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HIPAA Compliance
HIPAA Compliance Built to Withstand Investigation
You don’t just need HIPAA compliance. You need a program that holds up when the OCR comes knocking.
The Compliance Gap
HIPAA Covers Three Rules. Most Programs Address One.
HIPAA compliance spans the Security Rule, the Privacy Rule, and the Breach Notification Rule. Each carries its own documentation and control requirements. A program built around one rule leaves the other two as open findings.
- Assumed cloud inheritance leaves your application-layer controls undocumented and unverified, even when your Cloud Service Provider (CSP) has a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) attestation on file
- Missing Business Associate Agreements create legal exposure every time electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) passes to a vendor, contractor, or third-party system
- Undocumented ePHI data flows make your breach scope undefined until after the incident forces a discovery
- Policy gaps become evidence gaps the moment the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opens an investigation, regardless of whether a breach occurred
Healthcare Roadmap
How We Build Your HIPAA Program
Built for covered entities and business associates that need a complete, defensible program across all three HIPAA rules.
Gap Assessment
We evaluate your current controls against HIPAA/HITECH requirements, validate your ePHI boundary, and identify every attestation blocker in your path. You receive a prioritized roadmap with clear scope definition before remediation work begins.
Program Development
We build the risk assessments, policies, procedures, and workforce training artifacts your program requires. Penetration testing during this phase validates your controls before they face a real-world challenge.
Compliance Assessment
We conduct a formal review of your security, privacy, and breach readiness controls, with manual control review and vulnerability scanning included. You receive an assessment report and, where your program is ready, an official attestation letter.
Continuous Assurance
We monitor the impact of business and technical changes on your HIPAA alignment throughout the year. Gated assurance checkpoints keep your program current and give your leadership team documented proof of ongoing compliance.
Technical Foundation
How We Approach Every HIPAA Engagement
We Find Your ePHI Before We Assess It.
Most HIPAA gaps start with assets and data flows the organization doesn’t know exist. Before we assess a single control, we identify every system storing or transmitting ePHI, validate how it’s protected logically and physically, and confirm every third-party vendor in your boundary. You cannot protect what you haven’t found.
We Cover All Three HIPAA Rules.
Organizations that focus only on the Security Rule leave Privacy Rule and Breach Notification obligations undocumented. We assess all three rules in a single engagement. No obligation goes unaddressed and no finding comes as a surprise.
We Build for the OCR Investigation.
OCR investigations run on documentation. We build your program with evidence trails that satisfy an auditor’s standard of proof, not just your internal review process. When investigators arrive, your documentation is already ready.
HIPAA Assessment and Advisory Services
We Build Every Service Around Your ePHI
HIPAA Gap Assessment
We evaluate your current controls against all three HIPAA rules, validate your ePHI boundary, and deliver a prioritized roadmap with identified attestation blockers.
Enterprise Risk Analysis
We conduct and document a formal risk analysis across your administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that satisfies the Security Rule’s risk analysis requirement.
Policy and Procedure Development
We build the policy framework and operational procedures your program requires, written to the HHS standard and tailored to your specific environment and workflows.
Compliance Assessment and Attestation
We conduct a formal control review across all three HIPAA rules and issue an official attestation letter when your program meets the required standard.
Penetration Testing
We test your environment for real vulnerabilities that create ePHI exposure and feed findings directly into your risk analysis and remediation roadmap.
Continuous Assurance
We monitor your HIPAA alignment year-round with gated assurance checkpoints tied to business and technical changes, so your program stays current between formal assessments.
HIPAA Compliance Frameworks
Every Framework Your HIPAA Program Must Satisfy.
HIPAA Security Rule · HIPAA Privacy Rule · Breach Notification Rule · Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act · National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication (NIST SP) 800-66 · Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) OCR
Three Rules. One Defensible Program.
HIPAA spans three rules with separate documentation requirements. The Security Rule governs how you protect ePHI, the Privacy Rule governs how you use and disclose it, and the Breach Notification Rule defines your reporting obligations when protected data is exposed. A compliant program addresses all three in a single, defensible framework.
Both Parties Carry the Full Obligation.
HIPAA obligations apply to both Covered Entities and Business Associates. If your organization creates, receives, maintains, or transmits ePHI on behalf of a Covered Entity, the Security Rule applies in full. A Business Associate Agreement documents the relationship but does not transfer compliance responsibility to the other party.
Trusted by Covered Entities and Business Associates
Results That Hold Up Under Scrutiny
Coordinated Assessments Across 11+ Frameworks
Fortreum’s KOVR platform owns the patent on mapping across compliance frameworks. We ensure the fastest path to HIPAA, leveraging existing evidence and controls wherever possible.
2: 20+ years of testing
Fortreum’s internal knowledge to address HIPAA and healthcare related requirements exceeds 20 years of testing.
Healthcare Experience
Fortreum has performed testing against multiple healthcare providers and hospitals to ensure that we bring the most depth level of testing possible to our customers.
FAQs
Before You Start Your HIPAA Assessment, Get These Answered.
What does HIPAA compliance actually require organizations to do?
HIPAA compliance requires satisfying three federal rules. The Security Rule protects electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). The Privacy Rule governs how PHI is used and disclosed. The Breach Notification Rule defines reporting obligations after a security incident. A compliant program includes a completed risk analysis, written policies, workforce training, and executed Business Associate Agreements with every ePHI vendor.
Who is required to comply with HIPAA?
HIPAA compliance applies to Covered Entities and Business Associates. Covered Entities include health plans, clearinghouses, and healthcare providers. Business Associates are organizations that create, receive, maintain, or transmit ePHI on behalf of a Covered Entity, including cloud providers, billing companies, IT firms, and legal or accounting firms with PHI access. The Security Rule applies in full to both.
Does my cloud provider’s HIPAA attestation cover my organization?
No. A cloud provider’s HIPAA attestation covers only their infrastructure, not your application-layer controls. IaaS environments require you to own significantly more of the control stack than PaaS environments. A Business Associate Agreement is required, but it does not transfer compliance responsibility. Fortreum maps the exact boundary between your provider’s obligations and your own before assessment begins.
What is the difference between a HIPAA assessment and a HIPAA attestation?
A HIPAA assessment is an independent review of your controls against all three rules, producing a findings report and remediation roadmap. A HIPAA attestation is a formal statement that your controls met the required standard. Many covered entities and business partners require attestation before sharing ePHI. Fortreum delivers both in a single engagement.
What are the penalties for HIPAA non-compliance?
HIPAA non-compliance penalties are issued by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and tiered by culpability. OCR investigations are triggered by breaches, complaints, and audits. Organizations without documented risk analysis, policies, workforce training, and executed BAAs face penalties regardless of whether a breach occurred.
INSIGHTS & RESOURCES
Research, Guidance, and Tools for Your Compliance Journey