The Cloud Provider Prescription To Prevent HIPAA Headaches
Technology service providers who market to healthcare organizations have long had to contend with the intricacies and nuances of the data privacy provisions in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Whether cloud providers, electronic health record (EHR) services firms or software as a service (SaaS) providers, these companies have always been classified as ‘business associates’ by HIPAA. Until now, technology providers themselves were never directly answerable to the U.S. Department of Health &Human Service (HHS). As of September 13, 2013, all that has changed.