HIPAA Compliance Case Study
HIPAA Compliance – Clear Cut Facts To Safeguard Your Cannabis Business
What is HIPAA all about and why should you care about being HIPAA compliant? Medical marijuana, like any controlled substance, requires a strong system of identifying patients properly. Dispensaries use computerized systems to process and verify patient health information (PHI). This can pose certain risks, including security breaches. These systems are subject to the Health Insurance of Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (also referred to as HIPAA). Under this Act, medical marijuana is treated the in a similar way as prescription drugs.
Due to its reputation, the medical marijuana industry is very keen on staying within the parameters of the federal law. Patient
verification systems are crucial in this endeavor. They often contain a variety of protected health information (PHI), including patient contact information, medical record numbers, diagnoses, driver’s license, and other personal information.
Key Factors That Signal You Are Serious About Compliance
The most obvious signal that you are compliant is to have a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate on your website. What is an SSL certificate? Sites with SSL certificates will indicate a lock in the address bar and/or be green to signal that the site’s traffic is securely encrypted. If you don’t already have this and want to see an example, visit some of your competitors’ websites and look for their SLL certificate signals to see this first hand.
Only Use A HIPAA Compliant hosting data center – Pay close attention to this crucial point, as keeping patient data on-site or on a typical server location can land you in a lot of deep trouble. For one thing, it is considered a serious crime and more often than not, violators have to pay hefty fines to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. You’ll want to fully understand the differences between what is considered HIPAA compliant hosting and traditional web hosting. The following checklist will help you find the right HIPAA compliant data center for you. Remember, this is not about shopping for the best company, who can work with you for a cheap price. HIPAA compliant hosting companies are more expensive than traditional ones, and for good reason.
HIPAA Compliant Checklist:
What is HIPAA all about and why should you care about being HIPAA compliant? Medical marijuana, like any controlled substance, requires a strong system of identifying patients properly. Dispensaries use computerized systems to process and verify patient health information (PHI). This can pose certain risks, including security breaches. These systems are subject to the Health Insurance of Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (also referred to as HIPAA). Under this Act, medical marijuana is treated the in a similar way as prescription drugs.
Due to its reputation, the medical marijuana industry is very keen on staying within the parameters of the federal law. Patient
verification systems are crucial in this endeavor. They often contain a variety of protected health information (PHI), including patient contact information, medical record numbers, diagnoses, driver’s license, and other personal information.
Key Factors That Signal You Are Serious About Compliance
The most obvious signal that you are compliant is to have a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate on your website. What is an SSL certificate? Sites with SSL certificates will indicate a lock in the address bar and/or be green to signal that the site’s traffic is securely encrypted. If you don’t already have this and want to see an example, visit some of your competitors’ websites and look for their SLL certificate signals to see this first hand.
Only Use A HIPAA Compliant hosting data center – Pay close attention to this crucial point, as keeping patient data on-site or on a typical server location can land you in a lot of deep trouble. For one thing, it is considered a serious crime and more often than not, violators have to pay hefty fines to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. You’ll want to fully understand the differences between what is considered HIPAA compliant hosting and traditional web hosting. The following checklist will help you find the right HIPAA compliant data center for you. Remember, this is not about shopping for the best company, who can work with you for a cheap price. HIPAA compliant hosting companies are more expensive than traditional ones, and for good reason.
HIPAA Compliant Checklist: