How to choose a HIPAA compliant cloud storage
HIPAA is a set of rules that establish the allowable uses and disclosures of health and medical information. In addition, it places restrictions on who may access health information and sets standards for protecting health data from individuals who do not have the right to view it. To put it simply, it’s an act that consists of five parts and protects health workers and patients, particularly their private data and electronic records.
HIPAA compliant storage must respond to specific requirements regarding patient records security and the enforcement of security policies. No cloud server is HIPAA-compliant right out of the box, but there are ways that IT experts can step in and make the cloud compliant with the needs of covered entities.
Requirements for HIPAA compliant cloud:
1. Technical Safeguards
- Secure transmission
- Controlled access
- System integrity
2. Physical Safeguards
- Device protection
- Facility access
3. Administrative Safeguards
- Assessment
- Staff management and training
- Data access management
- Predicting crisis and damage
Requirements for collaboration with a Cloud Provider:
- The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) should provide a possibility to conduct a risk analysis.
- Both participants vouch for taking responsibility for the integrity and security.
- A HIPAA-compliant Service Level Agreement should state the conditions.
- Even if the Cloud companies store only encrypted files and don’t possess the decryption fee, they are still responsible for adhering to HIPAA.
- Encryption alone isn’t considered to be a stable protection measure.
- All collaboration between a healthcare institution and a Cloud vendor.
Best HIPAA compatible Cloud Vendors:
- AWS Cloud
- Dropbox
- Google Cloud
- Microsoft OneDrive
- Carbonite
Choosing the right vendor is a long-term investment that defines the safety of your organization. Unfortunately, not all providers are equally transparent about their HIPAA compliance practices. Similarly, not all providers have personalized onboarding programs for their HIPAA data storage. As a result, you will be managing data creation and administration on your own — even after acquiring expensive plans.
