The growth of technology helps the healthcare industry, which can benefit users and medical centers. A healthcare app not only helps in connecting patients with their desired physician but also helps in booking appointments. Therefore, the demand for healthcare app development services is top-rated in today’s time.
But when it comes to building a mobile healthcare app, data privacy is a serious concern. In simple terms, when you decide to build your own healthcare app, it is essential to tell the developers to follow the HIPAA compliant app development process. A report shows that the demand for data security is becoming high.
Entrusting mobile healthcare applications with HIPAA compliant app development solutions enable the confidentiality of patient data and fraudulent activities and blocks unauthorised. HIPAA compliant apps ensure the privacy of all sensitive information and allow the users to control the incident of violation at any given time.
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What is the HIPAA Compliant Act?
Health insurance portability and accountability act 1996 is a federal law that secures patient information and health details from data breaches, misuse and theft. Any disclosure of this information by the medical institution needs a nod from the consumer.
HIPAA makes sure the data privacy of all patient data is either stored or shared through the web. It allows the customers to handle all exchanges as per their desire; that is the main motto of the HIPAA act.
HIPAA compliant app development mainly focuses on making sure data security and data privacy. This application also ensures ongoing health insurance coverage for individuals as well as agencies.
Moreover, HIPAA compliant apps always make sure that consumers have total control in submitting their information as per their will. Therefore, the demand for HIPAA compliant app development is becoming high.
But when it comes to building such an application, getting in touch with an on demand app development company that will offer you one of the best solutions within your budget is required.
Know Why HIPAA is Critical?
We all know that HIPAA ensures the security of the data, but you know that there are many other advantages to HIPAA for patients and hospitals. Wondering how? Well, look out below:
- For Patients
First of all, HIPAA protects the data of patients and their data. Another person can misuse a patient’s personal data and medical information. However, HIPAA protects patients from identity theft.
We see several cases where patient data is used for crime. It is necessary to follow the HIPAA act because it protects patients from identity theft, a popular crime linked to personal data fraud.
For a patient, identity theft can result in massive financial losses, large debts and fake claims. A report shows that people lost a big amount in order to deal with the consequences. Therefore, HIPAA compliant app development is beneficial for patients.
But when it comes to building such an app, it is necessary to seek the help of professionals who will provide healthcare web development services within your budget.
- For Hospitals
Unlike patients, HIPAA is also beneficial for the healthcare industry because it helps with the transition from paper records to electronic copies of health information. It helped to streamline administrative healthcare functions, ensure protected health information is shared securely and improve efficiency in the healthcare sector.
Another great advantage of HIPAA is that the standard for recording health data and electronic transactions makes sure that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. Therefore, HIPAA compliant app development is beneficial to the healthcare industry.
But when it comes to opting for on-demand doctor app development services, getting in touch with professionals is required. With years of expertise, they will ensure you get the desired result that you want.
Key Features HIPAA Compliant Applications Must Have
When it comes to building a healthcare application, it is necessary to understand that each app serves a different requirement and that the features can change significantly. But there are some of the standard features a healthcare app must have.
Below, we mentioned a list of necessary features a HIPAA-compliant app must have. It will help you in building the best solutions for your industry.
- User Log In
This essential app allows users to log in and make it secure. In order to make the application more attractive, you can also add the OTP feature. For this, you can also seek the help of professionals who have years of expertise in the medical device development field.
- Application Access
When deciding to deal with healthcare applications, it is only natural to face emergency cases. Hence, it is important to have a provision that can address the same issues at the earliest.
Therefore, it is necessary to have this feature for a HIPAA-compliant app. In order to make the process easier, you can hire dedicated developers. No doubt that dedicated developers have good years of expertise, so they easily develop the best solutions for you.
- Encryption
No doubt, all PHI data should be fully encrypted using the industry’s best practice, whether as rest or at transit. Therefore, when deciding to opt for HIPAA compliant app development services, it is necessary to ensure that the app has this feature.
However, you must contact professionals who will provide you with Android app development services that meet your business requirements. Plus, experts ensure that the application has no bugs or malware.
- Shareable data format
Patient data must comply with the FHIR/HL7 data standard. It allows for the streamlined sharing of patient information between providers. Thus, it is necessary to ensure that the application must have this function.
To add this function to your app, you can hire healthcare app developers who will make sure that you never face any difficulties while building the best solutions.
- Emergency Access
Emergency access is an important feature a HIPAA-compliant app must include, which activates in a crisis and allows providers to lock or export patient data instantly. You can get in touch with a HIPAA-compliant app builder to make this job convenient and effective.
Read More : Healthcare App Development: Cost and Key Features
- Authentication Mechanisms
A HIPAA must have proper authorization mechanisms that prevent any party registered in the system from accessing PHI. Therefore, it is necessary to include this feature in your application.
However, you need to seek the help of an on-demand app development company. A leading name will offer you the ultimate solutions that are equipped with rich features. Hence, it is advisable to get in touch with experts.
- Data Anonymization
Last but not least, HIPAA-compliant apps must have this feature that makes it easy to strip PHI and make obfuscated medical data available for clinical trials, research and other similar procedures.
But when it comes to choosing on demand doctor app development services, it is necessary to get in touch with an experienced and dedicated team.
A Complete Guide to Create HIPAA Compliant Medical App
Once you are aware of the advantages of HIPAA compliant app development, it is time to start the development process. Therefore, when deciding to build an app, it is required to follow the complete process.
Here, we mentioned a step-by-step guide to creating a HIPAA-compliant medical app. To get the best solutions, look out below:
1. Find an Expert
The first step for HIPAA compliant app development is finding an expert. There is no doubt that the professionals have good graphs on technology, so there are high chances they never make any mistakes.
Therefore, when deciding to opt for HIPAA compliant app development services, you need to hire dedicated developers instead of freelancers. It will increase the possibility that you will get the desired result.
2. Evaluate Patient Data
It is also required that all the data you collect from patients and figure out what data can be categorised as PHI. Once you do that, you need to look out for what PHI data you can avoid storing or transferring via your mobile application. Thus, you need to evaluate patient data to build a HIPAA-compliant app.
3. Look For Third-Party Solutions That Are Already HIPAA Compliant
No doubt that offering HIPAA-compliant applications is highly expensive. If you attempt in order to create a custom HIPAA app from scratch, you need to pay a high amount. This amount will include the development of a whole system that meets physical and technical security needs.
However, this price will include the development of a whole system that meets technical and physical security needs. So, you need to look for third-party already HIPAA-compliant solutions.
4. Encrypt All Stored and Transferred Data
You should also use security best practices to encrypt your patients’ sensitive data. Hence, ensure there are no security breaches and use lots of encryption and obfuscation.
However, you need to take care of encrypting stored data in order to protect it from being stolen from a system. Hence, it is required to follow this process to build one of the best solutions as per your requirement.
5. Maintain and Test Your Application For Security
Testing is essential, and you need to do it after every update. Thus, you need to test your app statically and dynamically as well as contact the expertise to check that the documentation is up to date.
App maintenance is a constant procedure to keep your app secure—frameworks, tools and libraries for building HIPAA-compliant applications make sure of its security. Once you create a HIPAA compliant, you will need to ensure you update them regularly. If you don’t do this, a security breach can occur.
>>> Read More: 10 Top Healthcare App Ideas for the Healthcare Startups in 2023 <<<
Conclusion
After reading this blog, we hope you have the appropriate answer to your question about what HIPAA is, its advantages and the process of HIPAA compliant app development. Once you get the appropriate answer, it is time to go back and do some research to find a reputable mobile app development company.
There are undoubtedly many service providers, so finding a trusted name is really challenging. Therefore, it is essential to take time and research to find a trustworthy on-demand app development company because it will help you build HIPAA-compliant applications and solutions for your healthcare industry.