HIPAA compliance in healthcare mobile apps

The healthcare industry has been quick enough to adopt the newest of technologies to enhance their services. The modern medical equipments and communication systems have come a long way in providing top notch medical care to the citizens of the nation. Storing healthcare information electronically is the most modern way, and almost every hospital in the country has either its own EHR system or a tie up with a service provider. It is true that Electronic Health Records (EHR) make things much easier for the healthcare industry. However, it is not without risks. For instance, if the confidential medical data of an individual are transmitted wirelessly, then there is a possibility of the data being viewead by others, who connect to the unsecured network. With internet getting sophisticated, hackers and cyber criminals are also getting smarter.

Today, mobile apps are being widely used in the healthcare industry. Hospitals, pharmacies, and mobile healthcare centers often use mobile apps as front-end to their EHR systems. Mobile apps are used in a major way not only in the healthcare sector, but they are also being used in almost every industry. Of late, the attention of the hackers and cyber criminals has turned toward the enterprise level mobile applications. This is why confidential information, such as medical history and ailments of individuals should be kept under complete security while in the database or while being transmitted wirelessly. In order to provide federal protection to the confidential information, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed by the government first in 1996. However, HIPAA privacy rules as in its current shape was amended after several iterations in the year 2002.

HIPAA empowers the common man with a number of rights as far as the confidential personal information is concerned. HIPAA privacy rules range from protection of personal medical data in database to protection of data during transmission and disclosing health information needed for patient care among others. All of the institutions dealing with healthcare information need to comply with the HIPPA privacy rules. Healthcare mobile app development too falls under this act and hence app developers building enterprise level health care apps take the utmost care of security issues.

At Orange949, our mobile app developers in Orlando are not only adept in building android and iOS apps, but they are also well informed on the HIPPA act and especially HIPPA privacy rules. Our mobile app developers have developed a number of healthcare mobile apps for hospitals, pharmacies and mobile healthcare centers. If you are looking to develop a mobile app to make things easy for your staff and to provide better services to your patients, do not hesitate to contact us.