HIPAA Readiness
Healthcare Data Protection Compliance
What is HIPAA?
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) establishes national standards for protecting sensitive patient health information. The Security Rule, Privacy Rule, and Breach Notification Rule define the safeguards that covered entities and business associates must implement.
Whether you're a healthtech startup signing your first BAA or an established organization preparing for an OCR audit, we build and validate the administrative, physical, and technical safeguards HIPAA requires.
What We Cover
Our HIPAA readiness program addresses the Security Rule, Privacy Rule, and Breach Notification Rule requirements.
- 1Security Rule — Administrative safeguards (risk analysis, workforce training, access management), physical safeguards (facility access, workstation security), and technical safeguards (access controls, audit controls, encryption, integrity controls).
- 2Privacy Rule — Use and disclosure policies, minimum necessary standards, patient rights (access, amendment, accounting of disclosures), and Notice of Privacy Practices.
- 3Breach Notification Rule — Incident response procedures, breach risk assessment methodology, notification timelines, and documentation requirements.
- 4Business Associate Agreements — BAA review, negotiation support, and subcontractor management to ensure your vendor chain maintains compliance.
- 5Risk Analysis — Comprehensive risk assessment per NIST SP 800-30 methodology, covering all ePHI repositories, threats, vulnerabilities, and risk ratings with a prioritized remediation plan.
Our Process
Typical engagement: 6–10 weeks (initial HIPAA program build) to 2–4 weeks (annual reassessment)
Assessment & Gap Analysis
We assess your current security posture against the target framework through questionnaires, environment scans, and documentation review. The result is a clear picture of where you stand and what gaps need to be closed.
Remediation Planning
Based on the gap analysis, we create a prioritized remediation plan with clearly defined tasks, impact ratings, and criticality scores. Each task is scoped so your team knows exactly what to do and in what order.
Policy & Control Implementation
We draft and implement the security policies, procedures, and technical controls required by the framework. This includes configuring your GRC platform, mapping controls, and establishing the processes auditors expect to see.
Evidence Collection & Documentation
We help you collect, organize, and document the evidence that demonstrates control effectiveness. This includes screenshots, configuration exports, policy sign-offs, and access reviews — everything an auditor will ask for.
Readiness Review & Audit Support
We perform a pre-audit readiness review to confirm identified gaps are addressed and evidence is complete. When you engage your auditor or certification body, we support you through the process — answering questions, providing context, and supporting your team throughout.
GRC Platform Experience
We configure and manage your HIPAA compliance program in Drata and Vanta — mapping safeguards, automating evidence collection for administrative, physical, and technical controls, and tracking BAA compliance across your vendor ecosystem.
HIPAA Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a HIPAA certification?
No. Unlike ISO 27001, there is no official HIPAA certification and no government-recognized certifying body. Compliance is demonstrated through documented safeguards, a current risk analysis, workforce training records, and executed Business Associate Agreements. Third parties can assess your program — that's what our readiness work validates — but any 'HIPAA certified' badge is a vendor's assessment, not an official credential.
Who must comply with HIPAA?
Two groups: covered entities (health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and providers who transmit health information electronically) and business associates — vendors that create, receive, maintain, or transmit protected health information on a covered entity's behalf. If a healthcare customer asks you to sign a Business Associate Agreement, HIPAA's Security Rule and breach notification obligations apply to you directly.
How long does HIPAA readiness take?
An initial HIPAA program build typically takes 6–10 weeks, covering the risk analysis, policies and procedures, safeguard implementation, and workforce training. Annual reassessments take 2–4 weeks. Timelines scale with how many systems touch ePHI and how much of the program already exists.
What does HIPAA actually require?
Three rules do most of the work. The Security Rule requires administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for electronic protected health information. The Privacy Rule governs how PHI may be used and disclosed and gives patients rights over their records. The Breach Notification Rule sets the assessment and notification obligations when PHI is compromised — including 60-day notification deadlines.
What is a HIPAA risk analysis?
The risk analysis is the Security Rule's foundational requirement — and the first thing OCR asks for in an investigation. It's a documented assessment of every system that stores or transmits ePHI, the threats and vulnerabilities to each, and the likelihood and impact of compromise, with a prioritized remediation plan. We perform ours using the NIST SP 800-30 methodology.
How much does HIPAA compliance cost?
Cost depends on how many systems handle ePHI, whether you're building from scratch or validating an existing program, and whether you manage compliance in a GRC platform like Drata or Vanta. A readiness engagement plus tooling is the typical budget; there's no auditor fee unless a customer or OCR requires an independent assessment. Book a 30-minute call for a fixed quote.
We already have SOC 2 — do we still need HIPAA?
Yes, if you handle protected health information. SOC 2 is a voluntary attestation your customers request; HIPAA is federal law. The safeguards overlap significantly — access controls, encryption, audit logging, incident response — so an existing SOC 2 program accelerates HIPAA readiness, but you still need the HIPAA-specific pieces: a risk analysis, BAAs, Privacy Rule policies, and breach notification procedures.
Get Started
Book a 30-minute scoping call to discuss your HIPAA readiness goals.