Published on June 25th, 2021 | by Guest

CEO’s Guide on How to Develop a HIPAA Compliant Cross-Platform Mobile Application

Those who have any kind of interaction with the healthcare industry must have cottoned on the fact that a significant operational front of this industry is controlled by HIPAA-compliant apps. These apps are commanding everything from appointment scheduling to patient monitoring.

The end-users of such apps are relishing high-end perks such as automate operations and streamlined processing. No wonder why there were around 3, 25,000 mHealth apps on the multiple app stores in 2017. This number has touched the mark of 400,000 by the end of 2020.

Clearly, healthcare or medical app, developed by a seasoned company, is the key to success for those who are healthcare industry. However, there is a catch. The healthcare app development process is a bit more tedious than other apps as one has to adhere to all the HIPAA compliances.

This post will throw light on some of the vital information that should be kept in mind while developing a HIPAA compliant cross-platform mobile app. So, if you’re an end-user of such an app then stay tuned.

Why Adhering To the HIPAA Compliance Is Crucial?

Before delving deep into details, let’s understand the need of meeting the HIPAA compliances while developing a mobile app for the healthcare industry.

HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountancy Act and came into practice in 1996 by the US government. This act monitors the quality & excellence that the healthcare sector should maintain throughout and ensure that the healthcare workers are protected with enough insurance coverage.

It also has set certain quality standards, which anyone involved in the healthcare industry, has adhered to. For any mobile app development company, following such standards and norms is highly recommended as it the mark of excellence.

For patients, HIPAA matters because:

It let them believe that no patient information is shared without their consent. Only healthcare professionals are allowed to exchange patient information.
The patients hold wholesome right on the data.

For Hospitals, an HIPAA compliant mobile app means that:

They are offering quality services to the patients.
The patient data is in safe hands and they can avoid incidents of data breaches.
It cultivates the culture of treating the patient information the right way.

The Tactics of the Development of HIPAA Compliant Mobile Apps

By now, it would be clear that any healthcare mobile app should be developed as guided by HIPAA compliance. Now, let’s understand the ploys to implement this.

Hire no one but the skilled professionals

For a HIPAA mobile app development, not any other app developer will suffice the purposes. It needs the one who has mastered the domain. This job should be handled by a certified mHealth app development company that is aware of the HIPAA rules and regulations.

While you’re searching for one, don’t forget to have a look at the past work of the company, owns an in-house team of developers, and offers a system audit facility. With such developer partners, quality can be maintained throughout the process.

Make movements as per HIPAA rules

For healthcare app, and best mobile app development company make sure that the patient’s information is saved as per the HIPAA Rules.

The rules are:

Security rule
Privacy rule
Breach notification rule
Enforcement rule

From a realistic perspective, security rule is the most crucial. It should be followed without any exception.

Understand the essential conditions

All the HIPAA compliant apps are based on two safeguards- technical & physical safeguards.

Technical Safeguard– This aspect ensures that the HIPAA compliant app should adhere to data security practices while performing the transferring, storing, and sharing of medical information.

Physical Safeguard – The focus of this safeguard is to ensure proper data encryption. While developing a HIPAA application, it should have emergency access, offer a unique identification, and automate emergency access.

Ensure that the generic features are included

Depending upon the business requirements, the features of any HIPAA compliant healthcare application are likely to change. However, certain generics features should be a part of any app.

For instance, it should include user identification, emergency access, and encryption.

User identification is here to ensure that only authorized personals are accessing the app. It is done by allowing users to protect the app via PIN or password.

Emergency access is that point of contact which is available regardless of any kind of natural emergencies. Speaking of encryption, the app should be protected with AES encryption. Other than this, it should have instant communication, booking, and reminder kind of features.

Run as many as trials are required

Any loopholes in the healthcare mobile apps can tarn the position of the company. Hence, there is no scope for errors. It would be wise to test the app as many as times required before launching it on the app store. Make sure the app is tested both statically and dynamically after incorporating every update. Not only the technical fronts should be tested and updated; the documentation should be up to date as well.

Ending Notes

Healthcare apps are too ahead of time and assisting the industry at almost every front like reducing the operational errors, keeping the incidents of data breaches under control, and safeguarding the patients’ information.

A healthcare mobile app, developed as per the HIPAA compliances, is going to leverage the reputation of the organization in a blink of an eye. While all these perks seem highly lucrative, the development of a HIPAA compliant app is a daunting job that can only be handled with perfection by the hands of a skilled mHealth cross-platform app development company. Keep your senses awake while making a choice at this front.

Photo by Olaf Val on Unsplash

Author Bio

Chandresh Patel is a CEO, Agile coach and founder of Bacancy Technology. His truly entrepreneurial spirit, skillful expertise and extensive knowledge in the Agile software development services has helped the organisation to achieve new heights of success. Chandresh is fronting the organisation into global markets in a systematic, innovative and collaborative way to fulfill custom software development needs and provide optimum quality services.

Tags: app development, cross platform development, mobile app development, Salesforce