What is HIPAA and how does Zivver support HIPAA compliance?

HIPAA is a series of US regulatory standards which outline the lawful use and disclosure of protected health information. Any organization that handles patient information and delivers healthcare support (whether through treatment, payment or operations) must meet HIPAA compliance.

In short, HIPAA sets boundaries on the use of health records, providing patients with more control over their sensitive healthcare related information through the application of three rules: 

• The privacy rule
• The security rule
• The enforcement rule

Zivver empowers organizations to comply with the requirements of each rule by protecting personal health information transmitted by email, before, during and after sending. Here’s how:

Take control with data logging:

The HIPAA Enforcement rule requires organizations to report data leaks to the individual affected, the Secretary of Health, and the media. The organization must provide a full account of the incident, including the kind of data compromised and the mitigation efforts taken to limit and control the incident.

Our data logs provide a full account of email performance, including when emails were sent, received, accessed and forwarded, as well as the security levels applied to emails and more. 

Zivver enables users to ascertain whether a data leak has occurred and, in the worst case scenario, the severity of an incident, empowering data protection professionals to take action quickly and provide a full account of due diligence.

Prevent a leak with email recall:

The HIPAA Security rule ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health data. By empowering employees with smart, integrated email security, organizations can avoid the leading cause of data leaks - human error - including sending sensitive data to the wrong recipient. 

The ability to recall an email is key in avoiding non-compliance with HIPAA. Afterall, accidents do happen, and the ability to mitigate this common mistake can empower organizations to avoid countless data incidents. However, email recall functionality is hugely limited in standard email clients. 

Through seamless integration with Outlook and Gmail, Zivver empowers employees to recall emails quickly and easily, regardless of how long ago the message was sent. 

What’s more, in their email client, the sender can confirm whether an email has been opened by the recipient. If the email is yet to be accessed, the organization can guarantee a data leak has been avoided, meaning it doesn't need to be reported - phew.

At Zivver, our roots are within the healthcare industry. Over 6,000 organizations globally use our solutions to ensure compliance and protect sensitive patient data every day.

To learn more about how Zivver can support compliance with HIPAA, GDPR, NTA 7516 and other data protection legislation, get in touch or watch a free demo.