HIPAA Compliant Database
Learn how healthcare companies use cloud platform database services to build HIPAA compliant databases
For organizations building healthcare applications and software, developers must ensure that they have implemented all necessary administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to maintain HIPAA compliance. This means that protected health information (PHI) and sensitive data need to be stored in a HIPAA compliant database and teams must implement all necessary security controls.
With many cloud services providing file storage and hosted database services, there are many options for HIPAA compliant databases. No single solution is automatically HIPAA compliant, so healthcare developers should work to build a HIPAA security program and consider the following requirements for implementing a HIPAA compliant database:
Why Are Healthcare Organizations Often Targeted?
Healthcare organizations are frequent targets for database security breaches, largely due to the value and breadth of the data they store. Medical records contain not only sensitive health information but also personal identifiers, insurance details, and even financial data, making them a goldmine for cybercriminals.
Unlike credit card numbers, which can be canceled and replaced, health data is permanent and can be misused in a variety of ways, from identity theft to fraudulent insurance claims. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers lack the robust cybersecurity resources seen in industries like finance or tech, leaving them more vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated threats.
With the rise of high-profile incidents, such as ransomware attacks on hospitals in the U.S. and the NHS breach in the UK, it’s more important than ever for healthcare organizations to prioritize strong database security as part of their broader HIPAA compliance efforts.
HIPAA Compliance Requirements
Signed Business Associates’ Agreement (BAA): Healthcare vendors must sign a business associates’ agreement (BAA) with the public cloud provider. This agreement dictates how HIPAA security responsibilities are managed by the cloud provider and the cloud customers.
Access Control: Any databases that will be used with protected health information (PHI) must have necessary access control security implemented. This means that user authentication and roles must be in place.
Unique Login Credentials and User Authentication: To support HIPAA database security, each user must be assigned individual login credentials. This ensures that access to protected health information (PHI) is both traceable and controllable.
Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR): HIPAA requires that organizations implement backup and around disaster recovery (DR) procedures in-case of service outage.
Audit Logging: HIPAA compliant databases must log queries and access to PHI to detect potential malicious activity.
Encryption: PHI must be encrypted both at-rest and in-transit. This means that data must be stored on encrypted volumes and transmitted over TLS/SSL.
Staff Training: Organizations set compliance roles and provide HIPAA training for staff members.
Safeguarding PHI: How HIPAA Protects Data
To ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI), HIPAA lays out a detailed framework of safeguards that organizations must put in place. These include a mix of:
- Administrative safeguards: Policies and procedures to manage the selection, development, and use of security measures, such as formal risk assessments, workforce training, and assigning security responsibility.
- Physical safeguards: Controls that limit physical access to systems, including secure facility access, workstation protections, and proper device and media handling.
- Technical safeguards: Technology and technical policies that control access to electronic PHI. This spans encryption, access management, audit controls, and systems for monitoring data movement.
By implementing these safeguards, organizations can protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or tampering, while also ensuring that necessary information is accessible to authorized users when needed.
Patch Management and Software Updates
Keeping all database and related software current is critical for reducing security vulnerabilities in healthcare environments. Routine patch management ensures developers can close known security gaps before attackers have a chance to exploit them. Outdated systems are common targets for cyber threats, as hackers often scan for well-publicized vulnerabilities that can be used to access sensitive data.
By maintaining a schedule for timely updates, organizations significantly reduce the attack surface of their database infrastructure. Solutions like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure typically offer managed services that automate patching, making it easier to ensure critical security fixes are applied as soon as they become available. For self-managed environments, integrating automated patching tools and setting clear policies is an essential part of a robust HIPAA security program.
Proactive software update practices help protect protected health information (PHI) and reinforce compliance, as required by HIPAA’s technical safeguards.
Selecting A HIPAA Compliant Database
Most public cloud platforms, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) operate under a shared responsibility model. This means that HIPAA compliance and cloud security controls are the responsibility of both cloud platforms and cloud customers.
AWS provides several hosted database services that are “HIPAA eligible” and may be configured as a HIPAA compliant database.
Amazon RDS:
Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is Amazon’s managed database offering. RDS allows cloud users to implement and scale a production level database without major database configuration and administration. Users can utilize RDS native database engines including Amazon Aurora, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle Database, and SQL Server.
Read our guide to using Amazon RDS as a HIPAA compliant database
Amazon EC2 Based Databases:
Amazon EC2 instances are virtual machines that can be configured to run different operating systems and software. Healthcare companies that are utilizing a specific database or plan to manage all database configuration may deploy a database or cluster on EC2. The AWS marketplace also provides many EC2 based databases that may be deployed in your AWS environment.
Amazon DynamoDB:
Amazon DynamoDB is AWS’ fully managed key-value and document database. Healthcare developers can use DynamoDB to build low-latency, highly scalable HIPAA compliant database services all without managing individual servers. DynamoDB can be utilized for mobile backends, serverless apps, and various microservices.
HIPAA Compliance In The Cloud
Selecting and utilizing a HIPAA compliant database is often one part of a HIPAA compliant architecture. Organizations often utilize file storage, virtual machines (VMs), containers, and other cloud services when developing healthcare solutions.
Dash ComplyOps enables healthcare organizations, business associates, and software vendors to configure, monitor, and maintain sustainable HIPAA Compliance Programs. Healthcare developers turn to Dash to build HIPAA compliant applications and workloads with ease.
See how healthcare teams use Dash ComplyOps to manage compliance in the cloud
Develop HIPAA Compliant Applications
Build HIPAA compliant applications in the cloud