Healthcare &
HIPAA Security

Healthcare organizations hold uniquely valuable data — electronic health records (EHR) fetch $250–$1,000 per record on dark web markets, compared to $1–$10 for credit card numbers. Operational dependency on systems creates urgency to pay ransoms: a hospital that cannot access patient records during a ransomware attack cannot safely care for patients. The combination of high data value, operational criticality, and historically underinvested IT security makes healthcare the most targeted sector for ransomware. Average downtime for a healthcare ransomware incident is 23 days. Securafy's default-deny Zero Trust Application Control architecture prevents ransomware execution entirely — not just detection after the fact.

Yes, if you are a covered entity or business associate. Covered entities include: healthcare providers who transmit health information electronically (physicians, dentists, chiropractors, therapists, pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes); health plans; and healthcare clearinghouses. Business associates — vendors with access to PHI — are also directly liable under HIPAA since the 2013 Omnibus Rule. There is no size exemption: a solo-practice physician with one employee has the same HIPAA Security Rule obligations as a 500-bed hospital, scaled to their risk and complexity. Securafy serves Ohio healthcare practices of all sizes.

Yes — any IT managed services provider, cloud vendor, EHR hosting company, or other technology provider with access to your patient data is a HIPAA business associate and must have a signed BAA before you share any PHI with them. A BAA establishes each party's responsibilities for protecting PHI, requires breach notification obligations, and restricts how PHI may be used or disclosed. An IT provider without a BAA is a HIPAA violation regardless of whether a breach occurs. Securafy signs comprehensive BAAs with all healthcare clients as standard practice.

HIPAA's Breach Notification Rule requires covered entities to notify affected individuals within 60 days of discovering a breach of unsecured PHI. Breaches affecting 500 or more individuals in a state also require notifying prominent media outlets in that state within 60 days. Breaches must be reported to HHS annually (breaches under 500) or within 60 days (breaches over 500). Immediately upon discovery: contain the incident; engage a forensic investigator to determine the scope of PHI affected; preserve evidence; and contact legal counsel. Securafy's incident response service activates immediately upon notification and includes breach notification support.

Securafy protects EHR environments through: Zero Trust Application Control preventing unauthorized applications from accessing EHR data; MFA on all EHR and clinical system access; encryption of ePHI at rest and in transit; comprehensive audit logging of all EHR access; network segmentation isolating clinical systems from guest and administrative networks; regular backup with tested restoration; and 24/7 SOC monitoring for anomalous access patterns. We work with the major EHR platforms used by Ohio practices and are familiar with Epic, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, and others.