HIPAA violations cost Ohio healthcare organizations millions in penalties and reputational damage each year. Securafy's COMPLY-CARE program makes continuous HIPAA compliance manageable, documented, and audit-ready — without adding IT staff.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) establishes national standards for protecting sensitive patient health information — called Protected Health Information (PHI) or electronic PHI (ePHI). Any organization that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI is a Covered Entity or Business Associate subject to HIPAA.
The HIPAA Security Rule requires administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect ePHI. The Privacy Rule governs how PHI is used and disclosed. The Breach Notification Rule requires prompt notification when ePHI is compromised.
In December 2024, OCR released proposed updates to the HIPAA Security Rule — the first major update since 2013. The proposed changes require multi-factor authentication, encryption of all ePHI, documented vulnerability management programs, and 72-hour breach notification. Ohio healthcare organizations must begin preparing now.
"HIPAA isn't just about policy documents — it's about technical controls that are tested, documented, and verifiable."
HIPAA applies far more broadly than most organizations realize. If you handle PHI in any form, you are likely subject to HIPAA requirements.
Physicians, dentists, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, pharmacies, and any provider that transmits health information electronically — including patient billing.
Health insurance companies, HMOs, company health plans, Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs that pay for healthcare.
Entities that process non-standard health information into standard formats, including billing services and community health information systems.
IT vendors, MSPs, billing companies, lawyers, consultants, and any third party that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI on behalf of a covered entity. This includes Securafy — we sign a BAA with every healthcare client.
Ohio veterinary practices handling client/patient records that interface with insurance or referral networks should review their HIPAA exposure with legal counsel.
Law firms and accounting firms that receive medical records, handle healthcare billing disputes, or process patient financial information are subject to Business Associate requirements.
HIPAA compliance is built on three interlocking rules, each covering different aspects of PHI protection.
Risk analysis and management, workforce training, access management, contingency planning, audit controls, and policies governing how ePHI is accessed, used, and protected.
Access controls, audit logs, data integrity controls, encryption of ePHI in transit and at rest, automatic logoff, multi-factor authentication (proposed mandatory in 2024 update).
Facility access controls, workstation security policies, device and media controls — covering everything from server room access to portable device management.
Governs how PHI may be used and disclosed. Requires patient authorizations, Notice of Privacy Practices, minimum necessary standards, and patient rights to access their own records.
Requires notification to affected individuals (within 60 days), HHS, and in large breaches, the media. Proposed 2024 rule reduces this to 72 hours for breaches affecting 100+ individuals.
Every vendor who touches PHI must sign a BAA before receiving access. Covered entities are liable for BA breaches if proper BAAs weren't in place. Securafy provides a HIPAA-compliant BAA as standard.
Securafy's COMPLY-CARE program provides continuous HIPAA compliance — not just a one-time checklist. We are a HIPAA-compliant Business Associate and provide BAAs to every healthcare client as standard practice.
OCR requires a thorough, accurate, and organization-wide risk analysis. We conduct a documented risk analysis that identifies all ePHI locations, threats, vulnerabilities, and current control gaps — producing the documentation OCR wants to see.
MFA deployment, ePHI encryption at rest and in transit, access control management, automatic workstation lockout, audit log configuration, and email security — all configured and maintained on your behalf.
HIPAA requires documented workforce training. Our security awareness platform delivers HIPAA-specific training, phishing simulations, and compliance certificates — automatically tracked and reportable for OCR audits.
When a security event occurs, we contain, investigate, and document the incident. We help determine breach notification obligations and prepare the required HHS notifications and patient communications.
We audit your third-party vendor relationships to identify unexecuted BAAs, manage BAA lifecycle, and ensure every vendor with ePHI access meets HIPAA Security Rule requirements.
We develop and maintain your complete HIPAA policy suite — Security Officer designation, workforce sanctions, contingency plans, disaster recovery procedures, and all required documentation.
Securafy builds and maintains compliance programs for Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio businesses. Prevention-First. Compliance-Ready. Award-Winning.
Official Regulatory Resources