HIPAA

HIPAA readiness without the binder

Your AI vCISO maps your program to every Security Rule safeguard, from risk analysis to transmission encryption. Health data customers get real answers instead of a policy PDF from 2019.

What is HIPAA?

HIPAA is the US federal law protecting health information. It applies to covered entities such as providers and health plans, and, through business associate agreements, to every vendor that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits protected health information for them. If your product touches PHI for a healthcare customer, you are almost certainly a business associate and the Security Rule applies to you directly.

The Security Rule is the part a software company operationalizes. It defines administrative, physical, and technical safeguards, plus organizational and documentation requirements, and it is assessed at the level of 46 implementation specifications. Each one is either Required or Addressable. Addressable does not mean optional. It means implement it, or document why an alternative measure is reasonable in your environment.

There is no official HIPAA certification. You demonstrate compliance through a current risk analysis, written policies, workforce training, signed business associate agreements, and evidence that your safeguards actually operate. That is exactly the artifact set regulators request first in an investigation, and the set your healthcare customers ask for during procurement.

Who needs HIPAA?

Digital health and health tech

If your product stores, processes, or transmits patient data, the Security Rule is table stakes before a hospital, payer, or provider group will sign.

SaaS acting as a business associate

Analytics, communications, billing, hosting, or AI tools that handle PHI for healthcare customers inherit HIPAA obligations through the BAA they sign.

Companies expanding into healthcare

Selling an existing product into healthcare means a BAA, a security review, and Security Rule questions. Being ready shortens the deal cycle dramatically.

How vCISO.AI gets you HIPAA ready

The Security Rule asks for a real program, not a template pack. That is what gets built.

1.

Risk analysis, the real one

The gap analysis and risk register produce the documented, current risk analysis that 164.308 demands and that OCR asks for first.

2.

Policies mapped to safeguards

Sanction policy, contingency plan, access management, incident response. Each policy is drafted in your context and mapped to the safeguards it satisfies.

3.

Evidence per safeguard

Encryption settings, access reviews, training records, backup tests. Evidence maps to the specific implementation specifications it proves.

4.

Vendors and BAAs tracked

The vendor module tracks which subprocessors touch PHI, their agreements, and their reviews, which is the business associate chain HIPAA cares about.

Every Security Rule safeguard, covered

All 46 implementation specifications are in the platform, cross mapped to SOC 2 and ISO 27001 so the work counts everywhere.

164.308

Administrative safeguards

Risk analysis, workforce security, training, incidents, contingency

164.310

Physical safeguards

Facilities, workstations, devices, and media

164.312

Technical safeguards

Access control, audit, integrity, authentication, encryption

164.314

Organizational requirements

Business associate agreement content

164.316

Policies and documentation

Written policies, six year retention, updates

46

safeguards, one control set

Every HIPAA safeguard maps to a control you can implement once. The same controls feed SOC 2 and ISO 27001 readiness at the same time, so healthcare compliance does not restart your security program.

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers about the product, frameworks, and getting started.

HIPAA basics

Did not find what you were looking for? Talk to us.

See your gaps for free.

Run the gap analysis, get your roadmap, and know your real timeline before you spend a dollar.