How to Build HIPAA-Compliant Software Application

By 2025, the global market for healthcare software is predicted to develop at a 13% CAGR and reach USD 76.45 billion. Gartner predicts a growth rate of 43.9% CAGR for the mobile health (mHealth) market by 2027. Significant growth will be observed in fields like telemedicine, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, wearable technology, and the Internet of Medical Things, which are all poised to either improve patient health, aid in medical discoveries, or lower healthcare costs. 

Healthcare services dealing with sensitive data must equip themselves with cutting-edge technologies in the “web” environment. In addition to adhering to the compliances established for the sole goal of protecting sensitive & personal information, these healthcare service platforms must stay up with the digital evolution. One such compliance is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or (simply) HIPAA.

HIPAA is a set of regulations that, in the simplest words, preserves the privacy and confidentiality of your health information by making it unavailable without your consent and preventing its eventual use in fraudulent activities.

Let’s start by learning more about HIPAA Compliance in depth:

What is HIPAA? 

In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed with the objectives of regulating user/patient data protection, bringing down healthcare costs, and preserving health insurance coverage for persons who lose or change employment.

Due to the enormous amount of data that healthcare providers manage on a daily basis, the transfer from paper to drives and then from drives to the cloud happened quickly. Going to the cloud made it easier for users to access data, whether on a phone or a desktop, at home or at work, and to manage it effectively.

However, due to this readily available sensitive information, data privacy and protection must be the main focus of healthcare technology. HIPAA is relevant in this situation.

Apps that adhere to HIPAA regulations protect the confidentiality and security of patient data and examine the exclusions of health insurance coverage. Any healthcare service provider or software development company can develop HIPAA mobile apps or software that are secure and in accordance with all compliances. 

Why Does HIPAA Compliance Matter So Much in the Healthcare Sector?

In the healthcare sector as a whole, HIPAA compliance is crucial. For doctors and facilities that fail to protect patient privacy, noncompliance with HIPAA can result in harsh fines and, eventually, the loss of a medical license. HIPAA also works to protect patients.

• Patients have the right to confidentiality under HIPAA.
• Patients are protected against identity theft by maintaining HIPAA compliance.
• Patient confidence is boosted by HIPAA compliance.
• HIPAA aids in organizing the data in your healthcare facility.
• The likelihood of a data leak is considerably reduced by HIPAA compliance.

Who Needs HIPAA Compliance?

The first step in comprehending and putting the HIPAA regulation compliance or HIPAA act into practice is by knowing the types of data that the healthcare software domain works with: 

• PHI (Protected Health Information): This data includes test results, emails, MRI scans, and other medical records. PHI also includes a person’s precise location inside a country or region.
• Non-PHI or Consumer Health Information: is information gathered from a fitness tracker, such as step count, calories burned, heart measurements and so forth.

You are exempted from HIPAA Compliance if you fall under Non-PHI. Hence, apps like Google Fit, MyfitnessPal, etc. are exempted from HIPAA compliance. 

Which Healthcare Apps Need to Comply with HIPAA Regulations?

Three main factors are taken into account when determining which applications must adhere to the HIPAA privacy guideline in order to be classified as HIPAA-compliant mobile apps:

 

1. Entity: Most likely, an application will adhere to the HIPAA compliance software development criteria if it is used by a covered entity like a hospital, doctor, or healthcare insurance provider.

 

As an illustration, if you intend to create a tool that makes it easier for patients and doctors to communicate, it would need to abide by HIPAA regulations as both hospitals and physicians are considered covered entities. On the other hand, since there are no covered businesses involved, an application that only assists a person in adhering to a medicine regimen won’t necessarily need to go by the HIPAA privacy requirements.

It’s critical to consider the Privacy Rule while discussing entities. The rule specifies who is in charge of making sure that the Personal information is kept confidential while addressing what constitutes Protected Health Data.

You must ensure that HIPAA laws are followed by every organization that accesses, handles, or keeps any Protected Health Information in order to provide HIPAA compliance software development services (PHI).

There are two categories of organizations that must comply with HIPAA law, under the HIPAA Privacy Rule:

• Covered Entities: They are described as any healthcare institution, private practice, or provider engaged in the exchange of health data. This includes insurers, nursing homes, pharmacies and so forth. The rules outlined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act apply to all of these organizations (HIPAA). In order to safeguard the confidentiality and security of people’s health information, it is crucial for these organizations to make sure they are in compliance with HIPAA laws.
• Business Associates: Businesses that offer services to covered organizations and are entrusted with managing protected health information are known as business associates (PHI). For the benefit of the covered entities, these organizations are in charge of gathering, protecting, and maintaining PHI. Lawyers, accountants, and software and cloud service providers are a few examples of business associates. To safeguard the privacy, security, and accessibility of PHI, covered entities must make sure that their business partners abide by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

2. Data: HIPAA-compliant mobile apps are primarily focused on protected health information, which includes any medical data that can be used to identify a person as well as information that was generated, used, or disclosed during the time when healthcare organizations managed services like diagnosis or treatment.

 

 

PHI is divided into two categories: medical data and personally identifiable information. It’s crucial to keep in mind that medical data is not considered PHI until personally identifying information is linked to it.

An app that analyzes anonymous photographs to assist doctors in identifying skin conditions, for instance, does not interact with any PHI. But if you include the patients’ names or addresses, it turns into PHI and is referred to as a HIPAA secure app.

In conclusion, an application must adhere to HIPAA regulations if the data exchanged or saved in it can be used to identify a specific user. When sensitive data is kept on a server owned by a third party, the same rule still holds true.

 

3. Software Security: The final consideration that determines whether the creation of healthcare applications is subject to HIPAA regulations relates to the technology used and includes a number of standards that are used to safeguard and regulate access to digitally protected health information (ePHI).

 

Integrity, audit, and access controls make up the majority of these standards.

Steps to Build HIPAA Compliance Apps

The following are the primary processes for building mobile apps that are HIPAA-compliant:

Step 1: Consult with Experts

The creation of HIPAA-compliant apps is a difficult task. As a result, if you lack sufficient experience, don’t attempt to comply with all HIPAA regulations without assistance. Contacting a reputable HIPAA-compliant software development company is preferable. It will be simpler for you to complete the assignment and will aid in your preparation if you seek assistance from skilled healthcare app developers for HIPAA-compliant app development. It is advantageous for both small and large healthcare organizations to understand HIPAA compliance and abide by its regulations.

Step 2: Analyze Patient Data

Confidential patient information is available to all healthcare organizations. A mobile app can be used to store, share, and preserve this data. You need to evaluate and determine what is covered by PHI. When you’ve finished, check to see what PHI data you can avoid keeping or transmitting through your mobile app.

Step 3: Evaluate Third-Party Solutions that are HIPAA Compliant

It costs a lot to make an app HIPAA-compliant. Instead of creating HIPAA-compliant phone apps from scratch in such circumstances, it is recommended to employ infrastructure and solutions that are already HIPAA-compliant. Infrastructure as a service is what this is known as. For instance, HIPAA-compliant companies like TrueVault and Amazon Web Services are in charge of maintaining data security.

You must get into a business partner agreement with third-party organizations and ensure their dependability if you’re using them to store and manage PHI data.

Step 4: Safeguard Sensitive Data

To secure sensitive patient data, use the best security precautions. Make sure there are no security lapses and use several encryption layers.

Step 5: Monitor & Test the Security of your App

It’s crucial to test your app. With each update, do it. Your app can be fixed immediately if there is a problem.

In order to design HIPAA-compliant applications that are safe and secure, maintenance is a continuous process that you must adhere to. After developing a HIPAA-compliant app, you must be sure to keep it updated frequently to prevent security breaches.

Features of HIPAA Compliant Apps in General

There are no two identical healthcare applications, much like in other mobile app categories. The majority of HIPAA-compliant apps share a few features, though. 

• User Identification: The best way to authenticate users while using a mobile HIPAA compliance software is to request a PIN or password from them. Using smart cards and biometric authentication will also enhance the feature.
• Emergency access: In the event of a natural disaster, the network setup and crucial services may be affected. Although planning for these occurrences is not strictly necessary, it would be wise to intentionally decide to include a provision that deals with these problems.
• Data Encryption: Data must be encrypted before being transferred or stored for security reasons. End-to-end encryption is offered by services like Google Cloud and AWS, which make use of Transport Layer Security 1.2. While TLS might be adequate, it is recommended to add Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption to make it even more secure.

Conclusion

The future of healthcare is in applications and software. The digitization of healthcare has made it necessary to protect patients’ interests while also enhancing real-time care and functionality. Healthcare businesses and service providers must look for the best guidance and assistance for healthcare app development from professionals with in-depth compliance techniques.

The best software development companies provide the most cutting-edge technical possibilities for developing healthcare service platforms that increase security, privacy, and dependability. You may anticipate nothing less than the ideal platform for your operations thanks to the substantial knowledge of software development companies in strategizing compliances for app & software development.