Blog / Guides / HIPAA-compliant File-sharing Services

HIPAA-compliant File-sharing Services

A lot of companies use the cloud to store and share important documents via file-sharing services. If you need a lot of space to store your files and enough flexibility to access and alter the information from anywhere, a file-sharing service is a perfect choice for you.

If you work in a medical organization, using this type of service has a lot of benefits. Yet, it can also bring a lot of issues with it. If you don’t use HIPAA-compliant file-sharing services, you will face a lot of serious problems.

What You Should Look for in HIPAA-compliant File Sharing Services

When looking for a file-sharing service hosting provider, you need to find one that can help you comply with HIPAA. If you choose the wrong provider, you could be facing large fines due to a data breach, but also a tarnished reputation and much more.

To ensure your medical business avoids all issues and risks, you need to be very careful when choosing a file-sharing service. 

Here are all the things you should look for in the process of finding a HIPAA-compliant file sharing services provider:

Experience with HIPAA 

Your cloud hosting provider needs to have experience with other healthcare organizations. That’s the best way to ensure they’re experienced with HIPAA. Since it’s difficult to meet all of the demanding standards of HIPAA compliance, it’s best to have experience with it.

Secure infrastructure 

Regular audits need to be performed by an experienced auditor. This ensures all of the critical systems for document confidentiality are in place. As this requires a physical inspection, you need to look for a HIPAA-compliant file sharing services hosting provider that allows this type of inspection.

Signed business associate agreement 

You and the hosting provider you choose need to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) so you could adhere to HIPAA standards. This agreement will clearly define the responsibilities of each party that are necessary to maintain compliance.

Private cloud 

When handling sensitive documents such as ePHI, you need to have a private cloud that allows HIPAA-compliant file sharing. For a completely safe and risk-free service, you should have a private cloud solution that has increased security.

Top HIPAA-compliant File Sharing Services

There are a number of quality file sharing services you can find online. But since you probably don’t want to spend hours researching the perfect HIPAA-compliant file-sharing services for your medical organization, we made a list of the best ones:

Google Drive 

Google Drive has 1 billion users for a reason. It has 15GB of free storage and uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), and two-factor authentication, so you can be sure that your documents are safe. If you subscribe to any of Google’s core services, you will also have a signed BAA. Additionally, Google passed the SOC3 and SOC2 audit and it has the ISO 27001 certification.

Dropbox 

Dropbox has recently started offering a signed BAA with its business package and it has great security options. It protects its files with 256-bit AES encryption, mobile security, two-factor authentication, and is compliant with SOC 2 and ISO 27001.

ShareFile 

This service offers simple file sharing and data access even if you use mobile devices. It stores user data in accredited data centers and uses 256-bit AES to encrypt all of the data. If you opt for their business packet, you’ll enjoy unlimited storage and share files up to 100GB in size.

OneDrive 

Businesses that use Microsoft applications often opt for OneDrive because it allows users to manage documents offline and online. This service uses FIPS 140-2 compliant encryption and that’s ensured by 256-bit AES. To be HIPAA compliant by using OneDrive, you need to subscribe to their business package.

Box 

This service comes with many integrations that allow its users to keep all information updated across multiple applications. It also has multi-layer encryption, two-factor authentication, and the option to securely store and share large files. With their Enterprise plan, you can sign a BAA agreement.

HIPAA-compliant forms

As you can see, ensuring data privacy for all your patients and making sure they always have a positive experience with your practice has become a necessity. But to do that, you can’t rely just on a HIPAA-compliant file-sharing service. Instead, you should build HIPAA-compliant forms.

However, that can take hours if you do it on your own. An easier alternative is to use the form builder, 123FormBuilder. Our HIPAA compliant form builder uses drag-and-drop functionality to help you create any type of workflow or an online form that you might need.

Conclusion

If you’re a medical organization that uses the cloud to store files, try finding the perfect file sharing service that will allow HIPAA-compliant file sharing. Luckily, there are service providers that offer great solutions. 

And for that little extra help, a great form builder like 123FormBuilder will help make your job much easier.

Load more...