Compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, is required if your healthcare practice uses cloud-based online forms to collect data, particularly those that fall as protected health information (PHI).
Secure digital forms help ease concerns that your patient’s data may be intercepted and used for criminal or illegal activities. Here are some of the best options for generating online forms that comply with HIPAA regulations.
Top 5 Solutions for Building HIPAA-Compliant Online Forms:
Why Healthcare Needs HIPAA-Compliant Online Forms
HIPAA-compliant forms are secure online forms that help you collect patient data easily. Digital forms can also be easily shared with other healthcare professionals, making it easier and faster to exchange data and provide quality healthcare. Moreover, they save your staff from loads of paperwork and precious time to collect and enter data.
A simple web search will lead you to numerous online form builders that are easy to use. However, if these forms are not HIPAA-compliant, there’s a higher risk of exposing a patient’s protected health information to unauthorized persons. Cybercriminals can use stolen PHI for illicit activities such as identity theft, medical fraud, blackmail, social engineering attacks, and the like.
1. DoForms
Healthcare practices who need HIPAA-compliant mobile forms should check out DoForms. It uses the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which uses intrusion detection technology that protects your data at rest. DoForms online forms adjust to any device’s screen size for convenient user access. Its security features include real-time status updates, secure email, secure editable document forwarding, and secure transport.
The provider doesn’t publish the prices of its Care Provider solution packages online. You will have to request a demo or contact them online.
Also, its Care Provider Starter plan includes:
- 25 user licenses
- iOS and Android apps
- A role-based web portal
- Automated PDF templates
- Unlimited forms
- Basic email and chat support
2. FormDr
Consider FormDr if you’re looking for HIPAA-compliant online forms providers. FormDr specifically serves healthcare practices in single or multiple locations. It can also provide an online form solution for large hospitals. With this online form builder, you can filter by department or location, restrict user permissions, share records to an EMR system, and use single sign-on user admin.
You can try out this service free for 30 days. Besides, each plan includes HIPAA compliance, with the lowest option costing $29. For this price, FormDr provides SMS and email authentication, encrypted ePHI, submission history, and audit logs access.
3. Jotform
Jotform offers powerful features that help you collect PHI. As one of the leaders in HIPAA-compliant form solutions, Jotform includes:
- Customized medical forms
- Easy online bill payment
- Digital signatures
- Mobile apps
- Google Calendar and Sheets integration
It also encrypts your data so PHI remains private and secure in transit and at rest.
Small practices can choose the Gold plan at $99, which includes HIPAA compliance features. Larger businesses can subscribe to the Enterprise plan, which offers a custom domain, real-time support, a local residency option, and single sign-on integration.
4. MedForward
One of the trusted names in HIPAA-compliant forms solutions, MedForward offers secure digital medical intake forms. It converts your existing printed forms into an online format so patients can quickly fill them out on your website. You will then receive form submissions at your indicated email address. From there, print, download, or store the file in your medical record system as PDF, HTML, or CSV.
MedForward uses an encrypted SSL/TLS connection, tracks user activity, and runs on a dedicated server with a hardware firewall. It offers tiered subscription plans, but you must contact them for the exact pricing.
5. NexHealth
Creating patient intake, medical history, authorization, and consent forms is easier with NexHealth. Aside from form-building features and templates, the provider also offers appointment scheduling, marketing capabilities, EHR integration, and digitalization of paper forms. You can also automate sending your forms to patients based on due dates, previous procedures, and appointment types.
Like FormDr, all NexHealh forms include HIPAA compliance and security. Expect to pay a starting price of $299.
Consequences of HIPAA Violations When Using Online Forms
If you don’t take adequate measures to protect PHI, you could be subject to a HIPAA violation, which can cost anywhere from USD 100-50,000 per incident. What if the data breach affects thousands of your clients? The fine will multiply with each person involved.
Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will consider the security measures you took to comply with HIPAA and the past data breach incidents of your healthcare organization, if there are any. A proven HIPAA violation can cost you thousands of dollars in financial penalties.
Always Use Online Forms That Are HIPAA-Compliant
HIPAA-compliant forms help healthcare practices collect and share PHI easily. However, like all software, they are vulnerable to cyber attacks, data loss, and other issues. This is why it’s crucial to choose from providers that can help comply with HIPAA.
When it comes to HIPAA-compliant online forms, providers have different features and pricing. What they have in common is that they provide a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) and robust security features that regular online form builders lack.
Always choose online HIPAA-compliant forms to avoid legal consequences and massive fines.
If you’re also looking for HIPAA-compliant fax solutions, you should check out our plans here at iFax.
