Ensuring HIPAA compliance for online web forms is critical for healthcare providers to protect patient data and avoid legal risks. RevelForms offers a solution that not only meets HIPAA standards but also enhances patient engagement with interactive video forms, providing secure and dynamic patient interactions.
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In the fast-paced landscape of healthcare, protecting your patient’s information is paramount. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) serves as a cornerstone of this effort, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI). You don’t need to work in the healthcare industry to recognize the importance of keeping health information protected and secure. As medical practices increasingly adopt digital solutions to streamline operations and enhance patient engagement, ensuring HIPAA compliance in all digital touchpoints, becomes a critical concern. The area we want to focus on today specifically covers the topic of HIPAA compliance with the online website form: what’s okay, what’s not okay, and some possible solutions.
HIPAA was enacted in 1996 with the dual goals of improving the efficiency of healthcare delivery and protecting patient data. It establishes national standards for the protection of PHI, which includes any information that can be used to identify a patient and relates to their health condition, healthcare provision, or payment for healthcare services. Compliance with HIPAA is not just a legal requirement but also a vital component of patient trust and the integrity of healthcare practices.
Online web forms have become an essential tool for healthcare providers. They facilitate a range of functions such as appointment scheduling, patient intake, feedback collection, and initial consultations. These forms are particularly useful in attracting new patients by simplifying the process of initiating contact with a healthcare provider. Typically, these forms collect basic information such as name, phone number, and email address, providing a convenient entry point for potential patients. All of this information, however, falls into the realm of protected health information as outlined by the HIPAA Privacy Rule
We have entered an age in web design where just about every website has an online contact form. Unfortunately, these forms have remained relatively the same for the past 20 years “name, phone, email” - no personalization, no value proposition, and for many healthcare providers - a breach in HIPAA compliance. This gap in compliance arises from one major factor:
Data Encryption: Many forms do not encrypt data during either storage or transmission, exposing PHI to potential breaches. In the simplest sense, encryption takes readable plain text (your patient’s name, email, payment information, etc) and scrambles it into unreadable text that can only be decoded by users with authorized access.
To be HIPAA compliant, this is required both when your data is being stored as well as during transmission across devices. Have an automated email set up to notify you each time a new patient completes a webform? That information must be encrypted. If you are using your website’s built-in form builder, your data is more than likely not being encrypted, rendering your practice out of compliance.
Recognizing these challenges, RevelForms has developed a solution that not only ensures HIPAA compliance but also reinvents the traditional web form experience. RevelForms offers a fully compliant platform that addresses the typical shortcomings of online forms:
Beyond compliance, RevelForms introduces an innovative twist to the standard "name, phone, email" forms by incorporating interactive video. This new approach personalizes the patient experience, making the initial interaction more engaging and informative. Here's how it works:
In the digital age, maintaining HIPAA compliance is crucial for healthcare practices, especially when utilizing online web forms to attract and engage new patients. Many practices unknowingly fall short of compliance, risking patient trust and legal repercussions. RevelForms offers a comprehensive solution that not only meets HIPAA standards but also enhances patient interaction through innovative video forms. By adopting such solutions, healthcare providers can ensure the security of patient information while simultaneously revolutionizing the way they connect with new patients.