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HIPAA-compliant hosting (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) can be quite challenging, given the importance of safeguarding patient data. Does your healthcare organization’s website collect and store electronic Protected Health Information(ePHI)? If your answer is yes, you must ensure that your hosting provider is HIPAA-compliant.
A HIPAA-compliant web hosting service refers to a website, data storage, or hosting services that adhere to the physical, technical, and administrative safeguard requirements of the HIPAA Security Rule. Web hosting must conform to HIPAA regulations, especially since it involves the storage and management of ePHI. A fully HIPAA compliant web hosting company must:
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Restrict unauthorized access to ePHI with administrative, physical, and technical safeguards
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Keep reports of software and hardware activity
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Incorporate a discovery plan with sufficient network security
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Advocate policies concerning access to ePHI and workstations
Failure to employ appropriate measures to secure data stored or transmitted translates to violating the HIPAA rules, which may result in paying substantial penalties- even if no data breach occurred on the medical website.
A data breach or compromise of ePHI could lead to strict legal penalties and irreparable damage to your practice’s reputation.
Choosing a HIPAA-compliant hosting provider is vital to avoiding legal infringement. Many health organizations are now on the lookout for HIPAA-compliant web hosting services. The strict HIPAA requirements make finding high-quality, affordable healthcare hosting services even more difficult.
This article provides an overview of HIPAA-compliant web hosting services with a curated list of where you can find these managed web hosting services for doctors.
1. Atlantic.net
Atlantic.net has acquired a high reputation since it started in 1994. Atlantic.net specializes in secure, compliance-oriented HIPAA-compliant web hosting. This company integrates web and data hosting technologies with top-notch disaster recovery services to make compliance much less stressful for customers.
Dedicated cloud environments have been approved and audited, with database, storage, and website servers available.
A seasoned veteran in HIPAA compliance may find themselves taking a liking, particularly to Atlantic.net. A 100% uptime guarantee backs up Atlantic.net solutions, and their solutions address all of the following technical considerations for HIPAA, which include: multi-factor authentication, encrypted VPN, offsite backups, SSAE 18 certification, and SSL certificates.. Atlantic.net runs several data centers in Toronto, San Francisco, London, Dallas, and Orlando.
2. Liquid web
Liquid web provides HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting for medical websites through cloud dedicated servers, cloud-based virtual private servers, and managed service options. They also offer a customized plan for customers along with their pre-configured HIPAA-friendly single server and multiple server plans.
Liquid web has a well-established reputation, often immensely knowledgeable with its highly responsive support team. Liquid web takes pride in its 24 hours a day customer service.
They’ve also implemented a third-party audit to verify that they live up to their HIPAA compliance claims. Besides the cloud technology powering its platform, Liquid web also proffers a private cloud framework along with a cloud version of its dedicated servers.
3. Rackspace
Rackspace is another one of the best HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions. Like Liquid web, Rackspace strives to deliver high-class infrastructure and top-tier support. Fanatical support has been one of their primary values since they first started. Rackspace provides dedicated servers and managed cloud services from numerous vendors.
The Rackspace team provides support through the entire process; comprising tailored designs, evaluation of cloud and dedicated environments, builds, and implementation- to ensure you adhere to HIPAA regulations. Rackspace also provides database management and network administration.
4. Amazon web services
One of the most popular HIPAA-compliant high-performance managed web hosting services on the web, Amazon web services, serves professionals, healthcare organizations, and service providers by helping them meet HIPAA and HITECH benchmarks using the HITRUST common security framework.
Healthcare organizations can use the Amazon web services platform to store and transmit sensitive medical records, health data, and other types of secure ePHI. The Amazon web services platform integrates appropriate regulations and standards into a comprehensive framework that is accommodated based on the healthcare organization’s size and other requirements. Amazon’s disaster recovery program adheres to FedRAMP and NIST 800-53 security standards.
The platform might not be the easiest to learn and architect; however, the reliability and scalability of amazon cloud network services are top-notch and second to none. Collaborating with an AWS provider will go a long way in helping you meet your needs efficiently.
5. HIPAA vault
HIPAA vault is a company fully dedicated to HIPAA-compliant websites for doctors. They offer a full suite of HIPAA-compliant solutions, including cloud solutions and web hosting services tailored specifically to the healthcare industry, business organizations, and government agencies.
HIPAA vault and its solutions all have the HIPAA seal of compliance. All hosting solutions from the HIPAA vault come with fully managed services and advanced security measures- including continuous system monitoring to mitigate risks and help businesses and organizations stay abreast with updates to HIPAA security standards.
They also make virtual accessibility to information and any other documents easier, especially with their support for Android, Apple, and desktop applications.
6. Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure, “the cloud for modern business” as it calls itself, is a formidable competitor in the cloud application hosting industry. Azure is a manifold cloud solution that can also serve as a platform for Saas(Software as a service), Paas(Platform as a service), and Iaas(Infrastructure as a service).
Azure’s massive catalog comprises more than 600 services. Azure is perfect for those hosting a .NET application. Microsoft Azure’s services are entirely covered by FedRAMP and have received the ISO/IEC 27001 certification under the BAA agreement. Microsoft offers BAA to all their US customers as part of their terms and conditions.
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Which HIPAA-Compliant Web Hosting Service Is Ideal For You?
All the HIPAA-compliant web hosting services mentioned above are certified and offer top-notch HIPAA-compliant web hosting. It is safe to go with any of these hosts, as they all keep to their part of the agreement.
It is important to note that purchasing these services doesn’t warrant HIPAA compliance. Make sure to apply best practices and configuration for whatever medical hosting platform you choose. Bring in a professional if you are unsure about anything.
Ensuring your organization’s medical healthcare website is entirely HIPAA compliant is your utmost priority as a healthcare organization, especially for the continuity of your business.