How Do You Create The Best HIPAA Compliant Mobile Application?

Apps are enhancing and expanding the quality of an individual's life at all times. As the amount of mHealth apps increases, so does the number of HIPAA accredited app development services. HIPAA is in your thoughts if you're planning to design an app for healthcare that connects with electronic protected health information (ePHI) which includes hospitals or the healthcare industry.

While HIPAA is mostly concerned with health devices but it also contains provisions for other businesses such as online pharmacies. Despite the fact that the privacy requirements for medical devices are not a part of HIPAA law, developers should not overlook their importance.

App Developers' Checklist for HIPAA Compliant mHealth Apps

It is important to note that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is notable for the fact that there is no guidelines or guidelines for using like specific techniques of encrypting patient health information. HIPAA for healthcare app developers however is full of implications.

As I've said the law has been unchanged since 2013. Why do you think it has managed to remain so well-liked for so long? That's correct try to stay as broad as I can.

This is the whole thing HIPAA will say regarding it. Do you think it will simplify your life by demonstrating how you can create a HIPAA approved mobile app? "What are we defining as"an emergency?"" "What emergency access procedures should we create?" "Do I need to allow some kind of backdoor to the healthcare app only for the authorized staff?" "How is this different from authorized users accessing patient information in non-urgent situations?" I'm sure this raises many questions.

Let me summarise the most action-packed HIPAA directives that you should apply during the health app creation process, to offer you some practical guidelines:

MINIMIZE THE AMOUNT OF DATA

Be sure to collect information that can improve the performance of your application and will make it more beneficial for your users. We also advise against caching PHI and retaining details about the location of your users (other other than the state level).

SECURE CONNECTION AND PROTOCOLS ARE USED TO TRANSFER PHI

As well as encrypting data of patients and transferring it through an encrypted HTTPS connection with SSL/TLS to ensure it is safe from data breaches. Make sure that your application developers are using these techniques when creating HIPAA certified software.

INCLUDE AN AUDIT MECHANISM IN THE PROCESS

You should be able to determine who's using your application and what they're performing. Audit controls like these necessitate unique user identity.

PHI MUST BE REMOVED FROM NOTIFICATIONS AND EMAILS

It is important to keep in mind that PHI can be easily hacked through push notifications and emails from mobile devices. Text messages, along with nearly other non-app messaging, are in the same boat.

ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF YOUR INFORMATION

Unauthorized modifications to PHI should be impossible. If you want to ensure the security of data of patients Blockchain technology is essential. You should think about moving EHR (electronic health records) to a blockchain in order to create HIPAA compatible, secure software.

What Do HIPAA Compliance Requirements Entail?

HIPAA certified software complies with the HIPAA requirements in addition to any relevant rules, amendments, or regulations. As a rule, HIPAA can be both strict (with many regulations and severe sanctions) and vague (with discretion on how to implement the rules).

HIPAA defines five fundamental guidelines to be followed by all software developers for healthcare applications:

1. The HIPAA Privacy Rule

The Privacy Rule was developed to ensure the protection of the use and disclosure of medical records as well as the other private health data (PHI). This rule was designed to help make the transfer of health information more efficient and reduce fraud and theft. Patients also have certain rights over their health information and medical records as per the law, which includes the right to review, receive a copy, as well as request adjustments to their data.

2. The HIPAA Security Rule

Security Rule Security Rule establishes guidelines for security of ePHI that is created as well as used, received or stored by an entity covered by the Security Rule. They must put in place "necessary physical, administrative, and technical protections to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and security" of ePHI, according to the Security Rule. While HIPAA doesn't always specify minimal or exact standards however the NIST guideline on HIPAA implementation is often cited.

3. The HIPAA Enforcement Rule

The Enforcement Rule lays out how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will enforce HIPAA and regulators will determine culpability and imposing fines for non-compliance. A breach of data typically triggers an investigation, but there is a possibility that HHS could investigate for no cause. Department of Health and Human Services has the power to investigate for no cause.

4. The Breach Notification Rule

The Breach Notification Rule obliges HIPAA covered entities as well as their partners in business to inform HIPAA covered entities as well as their business associates of any PHI breach, which includes both electronic and paper-based PHI. The nature and scope of the PHI implicated, the type of disclosure, whether the data was accessed, and the level of the risk of exposure are all factors that HHS considers when determining what constitutes a breach. Breach notifications that affect more than 500 persons must be announced via media along with other procedures.

5. The Omnibus Rule

The most recent HIPAA amendment known as The Omnibus Rule, was amended in 2013 and changes a variety of HIPAA Privacy Security, Enforcement, and Privacy Rules. It is said that the Omnibus Rule is stricter, making it more difficult to dodge breach notification, expanding obligations for non-compliance of business affiliates, and setting new privacy standards on PHI use.

How to Create a HIPAA Compliant Mobile Application

HIPAA secures information about health by requiring healthcare apps to satisfy certain minimum security standards during the entire process of creation. These recommendations should be followed by any mobile app for healthcare developer who has to bring the app into production. This controlled activity protects the privacy of a patient's crucial health information.

In the aftermath of a data breach every user's data poses an health and safety risk. HIPAA demands that businesses adhere to the following rules:

1. Communications

Make sure your app/website includes an emergency contact-to-action feature that lets users reach out to your company in an emergency even when they aren't connected to their usual phone. Be sure that any user-generated content that you put on your website will be automatically uploaded to your app. The user does not need to read or interact with the content in order to include it in your app.

Be sure that your app is able to upload or download data without compromising the security or integrity that your information. It's an excellent idea to ensure that your app uses HTTPS to connect to servers and access secure HTTP resources. Access to media hidden isn't possible without the explicit consent. The ability to hide any media - images audio, video or images - is explicitly linked to the full consent of the user and could be considered an EOI.

2. Migrations

The primary and most dangerous HIPAA risk is migrating the existing website platform in-house. The risk is significantly increased if the doctor is using a platform for websites developed through a third-party provider, like Manta, Joomla, or WordPress, which the healthcare practitioner is still using.

You should consider the possibility that your physician already uses or developing an app. In this case, you should consider your options for creating an app and do an in-person conversation with the medical professional to learn more about the ways it could be beneficial to them. You may have access to this kind of data as part of your HIPAA conformance process, based on the software the healthcare professional is using.

3. Identify App Packages and Maximum Insertions

The first step is to establish what an app's basic functionality is, or how much data the programmer will provide. This can be assessed by the function of the app, such as if it's a key contact lab or a corporate therapeutic solution.

An exhaustive examination of the app's enormous size suggests the possibility of security risks to data. Outsourcing or outsourcing health apps developers must ensure that the highest technological standards are met during the process of development. In the event that they fail, the app's life cycle will be stretched. In addition, there should not be any unnecessary bulk data; some contemporary apps may contain five multiples or greater than the minimum information.

4. Evidentiary Considerations

A HIPAA application's primary goal is to enable you to run more efficiently your healthcare routine. As a result, all of the app's operations should be based on the idea of safety. Data must first be collected before the app are able to be used. The software that underpins it should be able to store data feeds from sources online.

If data is sourced from third-party data sources, it must not be stored in a manner that leaves gaps in time, such as one week. In addition, encryption should be prioritized because HIPAA does not mandate the use or use of encryption technology within apps. It is a requirement that encryption technology is required to be safe, secure, available from an accessible place.

5. Evaluate the Root CA

Additionally, it is essential to examine the development team's infrastructure in order to ensure that they are protected by this vital security measure. For instance, there may be a secret connection to the app's owner or even a single individual may set up a fake server to protect important information.

It could be beneficial to discuss this idea with the development team. Implementing security measures for businesses that can help prevent from unauthorized access to the data hosted on AWS will help decrease the risk of unauthorized third parties creating a fake CA infrastructure for storing health data.

6. Data Storage

The most critical features is the storage of sensitive information in the application. Blocked ports, wireless setups, or handwritten app contents do not shield sensitive information from unauthorized access. Those sensitive data must be stored in a secure centrally located location, with an option to failover.

FAQs

1. What is HIPAA's Protected Health Information (PHI)?

PHI is any type of patient information or data about a person that can be used to be identified, including their name, address as well as their date of birth SSN, device identifiers, biometrics, email addresses images or lab findings medical history, as well as payment information. The health data that is stored electronically is called ePHI.

2. Under HIPAA, who are Business Associates?

Any entity or person who does work for an entity covered by PHI that requires or involves the usage (keeping or transmitting) of PHI is termed a business associate.

Conclusion

We are moving towards an age where digital healthcare transformation will be the norm, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the health care sector. It is a sign that in the near future, there will be a significant shift towards compliance adherence. The healthcare digital transformationists that are able to master the complexity of compliance and integrate these into their medical software now will be the most successful.

Markovate's knowledgeable team of Designers and Developers will consult, develop and design your next transformative concept in the event that you are looking for an expert technical partner to help you start your healthcare company or internal product.

First published here