For companies in the healthcare industry, finding HIPAA compliant vendors is integral to their business. Now, a new tool is looking to make that process easier.
First, a little background. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, defines the standards for protecting sensitive patient data. Under the act, any company that deals with protected health information must ensure that the proper security protocols are in place to ensure the safe exchange of the information.
Protecting patient data from security breaches and ransomware attacks is becoming increasingly important.
To that end, Compliancy Group has launched its HIPAA Alliance Marketplace. The service works on a closed ecosystem that allows healthcare professionals to find HIPAA compliant MSPs and solution providers, known in that corner of the industry as business associates (BAs).
How It Works
The company asserts that vendors within the marketplace are heavily vetted against HIPAA rules and verified by the Compliancy Group HIPAA Seal of Compliance -- the industry’s third-party HIPAA verification.
Compliancy Group says healthcare professionals looking for vendors and BAs can search for solutions by type and geography. This helps narrow down the search given that vendors within HIPAA Alliance Marketplace vary widely from IT and Managed Service Providers and Encryption to Medical Billing/Collections and Hosting, among many others.
The service offers free, open enrollment for covered entities and healthcare professionals.
Compliancy Group began operating in 2005 with the stated goal of simplifying compliance. The organization is made up of former auditors and compliance experts who specialize in the healthcare sector.
HIPAA Consulting, Technology Tools
Compliancy Group isn't the only organization assisting MSPs and service providers in the HIPAA sector. Other key names to know include Semel Consulting for guidance and RapidFire Tools for various assessment tools.
