Hipaa Compliant Crm For Small Business is a CRM that stores sensitive personal information. It is also HIPAA compliant, which means businesses are not supposed to lose any customer data. We’re going to review Hipaa Compliant Crm For Small Business, discuss what companies need to be hipaa compliant, and explain how to create a database that complies with these regulations.
In this guide, we review the Hipaa Compliant Crm For Small Business, is zendesk hipaa compliant, what companies need to be hipaa compliant, and how to create a hipaa compliant database.
Hipaa Compliant Crm For Small Business
Introduction
HIPAA compliant CRM software is any CRM that meets HIPAA standards for privacy and security of health information. A CRM system for HIPAA-compliant companies is designed to store data securely, protect communications and ensure the safety of medical records. This means your customer data will be secure when using Zendesk Sell, which helps increase conversion rates while preventing identity theft.
HIPAA compliant CRM software is any CRM that meets HIPAA standards for privacy and security of health information.
HIPAA compliant CRM software is any CRM that meets HIPAA standards for privacy and security of health information.
HIPAA compliance is a requirement for all companies that handle health information, and it can be a major stumbling block for small businesses. Fortunately, there are several ways to ensure your CRM is HIPAA compliant without breaking the bank or giving up features you need to run your business.
A CRM system for HIPAA-compliant companies is designed to store data securely, protect communications and ensure the safety of medical records.
HIPAA compliance is a legal requirement that companies must meet when they process and store personal health information. It’s also a standard that demands organizations protect the privacy and security of their patients’ medical records.
A HIPAA-compliant CRM system is designed to safeguard data, as well as protect communications from unauthorized access by hackers or other cybercriminals. These systems are usually built with encryption technologies that ensure any sensitive data stored in them can’t be accessed without authorized user credentials.
Zendesk Sell is a HIPAA-compliant CRM and sales solution enabling you to protect your customer data while increasing conversion rates.
Zendesk Sell is a HIPAA-compliant CRM and sales solution enabling you to protect your customer data while increasing conversion rates. Zendesk Sell can help you manage leads and contacts, track opportunities, create quotes and proposals, handle payments, close deals—all within one solution.
Zendesk Sell also includes an activity stream that shows all interactions between your team members and prospects/clients in one place. You can see who emailed who last week or what was posted on social media yesterday—and even join the conversation from there!
Zendesk Sell is specifically designed for small businesses looking for a secure and easy-to-use solution that helps them stay organized at every stage of their relationship with customers: from lead generation through closing deals.
is zendesk hipaa compliant
Zendesk offers support, sales, and customer engagement software. Healthcare providers can use the Zendesk Support Suite to provide virtual patient care via phone, chat, email, text, and mobile. Is Zendesk HIPAA Compliant? For Zendesk to be HIPAA compliant, it must offer security controls that can be configured to meet the HIPAA Security Rule requirements. Zendesk must also be willing to enter into a business associate agreement with providers.
Is Zendesk HIPAA Compliant? Business Associate Agreement
HIPAA regulations require that a healthcare provider enter into a business associate agreement with vendors before those vendors can create, receive, maintain, store, or transmit electronic protected health information (ePHI) on the provider’s behalf. The business associate agreement (BAA) is a written contract requiring each party to do certain things. The contract requires the vendor (the business associate) to implement safeguards to keep the ePHI it creates, receives, maintains, stores, or transmits, secure. Where a covered entity knows of a material breach or violation by the business associate of the contract, the covered entity is required to take reasonable steps to cure the breach or end the violation, and if such steps are unsuccessful, the covered entity must terminate the contract or arrangement
Zendesk is willing to enter into a business associate agreement with healthcare providers. Zendesk’s business associate agreement requires a healthcare provider to implement and comply with Zendesk security configurations for any and all HIPAA enabled accounts.
Is Zendesk HIPAA Compliant? Security Controls
Under the Zendesk business associate agreement, the following minimum security configurations must be put into place for the software to be HIPAA compliant:
◈ The password security level must be set to “High.”
◈ The provider must enable and enforce two-factor authentication natively within the Zendesk service.
◈ Administrative controls that permit administrators to set passwords for end-users must be disabled.
◈ If the authentication method is SSO (single-sign-on), the password requirements may not be less secure than those established under the Zendesk “High” password setting. (Single sign-on is an authentication process that allows a user to log in with a single ID and password to any of several related, but independent, software systems).
◈ If SSO is used as the authentication method, password access must be disabled.
◈ Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption on HIPAA enabled accounts must be and remain enabled at all times.
◈ Permissions that are granted must allow for the least privilege needed to accomplish the required task(s).
◈ The provider must enable “require authentication for download” in order to require authentication to access attachments.
◈ The provider must enforce a password-locked or startup screen set to engage at a maximum of fifteen (15) minutes of system inactivity.
Once a provider signs the business associate agreement and correctly configures the security controls, the Zendesk service has been rendered HIPAA compliant, and the provider may share PHI with Zendesk.
what companies need to be hipaa compliant
If you handle what’s called protected health information (PHI), then this is an important question to be asking because HIPAA violations can result in some serious penalties.
What is PHI you ask? Good question. PHIis any information in a medical record that can be used to identify an individual, and that was created, used, or disclosed in the course of providing a health care service, such as a diagnosis or treatment. In other words, PHI is information in your medical records, including conversations between your doctors and nurses about your treatment. PHI also includes your billing information and any medical information in your health insurance company’s computer system.
So, who needs to be HIPAA compliant?
The short answer is that the HIPAA rules apply to both Covered Entities and their Business Associates (HHS.gov). But, that just leaves us with more questions. What is a Covered Entity? Am I considered a Business Associate?
Let’s start with Covered Entities. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Healthcare Providers, Health Plans, and Healthcare Clearinghouses are all Covered Entities. This one is pretty straightforward. Healthcare Providers are exactly who you might think. Hospitals, doctors, clinics, psychologists, dentists, chiropractors, nursing homes, and pharmacies are considered Healthcare Providers and need to be HIPAA compliant.
Examples of Health Plans include health insurance companies, HMOs, company health plans, Medicare, and Medicaid. In addition, employers and schools that handle PHI in order to enroll their employees and students in health plans fall under the definition of a Health Plan and need to be HIPAA compliant.
Healthcare Clearinghouses are a little more esoteric. A Clearinghouse takes in information from a healthcare entity, puts the data into a standard format, and then spits the information back out to another healthcare entity. They need to be HIPAA compliant too.
Covered Entities are by and large ahead of the curve when it comes to HIPAA compliance. But, on September 23, 2013 the final Omnibus Rule made Business Associates of Covered Entities directly liable for compliance with certain HIPAA requirements. Plus, the new rules expanded the definition of Business Associate to include most subcontractors that access PHI. These changes have thousands of companies scrambling to become compliant. Does this apply to you? Are you a Business Associate?
Simply put, a Business Associate is a vendor or subcontractor who has access to PHI.
A more legalese definition of a Business Associate is any entity that uses or discloses PHI on behalf of a Covered Entity. Furthermore, a Business Associate is any person who, on behalf of a Covered Entity, performs (or assists in the performance of) a function or activity involving the use or disclosure of PHI.
The vendors that we are talking about can be data storage or document storage services (doesn’t matter if they can view the PHI that they maintain), providers of data transmission services, portals or other interfaces created on behalf of Covered Entities that allow patients to share their data with the Covered Entity, and electronic heath information exchanges. If a Business Associate (vendor) delegates a covered function or activity to someone, then that entity is considered a subcontractor.
Some vendors avoid PHI like the plague; they don’t want this information anywhere near their service. But, avoidance doesn’t necessarily excuse a vendor from becoming compliant. If a Covered Entity (customer) sends PHI through a vendor, and the vendor’s servers store this information, then they are considered a Business Associate and subject to the HIPAA Security Rule. There is no mitigation of liability for a vendor that refuses to enter into a business associate agreement (BAA). In point of fact, not entering into a BAA is a violation in and of itself.
how to create a hipaa compliant database
Creating or purchasing a HIPAA compliant database involves many different HIPAA compliance elements. If you’re a developer whose products use personal health data, and you’re doing business in the US, you must use databases that are fully compliant with HIPAA, the major US law protecting the privacy and security of health data. But just what is a HIPAA Compliant Database, and what makes a database compliant with HIPAA?
Since the latest updates to HIPAA from the HITECH Act, health-related businesses that process, store, transmit, or receive health data are considered “Business Associates” (BAs) under HIPAA. Health-related apps process, transmit and receive “protected health information”, or PHI, as HIPAA defines it. When a digital health app contains or processes PHI, the app developer and all its databases, servers and other system elements must be fully compliant with HIPAA. Health app developers, like other HIPAA Business Associates, must meet all of HIPAA’s compliance requirements — including the use of a HIPAA compliant database.
For a health app developer to be able to claim full HIPAA compliance, the developer must have implemented everything operationally that HIPAA Rules and Regulations require. These include a number of very specific administrative, physical and technical safeguards. The vendor must also be able to document their compliance to third parties, such as customers like you, or the HIPAA enforcement agency, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
For a truly HIPAA compliant database, HIPAA’s requirements can be achieved with careful planning and configuration. Here are the requirements for a HIPAA-compliant database:
While the points above outline the technical requirements for a HIPAA compliant database, HIPAA also requires developers and database admins to follow a policy of Data Minimization. This is a general HIPAA concept that states that only the “minimum necessary” health data actually needed for any particular purpose should be used. For example, if a developer or technician needs to access actual PHI (not anonymized or dummy data) for testing, configuration, or repair purposes, the least amount of PHI that is necessary to accomplish the task must be used in every case.
And finally, every HIPAA compliant database must generally support the primary goals of the HIPAA Security Rule, which is to “ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of PHI that it creates, receives, maintains, or transmits.” According to the definitions in the HIPAA Security Rule at §164.304, these terms have the following meanings:
As a developer, you must be certain you are using a HIPAA compliant database for all PHI. Your overall HIPAA compliance cannot be achieved without this.
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