Who should comply with HIPAA?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996. Organizations that must comply with HIPAA include:
- Healthcare providers, including doctors, dentists, hospitals, nursing homes, and pharmacies.
- Health plan providers, such as health insurance companies, government healthcare programs, company health plans, Medicare, and Medicaid.
- Healthcare clearinghouses, including entities processing non-standard health information they receive from another entity.
- Business associates of the above, including businesses that provide services to covered entities involving the use or disclosure of PHI, such as IT providers and billing companies.
What are the main HIPAA requirements?
HIPAA compliance requirements consist of a set of technical safeguards to secure the privacy of Protected Health Information (PHI) and ePHI (electronic PHI). Your ability to comply effectively with these safeguards is largely dependent on your network infrastructure. Technical safeguards mandated by HIPAA include:
- Security – A requirement to encrypt all data, including passwords. HIPAA also requires automated log-off of users after a period of inactivity.
- Access – Under HIPAA, the creation of a unique login credential for each user is required. Activity logs must be retained to track user logins.
HIPAA compliant data transfer ensures the secure transmission of sensitive healthcare information, adhering to strict privacy regulations. With encryption and access controls, it safeguards patient data during transfers between authorized parties.
FileCloud is a robust platform designed to facilitate HIPAA file transfer and storage, ensuring the protection of electronic protected health information (ePHI). It offers advanced security features such as end-to-end encryption, both in transit and at rest, to safeguard sensitive data.
Learn more about HIPAA file sharing.