HIPAA
Compliant Hosting

HIPAA compliant hosting is a web hosting solution that meets and exceeds the required administrative, physical, and technical safeguards mandated by the HIPAA regulations of 1996, including the subsequent Security Rule and Privacy Rule amendments of 2003. Managed service providers, HIPAA-covered entities like healthcare providers, and relevant third parties are bound by these regulations to protect and uphold patient data integrity.

HIPAA-Compliant Hosting solutions with Atlantic.Net are a lot more affordable than you might think. Our specialists are standing by to discuss your HIPAA requirements. If you would like to experience a 30-day limited free trial, contact us today.

HIPAA compliance is difficult for HIPAA-compliant hosting providers to achieve as there are many physical and technical safeguards that a HIPAA-compliant cloud computing infrastructure must fulfill in order for a cloud service provider to meet HIPAA requirements. For this reason, a free web hosting service that can ensure HIPAA compliance is impossible. We do, however, offer some of the very best rates for HIPAA-compliant hosting services in the United States, and our infrastructure is some of the fastest available. We also offer a 30-day free trial of our HIPAA-compliant hosting services, so contact us for a web hosting trial.

A HIPAA-Compliant hosting environment requires specialist configuration, management, and upkeep. The cost varies depending on what is in scope. Costs are incurred because extra steps are needed to safeguard data, meet regulations, and undergo audits. However, for those who need it, HIPAA hosting solutions are worth the cost, especially considering legal liabilities for healthcare providers and their business associates when patient data is breached.

We always recommend consulting legal advisors if you are unsure whether HIPAA legislation applies to your business. The general rule is that if you process or store protected health information that can identify a patient, then the rules apply and you'll need a HIPAA-compliant hosting solution if you want to store that electronic protected health information in a public cloud or on dedicated servers. If the data is anonymized, the rules can vary; once again, seek legal advice if you are not sure.

HIPAA cloud hosting offers strategic advantages and alleviates headaches for our customers. A HIPAA-Compliant Hosting solution ensures that all the physical, administrative, and technical safeguards of HIPAA are met with your Atlantic.Net services as long as you consume those services appropriately and maintain proper safeguards on your side as well. You can find many more details on the advantages here.

Certifications help showcase your provider’s expertise and tenacity in maintaining the best HIPAA-Compliant environment. Look for SOC 2/SOC 3 certifications and HITECH and HIPAA Audited partners who offer a business associate agreement (BAA). To review all Atlantic.Net certifications and partnerships, click here.

Managed hosting providers are not allowed to falsely advertise HIPAA compliance services; however, what parts of a HIPAA audit HIPAA compliant hosting providers will provide services for to get your team to full HIPAA compliance will vary. HIPAA is a federal law, and as such, it is illegal to breach the conditions of HIPAA and could result in hefty fines.

While some vendors might say they are "compliant," responsibility remains with the HIPAA-covered entity to ensure that they are engaging with truly compliant business associates. The only real way to ensure they are is if they have a solid BAA in place and have an audit of their HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions performed. Some competitors may say they offer HIPAA-compliant hosting solutions, but they might only be talking about a server or a specific part of their service; for example, if they advertise HIPAA-compliant email services but don't state that their other services are HIPAA-compliant, check for yourself. It is best practice to always perform an audit of the environment to ensure no assumptions are being made between the hosting providers offering the platform that powers healthcare technology systems and the healthcare organizations themselves.

For a covered entity in the healthcare industry, one significant advantage of outsourcing hosting is the additional optional managed services. Managed services, such as offsite backups, server management, an IPS, vulnerability scans, anti-malware, and network security, can be bolted onto a hosting services package. For detailed information about the managed services available to the healthcare industry from Atlantic.Net, check out this page.

While the features your HIPAA-compliant solutions need will depend on your requirements, these are a great start: Fully Managed Firewall, Multi-Factor Authentication, Intrusion Prevention Service, Antivirus Deep Security, Server Management Service with Auto-Patching, and On-Site and Off-Site Backups.

The level of technical customer support required will vary depending on your internal IT team’s resources and man-hours available. By default, 24x7x365 customer support is a must when it comes to HIPAA-compliant hosting requirements. Selecting a provider that also provides customer support in the form of phone support, ticket support, tiered support, and consulting services is a must in HIPAA-covered industries. With the extra level of customer support available, it will ensure you and your team are never left trying to figure out an issue.

While databases are not inherently HIPAA-compliant, cloud hosting providers can deliver the cloud services and database management services required to make compliance easy. HIPAA legislation requires organizations to implement the following to ensure compliance:

To maintain a HIPAA-compliant server, you must follow a distinct set of guidelines. You should:

Sensitive data can be stored using HIPAA-compliant cloud services, as long as the necessary technical safeguards are met by the HIPAA compliant hosting provider, such as having access controls, encryption, and a signed BAA in place.

Merely securing a signed BAAs will not guarantee healthcare organizations' compliance with HIPAA guidelines. A Covered Entity and its Business Associates must work closely together to ensure that they comply with HIPAA legislation, implementing key security features, such as physical security policies, multi-factor user authentication, industry-standard encryption, and activity monitoring (some web hosting companies offer HIPAA compliance monitoring). Partnering with a trusted HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting provider such as Atlantic.Net can take the hassle out of compliance.