{"id":13756,"date":"2021-09-08T18:54:29","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T13:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arkasoftwares.com\/blog\/?p=13756"},"modified":"2024-10-10T11:58:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T11:58:52","slug":"how-to-develop-hipaa-compliant-telemedicine-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arkasoftwares.com\/blog\/how-to-develop-hipaa-compliant-telemedicine-app\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Develop a HIPAA compliant Telemedicine Mobile App?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The healthcare industry is growing at an astonishing pace and the usage of technology is also rising to complement the increasing demands of customers and industry. <\/span><\/p>\n

We can witness the usage of telemedicine, mobile applications, and wearable gadgets, which are enhancing the coverage and utility of healthcare services.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Doctor
dribbble.com\/plainthingstudio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

As per the research firm Statista<\/a>, displays the projected mobile health market size worldwide from 2016 to 2025. <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

B<\/span>y the end of the year 2025<\/strong>, the global mobile healthcare market is predicted to reach 332.7 billion U.S. dollars<\/strong>. <\/span>That would be an increase of around 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Total<\/p>\n

It clearly shows the future potential of healthcare mobile applications and telemedicine. Tele-healthcare solutions such as Doctor on-demand application<\/a> are growing rapidly, both in demand and popularity.<\/span><\/p>\n

All the stakeholders, such as end-users, doctors, and healthcare service providers, have understood the potential of telemedicine and mobile applications, and that is the reason why they are showing their interest and investing heavily in the development of telemedicine applications, which will certainly revolutionize the way the healthcare industry functions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, we need to understand that with more usage of technology, the healthcare industry<\/a> has become highly vulnerable to data theft, cyberattacks, data misuse, and phishing. <\/span><\/p>\n

The medical and personal data is many times more costly than the banking and credit card data. The increasing incidents of security breaches, unprofessional health record disposals, and hacking have created a grave concern for the healthcare industry, and that is where HIPAA comes into the picture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The healthcare industry deals with sensitive user data, and to ensure adequate security to safeguard the data, the app development for telemedicine applications must follow HIPAA compliant guidelines. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, we will discuss HIPAA compliance and the process of developing a telemedicine application based on the concept of Doctor on Demand.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/span>What is HIPAA Compliance?<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

The HIPAA Act (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was enacted in 1996 by the US federal government. HIPAA act ensures that no anomalies exist while storing and handling sensitive patient data. <\/span><\/p>\n

HIPAA act is a group of regulations that healthcare and medical service providers must comply with to ensure that patient’s data, charts, records, and accounts are managed properly with utmost privacy and security.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"HIPAA
www.americandatabank.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

As per the HIPAA act, any healthcare application<\/a> that records and transmits confidential and protected health information to a physician, hospital, or other healthcare service provider entity must be HIPAA-compliant. <\/span><\/p>\n

The mobile application development organization<\/a> will be subjected to heavy penalties and legal action in event of a violation of the HIPAA act. <\/span><\/p>\n

HIPAA act also caters to the provisions, that are related to the taxation in medical expenses; hence, if you need to start mobile app development for healthcare, your product must be HIPAA compliant.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/span>Why is HIPAA compliance important?<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

HIPAA is a comprehensive act enacted to help healthcare institutions and patients. Let\u2019s understand its importance from both perspectives:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nType of action<\/b><\/span><\/td>\nDetails<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
HIPAA for Patients<\/b><\/span><\/td>\nThe stakeholders cannot share or transmit information without the consent of a patient.<\/span><\/td>\nHIPAA acts authorize only healthcare professionals to share confidential and medical information with other entities.\u00a0<\/span>Only those entities that are engaged in healthcare operations are covered under the PHI, which ensures a higher level of confidentiality and privacy.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
All stakeholders must inform the patients if they have observed any sort of data breach.<\/span><\/td>\nAs a developer, it is important to develop a mobile app with the highest level of privacy controls and security.\u00a0<\/span>Under the HIPAA act, the patients are authorized to get copies of their treatment information and medical history. This act allows a seamless and smooth data transfer among multiple healthcare service providers.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Billing and Prescription vendors cannot share patients with other entities.<\/span><\/td>\nThere are multiple stakeholders and entities during the healthcare process, who access the patient\u2019s data, but they are not authorized to share that information with 3<\/span>rd<\/span> party vendors. The onus of safeguarding the confidential data rests on the entities concerned, and this must be ensured while developing a mobile application.<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
HIPAA for Healthcare Service Providers<\/b><\/span><\/td>\nThere must be a common standard and frequent improvisation as far as storage of patient\u2019s data is concerned.<\/span><\/td>\nHealthcare entities must follow a standard process of recording and storing the information of patients, this will reduce the scope of misinformation and errors.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
HIPAA compliance makes it easy for healthcare entities to maintain and store data.<\/span><\/td>\nThis is quite crucial for Telemedicine mobile application or Hospital CRM software development.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

<\/span>Mandatory Conditions to consider while developing a HIPAA complaint App<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

A HIPAA Compliant mobile application is basically dependent on the following safeguards, and a developer must consider these constraints and make necessary adjustments and provisions in the software design to cater the requirements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"HIPAA<\/p>\n\n

Technical:<\/span><\/h4>\n

It is mandatory for a HIPAA compliant mobile application<\/a> to provide adequate data security while sharing, transferring, and storing any medical or patient-related confidential information. <\/span><\/p>\n

Such mobile applications must implement a robust authentication mechanism so that only the intended person could get access to the system and confidential data is not misplaced or compromised under any circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n

Physical:<\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

Here the primary objective is Data encryption, as that is an important aspect while establishing an adequate physical safeguard for mobile applications. <\/span><\/p>\n

The HIPAA compliant mobile application<\/strong><\/a> must be designed and developed in a way that automates emergency access, allows instant login and logout mechanism, offers a unique identification number to every patient.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/span>How to decide if we need HIPAA Compliant Application?<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

This is an important aspect, as we must know when we need to follow the HIPAA compliance and guidelines to develop an application. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here the answer is quite simple, if you want to develop an application, then you must check if the application demands, captures, or tracks the following information, then we need to comply with HIPAA.<\/span><\/p>\n