Healthcare providers and businesses operating in the healthcare industry, and those that process healthcare-related patient data in the United States, are subject to stringent security and privacy regulations. Companies must protect patient information in accordance with specific guidelines or face significant financial, legal, and reputational penalties.

Organizations may want to address these guidelines with the services of a cloud hosting provider. Companies cannot achieve HIPAA compliance using standard shared cloud hosting solutions, where server resources are shared among multiple tenants without sufficient isolation. Healthcare providers need the enhanced security features available with bare metal or dedicated servers.

Bare metal servers and dedicated hosting solutions offer similar features and functionality, but there are differences that may make one more appropriate for your company. This article compares these two methods of protecting healthcare data to help you choose the right secure environment for your business.

Key Requirements of Healthcare Applications

Healthcare applications impose requirements that may influence your decision to implement a bare metal or dedicated hosting solution.

  • Companies must maintain regulatory compliance with data privacy and security standards, such as HIPAA in the U.S. and GDPR in the European Union.
  • Healthcare providers need high-performance and low-latency systems to support real-time, mission-critical applications such as CT scans. Server resources must be reliable with minimal downtime.
  • Organizations in the healthcare industry require robust security to protect patient data from cyber threats.
  • Some healthcare providers need the ability to rapidly scale systems to address demand spikes or seasonal fluctuations.
  • Healthcare professionals may need partners with the technical expertise to ensure data is protected effectively.
  • The healthcare industry comprises various entities, ranging from large hospitals to individual healthcare providers. These diverse customers require a tailored solution that aligns with their budget and financial structure.

What Are HIPAA Regulations?

Healthcare organizations in the U.S. are required to protect patient data by meeting the security and privacy regulations defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA focuses on maintaining the security and privacy of protected health information (PHI).

PHI is a legal term in the U.S. referring to health-related information that can be linked to an individual and is created, stored, or processed by a healthcare provider, employer, or health plan. When the data is digitized and stored electronically, it is referred to as ePHI (electronic protected health information).

HIPAA compliance requires companies subject to the regulation to implement three categories of safeguards to protect sensitive patient data.

#1: Administrative safeguards

Administrative safeguards are the policies and procedures that organizations use to select, implement, and maintain the necessary security measures to protect ePHI. The following are examples of administrative safeguards healthcare organizations need to adopt.

  • Decision-makers must assign an individual to act as the security focal point and ensure HIPAA compliance.
  • Companies must provide security awareness training to help employees recognize and respond to threats, such as phishing attacks.
  • Teams must develop incident response plans to address data breaches and other issues with regulated data.
  • Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) must be signed with all third parties that handle or process ePHI.
  • Companies must develop contingency plans to perform disaster recovery and ensure access to patient records and healthcare data.

#2: Physical safeguards

These safeguards are designed to protect the physical resources related to the processing and storage of ePHI. Examples of physical safeguards include the following controls.

  • Organizations implement facility access controls to ensure authorized access to the physical hardware processing ePHI.
  • Teams must practice workstation security by implementing measures such as locked screens to protect patient records from unauthorized access.
  • Companies must develop policies for the effective disposal and reuse of devices and media that contain ePHI.

#3: Technical safeguards

HIPAA’s technical safeguards are technological solutions meant to protect and limit access to ePHI. The following controls are examples of technical safeguards.

  • Companies must implement access control measures to protect sensitive data, including unique user IDs for all individuals accessing ePHI, automatic logoff features, and encryption. Integrity controls must ensure that data is not destroyed or corrupted.
  • Strong measures such as biometric or multi-factor authentication must be implemented to restrict unauthorized users from accessing ePHI.
  • Businesses must implement audit controls to demonstrate HIPAA compliance for all hardware, software, and processes involved in handling ePHI.
  • Teams must implement end-to-end encryption and network security on all data transmissions to protect patient health records.

Characteristics of a HIPAA-Compliant Hosting Provider

Organizations hosting ePHI must ensure that they partner with a cloud provider offering a HIPAA-compliant dedicated hosting solution or bare metal servers. Candidate providers must meet the following criteria.

  • The provider must offer services utilizing a HIPAA-compliant infrastructure.
  • Reputable providers will sign a BAA to define their responsibilities in protecting patient records and sensitive data.
  • Activity logs and audit trails must be available as evidence of regulatory compliance.
  • Data should be encrypted in transit and at rest.
  • The data center hosting the physical hardware must be secured with strong access controls and surveillance.
  • Servers should have intrusion detection systems, continuous monitoring, role-based access controls, and be patched regularly to address known security vulnerabilities.

Key Considerations When Selecting a HIPAA Compliant Cloud Solution

Organizations should perform due diligence when selecting a cloud hosting solution that supports HIPAA regulatory compliance. Decision-makers should expect to receive acceptable answers to the following questions when considering a cloud provider to protect ePHI.

  • Does the provider have experience assisting healthcare providers with compliance with HIPAA regulations?
  • Will the provider sign a BAA?
  • What type of uptime guarantee does the provider offer?
  • Are there incident plans to address hardware failures?
  • How do they control access to physical servers?
  • Are there backups and disaster recovery capabilities available for the solution?
  • Is your network isolated from other tenants?
  • What methods are used to encrypt data, and is sensitive information encrypted at all times, both at rest and in transit?
  • How much memory, CPU, and network bandwidth are in the solution, and how does this impact throughput and latency?
  • Can you quickly add capacity and integrate with other cloud services if needed?
  • What level of technical support is provided, and what specific tasks, such as patching and monitoring systems, are included?
  • What are the fixed and variable or hidden costs of the solution?
  • Does the provider offer pay-as-you-go pricing or long-term contracts?

How to Choose Bare Metal or Dedicated Hosting for Healthcare

Companies in the healthcare sector that want to ensure compliance with HIPAA requirements cannot safely utilize a public cloud, shared hosting solution, where resources may be accessed by other clients. HIPAA privacy requires that healthcare information be stored securely with a dedicated solution that isolates sensitive data from other users.

Bare metal dedicated servers and dedicated hosting solutions can both be used to maintain HIPAA compliance. The two alternatives share many similarities that make them suitable choices for meeting HIPAA requirements. They also exhibit some differences that may make one a better fit for specific healthcare organizations.

  • Bare metal servers are physical servers typically provisioned without virtualization, used by a single client. They offer customers complete control over the hardware and operating system. The user can implement customized security protocols to ensure data is effectively protected. Bare metal servers often utilize bleeding-edge technology and are generally more flexible than dedicated hosted servers.
  • Dedicated hosts are also physical servers allocated to a single customer. Customers get full use of the hardware, but may enjoy less flexibility due to preset configuration options. Some vendors may utilize legacy hardware as the foundation for their dedicated server offerings.

Choosing between these two options depends on the customer’s business objectives and the technical proficiency of their staff.

When Bare Metal Makes Sense

A bare metal option may be more appropriate for healthcare organizations that meet the following criteria.

  • The company’s workload includes I/O or compute-intensive applications such as real-time image processing, medical imaging, machine learning, or analytics on large volumes of data.
  • The business requires low latency and consistent performance to address critical healthcare applications.
  • The organization seeks complete control over the operating system, firmware, and audit logs to meet stringent regulatory requirements.
  • The healthcare organization expects to face usage spikes, for example, when addressing public health issues. Bare metal servers enable customers to quickly add and remove capacity.
  • The company has an experienced and skilled technical staff that can manage and secure the infrastructure.

When Dedicated Hosting Is a Better Option

Dedicated hosting is a more suitable option for healthcare providers with less demanding requirements.

  • The organization has a predictable workload and does not anticipate facing any spikes or excessive usage demands.
  • Teams do not require maximum customization, as all regulatory requirements can be met with the provider’s standard dedicated hosting options.
  • The healthcare organization does not require high performance for real-time imaging or AI training. They may host a healthcare-related web application or need to securely store electronic health records (EHRs).
  • The company lacks the technical resources to manage a bare-metal server and requires operational support from the provider.
  • Companies with budget concerns, looking to minimize capital expenditures, can benefit by taking advantage of more predictable contracts.

Conclusion

Healthcare organizations can meet HIPAA compliance requirements with a bare metal or dedicated hosting solution. The choice often rests on the company’s level of technical expertise and the performance requirements for their specific healthcare applications. Businesses should examine both options to make an informed selection.

Atlantic.Net offers both types of servers and has extensive experience with providing clients a HIPAA-compliant infrastructure to address their compliance needs.