The method for HIPAA-compliant app development is distinct from others. Like other industries, the Healthcare & Medical sector should have digital maturity.
For digital maturity, a mobile-based app is essential. It also provides accessibility to the users. And it’s also one of the many areas in the evolution chain needed for digital transformation.
HIPAA is a significant and vital element in this.
Table of Contents
- What Is HIPAA?
- Why is HIPAA Important?
- How to Develop A HIPAA Compliant Mobile App
- Steps To Develop A HIPAA Compliant Mobile App
- HIPAA & COVID-19
- Average Cost of Building a HIPAA Compliant App
- Conclusion: Partner with Experienced HIPAA App Developers
What Is HIPAA?
In 1996, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was developed to regulate patient data safety, reduce healthcare costs, and provide constant healthcare insurance coverage for changing or losing their employment.
Wearables and smartphones in hospitals and insurance companies have been widely used in recent years to connect doctors with patients and monitor their health. It is vital that smartphones that receive, process, or transfer sensitive data need to be HIPAA-compliant. Therefore, mobile application development with HIPAA requirements is a necessity for various mHealth applications nowadays.
Thus, if you want to start mobile app development for healthcare, your product must be HIPAA compliant.
Why is HIPAA Important?
A comprehensive HIPAA Act supports patients and institutions of healthcare. Let’s understand it from both perspectives:
HIPAA for Patients
| Type of action | Description |
| Unless the patient consent, the entities cannot transmit any information. | In compliance with HIPAA, such information must be shared with other stakeholders by only healthcare professionals. Only those stakeholders that serve healthcare operations are also covered under the PHI. This provides maximum confidentiality and privacy. |
| Prescription providers and billing experts cannot forward patient data. | It may not also be forwarded by other persons and stakeholders who need such information. In addition, it is up to the entities responsible for protecting this information. |
| In the case of a breach, the entities should notify the patients. | A developer must develop a HIPAA-compliant app with the most significant security level. Patients are entitled to receive copies of their medical history under this act. This allows the smooth flow of data sharing among various healthcare organizations. |
HIPAA for Hospitals
While HIPAA can enable the patient to address his requirements, it benefits the covered entities.
| Type of action | Description |
| HIPAA compliance facilitates the storage and maintenance of healthcare data from hospitals. | It is essential for EHR or hospital CRM software application development. |
| The criteria for the storage of patient information are improvised. | All the healthcare institutions follow a similar storage and recording procedure. There is less scope of errors and misinformation. |
It helps to develop a valued platform for the healthcare industry and ensures that it meets all criteria.
How to Develop A HIPAA Compliant Mobile App
You must find what kind of information you keep and transfer through your application while creating a medical app for the market. There are two categories of data.
PHI (Protected Health Information)
Includes emails, physician bills, blood test results, MRI scans, and any other type of medical information.
CHI (Consumer Health Information)
It contains information received from a fitness tracker, such as the heart rate, the number of calories burned, and the number of steps covered walking.
Steps To Develop A HIPAA Compliant Mobile App
- Step 1: Hire A HIPAA Compliant Mobile App Development Expert
You cannot satisfy all HIPAA regulations without good advice if you don’t have the appropriate experience. Therefore, it is best to find a 3rd party expert who can assist you with necessary consultancy and system audit. Furthermore, a competent and experienced team can outsource complete HIPAA compliance in mobile app development.
- Step 2: Data Analysis & Distinguish PHI from other App Data
Check your patient data and separate the PHI data. PHI data. Check what PHI information your mobile application cannot keep or send.
- Step 3: Emerge with 3rd-Party Solutions that are HIPAA Compliant
Developing a HIPAA-compliant mobile app is expensive. You will need a budget of at least $50,000 to start creating your own HIPAA app. This cost will comprise the development of the entire system that should meet physical and technical security needs. You will also have to monitor the system and obtain all the necessary certifications and more.
- Step 4: Encrypt All Transferred & Stored Data
To encrypt the sensitive information of your patients, you need to apply security practices. First, make sure there are no security violations, use different encryption and obscure levels. Also, keep in mind to encrypt your stored data to ensure that it is not taken from a device.
- Step 5: Test and Maintain Your App for Security
Especially after every upgrade, it is always necessary to test your mobile app. Statistically and dynamically, you should test your mobile app. You should also take expert consultation to determine if your documentation is up-to-date.
Read our case study to know how we developed mobile apps for healthcare and maintained our quality standard as a leading healthcare service provider.
HIPAA & COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, HIPAA standards for all covered healthcare facilities providing telehealth services to patients were eased by the Office for Civil Rights. This association would not penalize a healthcare professional that uses non-HIPAA-compliant telemedicine software in good faith to fulfill the requirements of their patients. On the other hand, health insurers are not protected and must comply with HIPAA rules.
Average Cost of Building a HIPAA Compliant App
Well, an expected amount of app development costs is not easy to establish, particularly when it comes to creating a HIPAA-compliant mobile application with different scopes. HIPAA app development’s budget therefore differs.
The range is between $19.000 and $190.000, according to most mobile application development companies in the USA.
Across the industries, the cost of HIPAA compliance is approximately $8.3 billion a year, with a cost of $35,000 each year, which’s the charge for protecting health information technology.
Conclusion: Partner with Experienced HIPAA App Developers
If you are interested in developing a cost-optimizing HIPAA-compliant application, you can help to ensure your vision reaches its full potential with the partnership with the best app development agency. At Dash Technologies, we specialize in building custom apps that adhere to HIPAA and other health compliance standards. Contact us today to schedule a consultation with one of our development representatives.
We’re technology experts with a passion for bringing concepts to life. By leveraging a unique, consultative process and an agile development approach, we translate business challenges into technology solutions.
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