The U.S. government established HIPAA in 1996 to protect health information. If you're building healthcare software, HIPAA compliance isn't optional — it's the foundation everything else is built on. Here's your complete checklist.
Key Terms You Need to Know
- PHI (Protected Health Information) — any individually identifiable health information
- ePHI (electronic PHI) — PHI in electronic form
- HITECH Act (2009) — expanded HIPAA to cover electronic health records
- HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) — the enforcing agency
The Four HIPAA Rules
1. Privacy Rule
Limits who can access health data. Requires safeguards on data use, gives patients the right to access their records (30-day response window), and establishes conditions for data use without authorization.
2. Security Rule
The technical heart of HIPAA. Three categories of safeguards:
- Administrative: risk assessments, management policies, contingency planning, workforce training
- Physical: workstation security policies, mobile device procedures, facility access controls
- Technical: access controls, audit logging, encryption, authentication, transmission security
3. Enforcement Rule
Defines investigation procedures and penalties. Fines range from $100 to $1.5 million per violation category. Common violations include unauthorized disclosure, inadequate protection measures, and insufficient safeguards.
4. Breach Notification Rule
When unsecured PHI is breached, notification is required. You must report: who accessed the data, what PHI was involved, risk mitigation steps taken, and the timeline of the breach.
Technical Implementation Checklist
- Encryption at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3)
- Role-based access control (RBAC) for all PHI access
- Comprehensive audit logging — every access, modification, and deletion
- Automatic session timeout and re-authentication
- Data backup with tested recovery procedures
- PHI never appears in logs, error messages, or analytics
- Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with all vendors
- Regular security assessments and penetration testing
At UppLabs, we build HIPAA compliance into the architecture from day one — not as a retrofit. Every healthcare project starts with a compliance assessment before a single line of code is written.
