[US] Healthcare Services (HIPAA) Compliance report

About the HIPAA Security and Privacy Regulations

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a U.S. federal law enacted in 1996. It is designed to protect the privacy and security of individuals' health information and to improve the efficiency of healthcare systems.

HIPAA has several key purposes:

• Privacy: Protects patients' rights by controlling how personal health information (PHI) is used and disclosed.
• Security: Sets standards to safeguard electronic protected health information (ePHI) against unauthorized access, alteration, or loss.
• Portability: Ensures that health insurance coverage is maintained when individuals change or lose jobs.
• Administrative Simplification: Standardizes electronic healthcare transactions and coding to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

HIPAA includes several main rules:

• Privacy Rule (2003): Defines Protected Health Information (PHI), sets limits on its use and disclosure, and grants patients rights to their records.
• Security Rule (2005): Requires administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect electronic PHI (ePHI). This includes risk assessments and access controls.
• Breach Notification Rule (2009): Requires notification to affected individuals, Health and Human Services (HHS), and sometimes the media in the event of a data breach.
• Enforcement Rule: Outlines investigation processes and penalties for non-compliance, which can include significant fines and possible criminal charges.

HIPAA was enacted on August 21, 1996. Key compliance deadlines include:

• Privacy provisions: April 14, 2003
• Security provisions: April 21, 2005
• Breach Notification Rule: September 23, 2009

Covered entities

The following organizations are typically required to comply with HIPAA:

• Health plans, healthcare providers, and healthcare clearinghouses.
• Business associates, such as vendors and contractors, that handle PHI (for example, cloud providers or billing services).

AppScan Enterprise HIPAA compliance report

AppScan Enterprise's HIPAA compliance report automatically identifies potential issues within your web environment that might affect your overall compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule. The report also references related activities outlined in the NIST Resource Guide for Implementing the HIPAA Security Rule.

Report terminology

Addressable Issue

As it appears in this report, this means a covered entity must:

1. Assess whether each implementation specification is a reasonable and appropriate safeguard in its environment, when analyzed with reference to the likely contribution to protecting the entity's electronic protected health information; and
2. As applicable to the entity:
   1. Implement the implementation specification if reasonable and appropriate; or
   2. If implementing the implementation specification is not reasonable and appropriate:
      1. Document why it would not be reasonable and appropriate to implement the implementation specification; and
      2. Implement an equivalent alternative measure if reasonable and appropriate.

Possible Issue

As it appears in this report, this means the detected results might imply that a required implementation specification is not met.

HIPAA compliance report vulnerabilities

The following table lists the specific HIPAA Security Rule requirements that are evaluated. Vulnerabilities found in your application are mapped to these sections.