HIPAA Services on the Cloud

Starting and scaling a business is challenging in any industry, with each sector presenting its own operating rules and regulations to navigate. Fintech companies must comply with strict financial regulations such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for handling credit card information and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for preventing money laundering. E-commerce businesses, on the other hand, need to adhere to consumer protection laws like the CAN-SPAM Act for email marketing and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for handling personal data for those in Europe. And that’s just to name a few.

Healthcare, in particular, comes with a complex and stringent set of regulations due to the sensitive nature of patient data. Medical records contain highly confidential information, including personal identifiers, medical histories, and treatment details, all of which require protection. For businesses storing these records, complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is crucial, including when it comes to selecting cloud storage solutions for data management, sharing, and backup. Read on to learn more about HIPAA requirements, cloud storage options that can be used to host HIPAA workloads, and best practices for helping to safeguard patient information.

What is HIPAA?

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a comprehensive U.S. law enacted in 1996 to protect sensitive patient health information. It sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information and regulates how healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses (entities that process nonstandard health information into standard formats) handle patient data. HIPAA also gives patients rights over their health information, including the right to examine and obtain a copy of their health records and to request corrections.

What Is Protected Health Information (PHI)?

Protected Health Information (PHI) refers to any individually identifiable health information held or transmitted by a covered entity or business associate in any form written, electronic, or oral. This includes a wide range of data such as:

• Names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers

• Medical record numbers and health plan beneficiary numbers

• Physical or mental health conditions

• Details of healthcare services provided

• Payment information for healthcare services

How can cloud storage be used to host HIPAA workloads?

Cloud storage that meets the stringent security and privacy requirements set forth by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act can be used to host PHI. These systems typically implement robust encryption, access controls, audit logging, and other security measures to help protect sensitive patient information stored or transmitted electronically.

Cloud providers like DigitalOcean offer storage options that can be used to host HIPAA workloads, allowing healthcare organizations to safely store and manage PHI in the cloud. To use these services for PHI, covered entities (healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses) must enter into a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with the cloud provider.

What Is a Business Associate Agreement (BAA)?

A BAA is a legal contract between a healthcare provider (or other HIPAA-covered entity) and a vendor or subcontractor who handles PHI on their behalf as a business associate. This agreement outlines the responsibilities of the business associate in helping to safeguard PHI and outlines the measures the business associate will take to meet HIPAA requirements.

The BAA typically specifies how the business associate may use or disclose PHI, requires them to implement appropriate safeguards, and mandates reporting of any data breaches. Healthcare organizations and other covered entities must have a signed BAA in place before sharing PHI with any third-party service provider, including cloud storage vendors.

What are the requirements for a cloud service provider hosting ePHI?

Cloud service providers (CSPs) must meet specific requirements to ensure the protection of ePHI. These requirements are outlined in the HIPAA Rules and are designed to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI.

Key requirements for CSPs hosting ePHI include:

• Entering into a BAA with the covered entity or business associate customer

• Implementing appropriate physical, administrative, and technical safeguards to protect ePHI

• Identifying and responding to suspected or known security incidents

• Mitigating, to the extent practicable, harmful effects of security incidents

• Documenting security incidents and their outcomes

• Reporting security incidents to the covered entity or business associate customer where required

• Complying with the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule in case of a breach of unsecured PHI

• Ensuring that any subcontractors that create, receive, maintain, or transmit ePHI on behalf of the CSP also execute a BAA to comply with HIPAA

• Providing individuals with their rights to access, amend, and receive an accounting of certain disclosures of PHI

• Returning or destroying all PHI at the termination of the BAA where feasible

While the HIPAA Rules do not require CSPs to provide documentation or allow auditing of their security practices by their customers, covered entities and business associates may require additional assurances of protection for PHI based on their own risk analysis and compliance activities.

The shared responsibility model for complying with HIPAA

The shared responsibility model for HIPAA distributes accountability between CSPs and their healthcare customers, helping to ensure comprehensive safeguards of ePHI. CSPs like DigitalOcean that handle ePHI on behalf of customers must comply with applicable HIPAA rules, such as implementing appropriate safeguards to protect the ePHI they process or store.

Covered entities using cloud services retain ultimate responsibility for HIPAA compliance, including properly configuring their cloud environment, creating organizational policies, and developing applications that meet relevant compliance standards. This collaborative approach, formalized through a BAA, requires constant review, monitoring, and maintenance of security standards to help ensure that all aspects of ePHI protection are addressed in the cloud.

Why is it important to adopt Covered Products that can be used to host ePHI?

Using Covered Products that can be used to host ePHI is crucial for healthcare organizations, covered entities, and their business associates to help ensure the protection of sensitive patient information while leveraging the benefits of cloud computing. Such cloud services provide the necessary safeguards and protocols to help maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI as mandated by the HIPAA Rules.

• Legal and regulatory requirements. By using cloud products built with HIPAA in mind, organizations help ensure that they meet the legal requirements set forth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Adhering to these requirements helps covered entities avoid potential fines, penalties, and reputational damage that can result from HIPAA violations.

• Improved security measures. Cloud services built with HIPAA in mind implement robust security controls and encryption methods to help protect ePHI from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. These measures help mitigate the risk of data breaches and cyber attacks, which can have severe consequences for both patients and healthcare organizations.

• Comprehensive data management. Cloud services that allow customers to host ePHI on select services offer features that help support proper data handling, including access controls, audit logging, and secure data transmission. These capabilities help enable healthcare organizations to maintain better control over their ePHI throughout its lifecycle.

• Business continuity and disaster recovery. Cloud providers with HIPAA Covered Products typically offer robust backup and recovery solutions, helping to ensure that ePHI remains available even in the event of system failures or disasters. This level of data protection is essential for maintaining continuity of care and meeting HIPAA’s availability requirements.

Store your healthcare data more securely with select DigitalOcean Covered Products

Select DigitalOcean services can be used to host HIPAA workloads helping to enable medical professionals and health-tech enterprises to build and scale their applications more securely. By using select DigitalOcean Covered Products, Covered Entities and Business Associates, from telemedicine providers to health data analytics firms, can process ePHI on the cloud.

With multiple security certifications and robust control measures, DigitalOcean provides a comprehensive suite of HIPAA Covered Products:

• Droplets

• Volumes Block Storage and Snapshots

• Spaces Object Storage

• Custom Images

• Virtual Private Cloud

• Firewalls

• Reserved IPs

• Droplet Backups

• Kubernetes

• Container Registry

• Load Balancers as a Service (LBaaS)

Ready to launch your health technology solution on DigitalOcean? Contact DigitalOcean today to get started with our Business Associate Agreement and expert guidance.

This information is for general purposes and is not legal advice. If you have questions, seek advice from a legal professional.