How To Choose A HIPAA Partner

If HIPAA compliance is important to your business, make certain you entrust sensitive data to vendors and partners who are as vigilant as you when it comes to protecting PHI. When looking for a custom web application to handle medical information, here are a few questions you might want to ask:

Has this web designer developed any other applications that are meant to handle medical information?

Security is always an important factor when web-based applications are built to handle customer information. However, HIPAA guidelines add another level of security that application developers must keep in mind. Keep costs low by building HIPAA compliance into your application from the start.

How secure is this web-hosting solution?

When it comes to HIPAA, the only acceptable answer is: very secure. By choosing a web hosting company that has previous experience with HIPAA compliant web applications, you are choosing a company that has experience providing an extra level of security required by the provisions in HIPAA.

Does this vendor's business practices reflect the safeguards detailed in the HIPAA Security Rule?

This is often overlooked by those in the market for HIPAA compliant partners. If your business is governed by HIPAA guidelines, the best business practice would be to ensure that your vendors follow the same standards. Responsible vendors will already have HIPAA guidelines in place. These include a discernible HIPAA processes backed by a HIPAA manual, regular HIPAA training for all employees and a designated privacy officer to oversee the entire process. Adherence to HIPAA guidelines in the office reflect a company's commitment to providing secure HIPAA ready applications to its customers.