What Are the Requirements for HIPAA compliance for software development?

 The healthcare industry demands high-security measures to enhance patients’ and doctors’ trust while using the online platform for telehealth. The US government set up HIPAA policy to ensure that every healthcare provider follows the guidance and policy of HIPAA rules. As per the rules, they target the safety and security measures of patients and medical data. As an outcome, every healthcare provider in the US demands HIPAA compliance for software development.

A Brief Overview of HIPAA Compliance?

HIPAA is a broader term that cannot be explained with a few points. In the US territory, HIPAA is something that has acquired the entire healthcare industry. But to gain an understanding of the main objectives, here are some of the pointers:

1. Gently Privacy:

The first privacy that has been provided is Patient Health Insurance (PHI) as well as clinical history. All the lab reports, medicine details, and payment-oriented information will be kept as secure as possible. But in some cases (where mandatory), EHR access to patient’s information can be shared by taking patient’s prior permission. 

2. Encryption to Patient Data:

The second rule is to safeguard the patient’s electronic data. PHI must be secured and stored with various encryption modules. It can be then used for data transportation over a secure system or channel.   

How much does it cost to integrate HIPAA compliance in the healthcare app?

We want to create a healthcare app with compliance, and it will cost around $45,000-$300,000. On average, healthcare app development costs around $30,000-$200,000. So, this additional cost comes as per the policy of guidance and the addition of features and functionality.

How to Maintain HIPAA Compliance in Software Development?

2. Remediation Plan

The remediation plan is a detailed account of the steps attempted by the business owner for enhancing patient data protection. So the document ensures the following moves:

• A checklist of all the to-do activities for ensuring data security. 
• There would be a precise identification of each team member’s responsibility 
• Action plan to fight challenges in near future. 

In this way, to be a HIPAA Compliant software development company, this Remediation Plan is the main document. 

4. Authority Monitoring

The team of app developers and owners is advised to keep an eye on the effectiveness and safety of the algorithm access at routine intervals of time. Hence, below are some precautionary measures are the pivotal need when being a HIPAA Compliant Software Development Company:

• Activity Logs 
• Audit Reporting & Controls
• Auto Log-Offs
• Access-Control in Case of Emergencies

5. Backing Up All Kind of Data

As per this guideline of requirements for HIPAA compliance services, all types of electronically protected health information (ePHI) have to be duplicated on another reliable data storage system. This means the company has to create a backup of things like Patient Detail, Record, Images, etc. on regular basis.  Following are some major concern which needs to be followed under this guideline:

• Redundancy: The data should be stored in two different systems besides the main one. 
• Encryption: Data encryption provides instant security to the data. The software developer should utilize a 256-bit AES protocol and two-factor verification for max data security.

 

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