The HIPAA-compliant healthcare sphere seems to be highly specialized from first sight. Thus, it may be nearly impossible to find HIPAA compliance software to put into your workflow, so you don’t have to worry about your ePHI privacy and security. But, as far as you start to dig into the topic of these solutions, you can find out, that there are a variety of tools, that maintain compliance. So, let’s find out whether HIPAA Compliance Software is a myth or reality!
What is HIPAA Compliance Software?
HIPAA Compliance Software is a type of platform, that manages enterprises via their compliance attempts. Such a solution can assist you in keeping up with certain parts of HIPAA Compliance. For example, it can help with compliance tracking or risk analysis. But also these platforms help to maintain full compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) in all manifestations.
It aims to provide a secure workspace to navigate covered entities (CEs) or business associates (BAs) through HIPAA and HITECH compliance. HIPAA Compliance Software helps both Security and Privacy Officers to understand all subtleties of compliance and execute all HIPAA Rules. This type of software also shows, that a company put efforts to be HIPAA-compliant and maintains documentation, which confirms this fact.
Also, HIPAA Compliance Software gives a lot of benefits in case, when you pass HIPAA Compliance Audit. While HHS OCR investigates your compliance because of some violations, you can prove that all your policies and procedures are clear, the team undergoes training, and so on. However, such platforms don’t exempt covered organizations from liability in case of HIPAA violation. But it will show the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) your efforts to maintain compliance. It can impact their final decision about the type of sanctions or the amount of penalty.
Is There Any Difference Between HIPAA Compliance and HIPAA-Compliant Software?
These two terms are frequently used as equivalent, but they have quite different definitions. As we’ve found out what HIPAA Compliance Software is, it is necessary to get to know what HIPAA-Compliant Software. Let’s compare them!
The HIPAA-Compliant Software means a platform or tool for healthcare organizations and providers, that has all necessary means of privacy and security defense to comply with the HIPAA demands. This software includes solutions for safe file exchange, cloud storage, hosting services, etc. HIPAA-Compliant Software itself doesn’t provide compliance to CEs or BAs. Customers are reliable for using software with HIPAA-compliant purposes.
So, the main difference between these two types of software lies in the fact, that HIPAA-Compliant Software can be used both for usual business and HIPAA-Compliant targets. It depends on the type of entity, that implements this tool into its working process. Of course, it can be used in a HIPAA-compliant manner to store, share ePHI, etc. But it won’t provide you assistance in holding on to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
What Is The Best HIPAA Compliance Solution?
It is hard to say which HIPAA Compliance Software is the most efficient. It depends on the business requirements of a certain healthcare organization or provider. But the universal fundamental feature of HIPAA Compliance Software for every enterprise is that the solution should provide full and complex assistance in setting up, launching, and maintaining all HIPAA policies and procedures. Also, it should have a vast range of functions, such as staff training tracking, business partner agreement templates creating, etc. This functionality saves a lot of time for HIPAA-compliant organizations.
So, to choose the best solution for your business, you should look for a platform, that will save your time and provide secure service of high quality. The best software allows customizing HIPAA policies, procedures, and documentation. It aims to cover certain ways of creating, receiving, using, storing, and transmitting PHI in an organization. Also, it should help with documents management. Covered entities (CEs) are responsible for their business associates (BAs) compliance. BAs’ violation of HIPAA rules damages a CE as well. Some HIPAA Compliance Software also allows clients to send self-audit for business associates (BAs), control the results, and track and maintain Business Associates agreements.
Conclusions
As we’ve already found out, HIPAA Compliance Software is not a myth at all. It commonly has a big number of functions and differs from HIPAA-Compliant Software. But it’s not a remedy for businesses and there’s no universal tool for any enterprise. As soon as you figure out what your business goals and needs are, you can find the best solution that will meet your team’s needs.
You can always find the best solution for your business in our review categories. We add new software regularly, so don’t skip updates!
