Healthcare applications are on the rise, and the healthcare app development scene is in full effect. However, developing a health app is a bit challenging. It requires more technical compliance than app development in any other sector. Every app has to stick to security codes and comply with rules and regulations to protect user’s data. With hackers lurking around, protecting data has become the utmost priority for developers. Moreover, breaching the app’s security and accessing data has become easier for hackers. Any breach of app data or security can result in catastrophes. Therefore, the healthcare industry is extra cautious about these security threats. It has implemented security requirements that the app must comply with. While these compliances might differ from country to country, the one compliance that has become the standard is HIPAA. And if a medical app complies with HIPAA regulations, then the potential for success is high.
Moreover, according to a stat,” the year 2022 saw health apps earn revenue of well over US$8 billion.”
So, if you are looking to develop a mobile app that can earn you a hefty app revenue, you must ensure the app complies with the HIPAA rules. If your app can meet HIPAA privacy and security rules, then the sky’s the limit for its success. But how do you make your app HIPAA compliant, and above all, what is the HIPAA privacy rule? In order to find that out, this blog will discuss the HIPAA law as well as the steps involved in HIPAA compliant app development. Therefore, let’s dive straight into it.
Understanding HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act was passed in 1996 but has since been updated, with the last update being in 2013. HIPAA makes sure that the process of storing and handling patient data is done seamlessly without any hiccups. This way, HIPAA acts to protect not only the patient’s data but also regulate low healthcare costs. Also, the HIPAA Act looks after people who are unemployed or have switched jobs. It provides them with health insurance coverage. The data that HIPAA protects for medical patients is their billing and healthcare insurance coverage. However, the interesting bit of the act that developers are concerned with is the security requirements that a healthcare app must meet to safeguard the users and their data from being compromised.
However, the health data that the software deals with and that the HIPAA is concerned with is of two types. The first type of data is PHI, which stands for Protected Health Information. This type of data includes different information such as medical bills, medical reports like blood tests and MRI scans, emails, and other related medical information. The other type is CHI, which stands for Consumer Health Information. This data type includes the information obtained from health-tracking and fitness-tracking devices. The information can be either the number of calories burned, steps taken, or the heart rate reading. Regardless of what the information is and whether it is sensitive or not, HIPAA ensures this information stays protected and secured within the app. That is why HIPAA is so important for healthcare apps, and complying with HIPAA requirements is a must for all Health apps.
Importance of HIPAA Compliance
The importance of HIPAA compliance cannot be overstated. This act not only helps medical patients but also healthcare institutions. Moreover, ensuring that your app is compliant with HIPAA regulations is also important for app users as the regulations protect the user’s medical data. However, if you are looking to develop a HIPAA compliant mobile app, then you must know the importance of HIPAA compliance for patients and medical institutes. The PHI covers app owners who abide by healthcare rules and attend healthcare operations. Therefore, the organizations can share the information with the app owners as they are eligible as per HIPAA compliance guidelines.
Only professionals can share that information, and that too with the patient’s consent. Besides that, no organization is allowed to share the patient’s information without their consent. The same goes for medical stores, medicine providers, and billing staff, as they, too, are not allowed to share the patient’s information. All of these policies work in the favor of patients as they help safeguard their sensitive medical information as well as maintain a level of confidentiality, trust, and privacy. However, in the case of any data breach, the patients must be notified by the organizations on an immediate basis. The patients have full authority over their medical information, whereas the organizations don’t.
Why HIPAA Matters for Hospitals?
On the other hand, the importance of HIPAA compliance for hospitals is not any less. We can get the idea of the importance of HIPAA violations because if hospitals don’t follow the HIPAA rules, the consequences can be severe. In that case, hospitals will have to face legal action in the form of hefty fines that can range from $1000 to all the way up to $1 million. One Massachusetts hospital found itself on the receiving end of HIPAA’s wrath. The hospital had first-hand experience in that its file-sharing application didn’t follow HIPAA’s rules and requirements. By doing so, the hospital put the information of over 500 patients at risk and, therefore, had to pay a massive fine of $218,000. That tells you everything you need to know about the importance of HIPAA and its rules for hospitals and other healthcare institutes.
Your App Must Comply with HIPAA Rules and HIPAA Regulation
We have pretty much settled it by now and made it clear that a healthcare app must be HIPAA compliant. Therefore, when you develop a HIPAA-compliant app from scratch, you must make the app HIPAA compliant by meeting the four main HIPAA security rules and requirements, such as privacy, security, enforcement, and breach. However, that is not all because HIPAA-compliant app development must align with HIPAA regulations. HIPAA is applicable whenever the app’s security and patient’s data are concerned. Therefore, you must ensure the app follows both physical protection and technical protection. For the physical part, the backend needs to be secure. Also, the network on which the data is transferred needs to be secure. The same goes for the Android or iOS devices on which the data is stored, as they have to be kept safe.
In the case of the device getting lost or stolen, the patient’s data can be put at risk. Moreover, the app must be protected with authentication, whether it is two-factor authentication or another form of security measure. This will make the apps secure and prevent them from being used without authentication. However, on the technical side, security measures must be implemented in the form of end-to-end data encryption. This will make the data encrypted and secured when being transferred and stored on servers and devices. Also, the data itself should be just about enough. You must not store more data than you can handle. Also, storing more data than needed is risky. You must also avoid sending PHI data and patients’ medical data as push notifications, as that can get compromised and leaked as well.
Features of HIPAA-Compliant Application
Even though all healthcare apps are different from one another, there are some common features that all healthcare apps have in them. Your health and human services app should include three important features. With this HIPAA-compliant mobile app development, we will help you add these features to your app. These features are:
User Authorization
The app must include login security measures such as a PIN or password for easy login. These protection practices will keep the security of the app intact and make the app also subject to HIPAA requirements. However, if you want, you can also add more user identification measures such as biometric identification to make the app even secure.
Emergency Access
The network condition as well as services can face hiccups and disruptions in the event of a natural emergency. However, it is better to instill a solution that allows users to access the app with ease at all times. More so, your app must have built-in features that can address these issues.
Encryption
Data encryption is perhaps the biggest and most important feature of a healthcare app. When you build a HIPAA compliant app, you will need to add encryption features to your app. That is because it will encrypt the data of your HIPAA compliant application and add a layer of protection for security purposes. The encryption we suggest you go for is (AES) encryption, which stands for Advanced Encryption Standard.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a HIPAA-Compliant App?
Developing HIPAA compliant mobile applications is not everyone’s area of expertise. Those that build HIPAA compliant apps charge depending on the app’s complexity and features. The average cost of HIPAA compliant app development is $15,000. However, the cost can go up to $50,000 or more, depending on the app’s scale and complexity. There are other factors that also determine the cost of HIPAA compliant app development. These factors include the location of the development firm as well as the size of the development team.
However, with this guide, we suggest you go for a cost-effective HIPAA compliant app development by choosing must-have features. Moreover, you will need to focus on the app’s functionality with the core features. We suggest you go with the development process that aligns with your project plan and stays within your development budget. That way, you can develop the best app within budget and on time as well.
Hire a HIPAA Compliance Application Development Firm to Make an App HIPAA Compliant
For your HIPAA compliant app development, you will need to partner with an experienced development firm that is well aware of HIPAA compliance. The development firm will provide you with custom healthcare software development services tailored to your specific requirements and also take care of HIPAA compliance. They will make sure that your app is safe and secure in terms of storing and transferring patient data. Moreover, the HIPAA compliant app development firm will also add a layer of protection by encrypting the app for security purposes. By hiring a development firm, you gain access to an entire development team of experts. A development firm has highly skilled designers and developers on its team. That way, the entire team of experts will work on your app project from start to finish. They will develop your app using the latest technologies and modern development tools and according to the best development practices.
Moreover, a leading HIPAA compliant app development company will use the end-to-end and agile development methodology for your app’s development process. This development approach will allow the team to work closely with you and collaborate with you on your healthcare app project. More so, an agile development approach will ensure your HIPAA compliant app development is completed on time and stays under your budget. The firm’s expertise will ensure that the app is seamless, fast, responsive, and has robust functionality that includes the features of your choice. Above all, the firm will make sure that your healthcare app meets the rules and regulations of HIPAA. If you are looking for a development firm that has expertise in building a HIPAA-compliant mobile app, then you should choose Linkitsoft. That is because they have a proven track record of delivering successful HIPAA compliant app development solutions for more than ten years.
There Are 5 Steps to Make an App HIPAA-Compliant
The process of HIPAA compliant app development consists of 5 key steps. A development firm such as Linkitsoft with experience and experience in building HIPAA compliant software carries out the HIPAA-compliant software development across these five stages, which are:
HIPAA-Compliant App Ideation and Market Research
Before starting HIPAA compliant app development, a firm needs to conduct thorough market research. This way, the development firm can get an idea of the competition in the market. They can look for opportunities and gaps in other apps that they can take advantage of with their app. More so, researching the market gives you a better perspective on where you stand and the competition that you need to keep up with. Also, the development firm will then need to gather the requirements of your healthcare app, such as the HIPAA compliance checklist of features and functionality that the app owners want to have. This way, the development firm can create and define a project plan according to the requirements and then start the mobile app development process.
Healthcare App UX & UI Design
After that, the expert and talented designers of the development firm will design the app’s user interface and user experience. The designers will use their creativity to design intuitive user interfaces of the app that align with the app’s design or brand image of the hospital or insurance companies. More so, the designers will ensure that the UI and the UX of the mobile app HIPAA compliance is fast, responsive, and smooth so that it can enhance the user’s experience.
HIPAA Compliant Mobile App Development
Once the UI and UX are designed, the development firm in control of the HIPAA compliant app development will get their app developers to work. The developers will start building a HIPAA compliance app. They will start developing the app’s frontend and backend architecture. The developers will need to use the latest technologies and the best development tools to create the app. Moreover, they must stick to the recommended app development practices and ensure that the app’s security meets the HIPAA guidelines.
Testing and launching the Health app
After the app is developed, the (QA) testers, which stands for quality assurance testers, will begin extensively testing the app on multiple devices. This will also allow the QA testers to find any flaws or errors in the app’s development coding. It will help them identify any bugs or errors. If any bugs are found, they are fixed right away. Also, the issues are fixed during the testing stage. This will ensure that the final version of the app is refined and free of bugs and errors. Once the QA testing is done, the app is then launched on the platform’s app store. This way, the app will become live and accessible to users all over the world.
Post-Launch Maintenance & Support
Maintaining the app after launching it on the app store is just as important as starting the HIPAA compliant app development in the first place. That is why you must ensure that the development firm you partner with for your healthcare app project provides ongoing support and maintenance for your app after it is launched. The development firm will monitor your app at all times. Moreover, if any issue arises over time, they will fix it immediately. Also, the firm will keep improving your app with the latest features. They will do that by rolling out new updates from time to time. Therefore, maintaining and supporting the app after deployments is a crucial part of HIPAA compliant app development.
Final Thoughts
We hope this guide can help you on your HIPAA compliant app development journey. That is because we have talked about the main factors that will help you out. Moreover, we have talked about HIPAA rules and regulations that your app will need to meet during development. By following the pointers mentioned in this guide, you can successfully develop your healthcare app. You will, however, need to work with a development firm for that. If you liked reading this guide, we suggest you read more guides like this. You can check out our guides in the blog section on our website.
