Logicworks HIPAA Cloud Hosting & Compliance Solutions

The digital health care revolution is in full swing and health informatics departments across the country are hard at work replacing paper trails with on-demand applications. Logicworks uses the latest technology to help our clients tackle the scalability and compliance demands associated with storing and retrieving health records online.

The Compliance Cloud
Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Electronic Health Records (EHR), and Health Information Exchange (HIE) providers are seeing hospitals and physicians begin to populate their applications with voluminous patient information and high-resolution medical images. Not surprisingly, technologists are looking to cloud-computing as a strategy for handling these massive scalability requirements. Logicworks Compliance Cloud directly addresses the inherent limitations of public cloud-computing services and shared hosting equipment, while retaining all the technical benefits of cloud computing, by offering a fully dedicated, segregated environment.

The Compliance Cloud at Logicworks brings together the best of all worlds, offering a hosting environment with cloud-computing capabilities as well as built-in security features for HIPAA infrastructure compliance. A VMware ESX cluster allows easy resource optimization across virtual machines and rapid scalability. All patient data is isolated onto dedicated, redundant storage behind a De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) with Managed Intrusion Detection (IDS), Log Management, and Daily Penetration Scans included as standard features.

HIPAA-Compliant Hosting

The Health Insurance Portability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) affects most orginizations that provide healthcare or support, and/or transact business with other health related orginizations.  As a result, HIPAA affects employers, financial institutions, information technology outsourcing vendors, and ISPs.  HIPAA is intended to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of personal health information and its privacy rules apply to healthcare payers, providers and clearinghouses that qualify as “covered entities” (CEs).  Under HIPAA the owner of the datain an outsourcing relationship must require the service provider (known as a “business associate” under HIPAA regulations) to maintain the confidentiality of the information.

Of the five major parts comprising HIPAA, the Administrative Simplification Act most affects Information Technology systems.  The Administrative Simplification Act call for industry standard electronic data interchange (EDI) combined with stronger security standards that will ultimately guard against fraud, abuse, and eliminate unauthorized use of healthcare information. 

It is important to note that there isn’t a true HIPAA hosting certification, but that there are stringent guidelines that have to be met.  Still, without a benchmark, compliance with security and privacy rules is open for interpretation.  Logicworks exercises the utmost diligence in the evaluation and implementation of processes, policies, and systems. 

HIPAA-Compliancy Overview

HIPAA_compliant hosting requires that Covered Entities, such as HMOs, group health plans, etc., meet specific standards.  While to onus is on the client/HCO to meet the listed requirements, Logicworks will provide an infrastructure that ensures clients comply with HIPAA’s newest “Security Rule”.  A combined approach, where the client provides the methodology for compliance, and Logicworks provides enterprise-level managed hosting and database servicesin carrier-grade facilities, is the ideal solution to meeting compliancywith a cost-effective solution.

AHIPAA-compliant solution-ultimately the responsibility of the CE-must meet all of the following criteria:

Identification & Authentication

 
  • The process of correctlyindentifying and authenticating users.
     
Authorized Priveleges & Access Control  

 
  • Authorizations or privileges can be obtained.

     
Confidentiality




 
  • Access controls have to ensure that there is no accidental or unauthorized disclosure of data (encryption).

 
Integrity




 
  • Measures to ensure that data does not get unintentionally or maliciously altered.

     
Accountability

 
  • Track actions or behaviours of users (auditing; how data is accessed).