The healthcare industry often faces the risk of data breaches, but there are ways to prevent them. A critical step to helping mitigate this risk is choosing a HIPAA-compliant web hosting solution.
Secure website hosting services that abide by industry regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act help protect your data from malicious entities and ransomware actors.
With the number of patients victimized by data breaches increasing by more than 50% in 2023, every healthcare organization must double its efforts to keep patients’ data safe.
Top 6 HIPAA-Compliant Web Hosting Services:
The Role of Web Hosting in Modern Healthcare
Websites are now a must to establish a professional presence online. It’s a slice of the internet you own where you can publish information about your practice and help patients perform activities connected to their care. With a website, patients can schedule appointments, communicate with you, pay bills, and more.
To build one, you need two things: domain and web hosting. The former is your address on the web, while the latter is where you store the files used to build the site. While you don’t need to do these things alone, you need HIPAA-compliant hosting services to ensure compliance when handling sensitive patient details.
With HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions, you remain compliant with laws protecting electronic protected health information (ePHI). You’re also assured of using hosting solutions with additional levels of protection, such as encrypted connections, secure servers, and measures against cyberattacks.
Here are six HIPAA-compliant web hosting providers you should check out:
1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
You can’t go wrong with Amazon Web Services when looking for HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions. Powering thousands of websites, AWS is a leading cloud computing platform offering HIPAA-compliant hosting services. It has strong security measures, is easily scalable, and is always reliable. It has data centers worldwide, so your site can be hosted anywhere globally and enjoy robust backups.
Pricing is flexible, so you’ll only pay for the resources you use. This makes AWS a cost-efficient solution, especially for newer organizations or startups. Upon signing up, you can also enjoy several free product offers and generous AWS credits.
AWS will also sign a BAA (Business Associate Agreement) as needed. Unfortunately, there are too many complexities involved in the setup process. It’s best to have a dedicated IT team to ensure a smooth and efficient setup.
2. Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure is another prominent cloud solution providing diverse solutions, including a web hosting service. They are leaders in data management and storage, meaning they’ve implemented strict and comprehensive security and privacy features for all their servers.
They’re AWS’s main rival and comply with various regulations, including HIPAA. They also have other certifications like ISO/IEC 27001 and HITRUST. You can also choose the data center where you will store your data, and Microsoft commits to backing this up with transparent contracts.
With this, you are confident that the company won’t store your data in servers outside your desired geographic boundaries. Microsoft will only process data based on your agreement.
3. Atlantic.net
One of the longest-running HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions, Atlantic.net has been offering secure and reliable hosting services since 1994. They’re not only HIPAA compliant, but they also have SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 Type II certifications.
They offer managed and unmanaged hosting solutions, both of which enjoy secure firewalls, 100% uptime, multi-factor authentication, encrypted VPNs, and offsite backups. They also provide BAAs and go through regular HIPAA audits to maintain the highest level of compliance.
You can start with a free trial or choose from their flexible pricing plans. This web hosting service also gives discounts for long-term commitments.
4. LiquidWeb
LiquidWeb offers specific HIPAA-compliant hosting plans that are also preconfigured to what healthcare organizations need. As a hosting solution, they have wholly-owned data centers and fully managed servers with secure server cabinets.
They offer round-the-clock onsite support and stringent data encryption for all stored data. They also guarantee a high availability network and power infrastructure to ensure maximum uptime. That means you won’t have to worry about service interruptions or data loss.
LiquidWeb is an ideal solution for SMBs because of its straightforward and scalable plans. If you need custom solutions, they can also customize a solution. They’ll also provide BAAs as part of HIPAA compliance.
5. HIPAA Vault
HIPAA Vault offers several HIPAA-compliant solutions, including web hosting. They have a wide range of plans, from a low-cost base plan to a fully customized enterprise package. They sign BAAs and provide custom onboarding with 24/7 technical support.
Their hands-on approach is ideal for smaller clinics that need their provider to act as their dedicated IT team. They also ensure their plans are affordable and will provide monthly plans with discounts for long-term commitments.
All plans come with managed firewalls, anti-virus protection, onsite/offsite backups, system monitoring, SSL certificates, and two-factor authentication. They claim 99.99% uptime verified by cloud experts and third-party auditors.
6. Rackspace
Aside from being HIPAA-compliant, Rackspace is also HITRUST CSF certified, which means they’re committed to providing top-notch security to compliance-sensitive organizations. You can safely use their hosting solutions for electronic medical records, medical imaging, telemedicine, healthcare analytics, and more.
They also offer consulting and advisory services to give you access to their team of experts who can help formulate the right strategy for your cloud computing needs. They can also design and build the solution you need, as well as manage it.
Rackspace offers scalable and flexible solutions that adapt to your needs.
Why HIPAA Compliance Matters for Web Hosting
Healthcare is a lucrative industry for cybercriminals because of the vast amounts of data they can steal and abuse. Recent studies have shown that healthcare data breaches have more than doubled in the past three years.
Using HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions protects patient information from anyone with malicious intent. You can ensure that PHI remains confidential, secure, and private. This improves your reputation as a trusted healthcare service provider.
Key Features of HIPAA-Compliant Hosting
The following features must be present to ensure you’re using HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions:
- Onsite and offsite backups: Your web host must provide local onsite backups to ensure quick recovery if something fails. It must also provide secure offsite backups to ensure data recovery in case of catastrophes.
- Secure firewall: Perimeter and server-side firewalls must be provided to prevent intrusion attacks before they become serious threats.
- Multi-factor authentication: User identities must be verified using a combination of various factors like biometrics, PIN, password, and others. Even if cybercriminals access your password, they can’t easily log in to the account.
- SSL credentials: Secure sockets layer (SSL) certificates protect transactional information like personal information, credit card details, and passwords.
- Private hosted environment: Hosting solutions that use shared servers put your sensitive data at risk. Storing data in secure private servers enhances protection and minimizes the possibility of unauthorized access.
Benefits of Using HIPAA-Compliant Web Hosting
HIPAA compliance should be at the cornerstone of everything a healthcare organization does. Patients deserve their privacy, and it’s up to healthcare providers to secure the data entrusted to them.
With HIPAA-compliant web hosting solutions, you get to enjoy the following benefits:
- Robust security measures to protect sensitive patient information
- Regular security audits to identify any threats and vulnerabilities
- Guaranteed uptime to prevent service interruptions and ensure business continuity
- Secure backups to prevent data loss
- Audit trails to help review access logs and determine if there are traces of unauthorized access
- Vendor accountability to ensure all parties who handle PHI adhere to security and privacy standards
When it comes to handling patient information, you can’t afford to remain complacent. There are countless web hosting solutions, but not all will protect your patients’ data like HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions can.
