Is Square HIPAA compliant? The popular point-of-sale app and POS software can take and process payments instantly for various businesses. Given the sensitive nature of patient health data, can care providers and medical professionals also utilize the said platform for healthcare payments?
This article will examine whether Square can be considered a HIPAA compliant payment processing service. Go ahead and take a look.
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Is Square HIPAA compliant?
Now that we have discussed how an mPOS can help you with your practice, let’s now find out the answer to a very important question: Is Square HIPAA compliant?
For a company to be HIPAA compliant, it has to implement technical, physical, and administrative safeguards to ensure that all the highly sensitive are protected against any threats or breaches. On that note, Square has put in place privacy protections such as:
- User authentication to ensure that only authorized individuals can access the data.
- Audit controls to provide a comprehensive report of who has accessed certain information at a particular time and date.
- Access controls to help the administrator determine which individuals can gain access to certain information.
Moreover, Square also has a list of security protections namely:
- Policies and procedures that are put in place to protect sensitive information.
- Security patches to regularly update the systems to prevent any unauthorized access.
- Encryption to thwart any attempts of breaches by making the data unreadable to unauthorized users.
- Incident response to ensure that in the unfortunate event of any breaches, it will be dealt with accordingly and in a timely manner.
With all these features and measures in place, is Square HIPAA compliant?
Square also executes BAA with its clients. So to put it simply, yes, Square is HIPAA compliant. But of course, to ensure that your organization doesn’t incur any HIPAA violations, you also have to take a few extra steps to adhere to all the guidelines set forth by HIPAA.
See: HIPAA Compliance Checklist
What is Square?
Square is a merchant services and mobile payment platform that simplifies payment processes. Their product line includes Square Point-of-Sale, an application that allows businesses to process payments via smartphones.
Square is one of the fastest-growing companies offering this service. To this date, hundreds of retailers and other commercial establishments use the app to process payments.
That said, can the app be used for healthcare payments? Yes. Out of the several HIPAA compliant payment methods available on the market, you can use Square to process payments for your healthcare business.
Enabling HIPAA Compliance With Square
Although many hospitals and healthcare entities have long relied on the traditional POS, only some have switched to cloud-based HIPAA compliant merchant services. If you are still on the fence about integrating it into your practice, these key points below may help change your mind.
Keeping Records
mPOS does more than just process payments. With the right provider, you can have the ability to keep records of your daily transactions more accurately. This can help your accounting staff crunch the numbers more efficiently with significantly fewer errors. All the information you need can be safely accessed using the system.
Supply Chain Management
To provide the best quality of care for your patients, you need to have all the necessary tools and supplies on hand at all times. Manually keeping track of your inventory for such items can be pretty cumbersome and time-consuming. mPOS can help you automate this process.
Aside from managing your inventory in real-time, you can also configure your mPOS to notify you whenever you are running low on a particular supply.
Menu of Services
One of the main features of mPOs that sets it apart from its traditional, fixed counterpart is that it allows you to create a menu of your services that your patients can access online. Your patients will get easy and full access to all the services you offer with just a few taps of a button.
Enhanced Transparency
Having access to your data in real-time allows you to understand the performance of your operations better. It will be easier to identify aspects in your practice that need improvement or contribute to inefficiencies and profit loss. You will be able to address any problems instantly.
Ensure Secure HIPAA Faxing of Payment Records With iFax
Aside from an mPOS system, another tool that can help you simplify your workflow is online faxing.
iFax offers an easy but secure way to transmit important documents without needing special software or additional equipment. It also lets you fax payment records and other financial and billing documents directly from your phone, tablet, or computer.
Moreover, it is packed with amazing features such as a programmable Fax API that lets you easily integrate faxing capabilities into your existing HIPAA compliant payment processing system. Meanwhile, its built-in document scanner and eSignature integration allow you to process documents on the go. iFax also offers AI-assisted OCR capabilities, unlimited cloud storage, email to fax functionalities, and 24/7 customer service support, among others.
Like Square, iFax is a HIPAA compliant online fax service that uses end-to-end encryption. It offers a safer and more convenient way to fax payment records, billing reports, and other financial data.
Get a demo of iFax for free.
