the essential regulations that healthcare software developers in the US must follow (HIPAA). This law safeguards personal health information. Anyone who operates or invests in medical enterprises is aware of it, but failure to follow its laws appropriately can result in severe penalties. HIPAA information privacy violations resulted in millions of dollars in fines last year. How can one assure that one's product is HIPAA compliant?
These precautions are in place for a purpose. Rising demand for important healthcare information on black market dark websites has resulted in a number of breaches. In 2020, the HHS Office for Civil Rights received 616 reports of data breaches containing 500 or more records. There were 28,756,445 healthcare records that had been exposed, hacked, or improperly shared. As a result, 2020 will be the third-worst year in terms of the number of leaked healthcare records.
How to Ensure HIPAA Compliance for Web or Mobile Healthcare Apps
Backup and Storage Encryption
Most hosting companies provide backup and recovery services to ensure that data is not lost in the event of an accident or emergency. Data should be backed up, securely stored, and only authorized personnel should have access to it.
When dealing with sensitive PHI, it is critical to ensure that it is only accessible to authorized employees. This includes any and all data saved in one's software system, such as databases, backups, and event logs. It may be stored in places outside one's control, such as a server shared with other customers on the same hosting provider. If this server is hacked in any way, the data must remain encrypted and unavailable.
Transport Encryption
Before being communicated, any ePHI (electronic Protected Health Information) must be encrypted. HIPAA-compliant software encrypts sensitive health data during transmission, and the very first step is to secure it using SSL and HTTPS protocols. To enable strong encryption mechanisms, one's public or private cloud service should allow SSL configuration. The former safeguards pages that gather or display health information, as well as login pages. There should be no non-secure variations of these pages.
It is recommended to ensure that the HTTPS protocol is properly configured and that there are no expired or insecure TLS versions.
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