HITRUST Compliance Helps to Manage Risk
The secure storage and transfer of sensitive data is of the utmost importance to the healthcare industry. Data security and complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is paramount, yet doing so can often be complex and difficult to maintain.
This is where HITRUST comes in as a certifiable and recommended framework trusted by many health networks and hospitals in order to manage risk.
What is HITRUST?
HITRUST, short for the Health Information Trust Alliance, was founded in 2007 as a not-for-profit and was originally developed to help safeguard sensitive information such as electronically protected health information (ePHI).
It was organized with the intent to provide an additional option for the healthcare industry to address information risk management across a matrix of third-party assurance assessments. However, HITRUST helps organizations from all industries – not just healthcare – effectively manage sensitive data, information risk, and compliance.
Related Reading: Five Ways to Improve ePHI for HIPAA/HITECH with Managed File Transfer
What is the HITRUST CSF?
HITRUST established the HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF), which can be used by all organizations that create, access, store, or exchange sensitive and/or regulated data. The CSF includes a prescriptive set of requirements that work to harmonize multiple standards including ISO, NIST, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and more. Essentially, it attempts to fill any voids that these regulations might not address.
The HITRUST CSF was developed to help healthcare companies and their partners achieve HIPAA compliance more easily and efficiently. In healthcare specifically, the HITRUST CSF provides organizations with a way to show evidence of compliance with HIPAA-mandated security controls. HITRUST takes the requirements of HIPAA and builds on them, incorporating them into a framework based on security and risk.
Access to the HITRUST CSF is free of charge and available for anyone to download and utilize within their own organization to achieve supplemental goals outside of formal certification.
Related Reading: Compliance for Healthcare: Secure File Transfer Holds the Key
What is HITRUST Certification?
HITRUST certification is recognized globally as a validation that information security and privacy are effective and compliant with various regulations. Obtaining certification requires an independent assessment, reviewing the PHI and ePHI the organization collects and the locations where it stores, accesses, transmits, and/or creates data. Then, the organization undertakes a risk management process that focuses on determining the risk levels and tolerances. The length of the assessment depends on the size and complexity of an organization, its scope, and the amount of counselling.
Once obtained, a HITRUST certification is good for two years from the date of certification. However, after one year of certification, an organization must undergo an interim assessment to ensure the organization has made satisfactory progress on any gaps identified during the initial certification assessment.
Unlike other cybersecurity frameworks, HITRUST compliance and becoming certified does require a significant upfront financial investment.
Related Reading: Who is Protecting Your Healthcare Records?
Why is HITRUST Important?
HITRUST is important because it provides certifiable assurance that information security programs are operating effectively, maturely, and can help keep confidential data safe from risk.
Related Reading: Why Healthcare Needs MFT to Help Secure EHR File Transfers
The Benefits of HITRUST Certification
There are a number of key benefits to being HITRUST certified. These benefits include:
- The ability to meet customer and client needs – This is the primary reason why organizations look towards HITRUST. In fact, many healthcare service payers and an increasing number of health systems and hospitals are requiring that their business associates become HITRUST-certified.
- Reduced time spent dedicated to audits – Having a central location to view and track compliance in order to help identify risk helps make sure you don’t run into issues when a secondary audit, like PCI, is required. Getting certified can also, in general, help to reduce workload because an organization can respond more comprehensively and rapidly to potential security issues, using fewer hours of repeatable resources.
- Enhanced security posture – The HITRUST certification process is much more in-depth than other regulations and frameworks as it pulls from multiple places like HIPAA, HITECH, and the NIST. This ensures organizations do a comprehensive review of the environment at hand and can help to increase the security posture and reduce an organization’s overall risk.
- A better understanding of risks and growth opportunities – The HITRUST framework allows an organization to identify risks and areas for maturity, upholding a commitment to the highest level of protection for healthcare data. However, it also provides a tool to track progress and growth with regards to the overall security of the environment.
Related Reading: 8 Ways to Protect Your Healthcare Organization from a Data Breach
What is the Difference Between HITRUST and HIPAA?
Both HITRUST and HIPAA address regulatory compliance for healthcare organizations, so they are often thought to be interchangeable. However, there are key differences between the two.
HIPAA is a federal law created by lawyers and lawmakers implemented and enforced by government agencies, while HITRUST CSF is a framework created by a private group of security industry experts that an organization may use to meet the legal requirements of HIPAA.
HIPAA requires healthcare organizations and their business associates to implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to preserve and secure the privacy, availability, and integrity of PHI and ePHI. HIPAA incorporates requirements from several industry standards and federal regulations including, but not limited to, the ISO, NIST, and PCI DSS. This can make complying with HIPAA a struggle since it really is a collection of security controls from many other frameworks. As HIPAA is a compliance audit, an organization cannot become “HIPAA certified.”
The HITRUST Alliance is an independent evidence organization which provides the HITRUST CSF. This common security framework offers organizations a flexible and comprehensive approach to HIPAA compliance and risk management. With a HITRUST assessment, certification can be achieved if the requirements are met.
Related Reading: Addressing HIPAA and HITECH Compliance Challenges
How Does Data Security Help with HITRUST Compliance?
It’s no secret that healthcare organizations are aware of and concerned about the rising threat to safety and information security. Organizations that take these threats seriously should take the measures necessary to assure that sensitive data is protected with adequate security controls and regulatory requirements for the industry.
The use of a system such as HITRUST CSF isn’t sufficient by itself to avoid cyberattacks. An organization that wants to safeguard sensitive data must continue to monitor security risks through several steps:
Identify
Identifying the threats and weaknesses of a computing network is the first step. A well laid out risk assessment can help to determine:
- What data is being collected
- The network assets that need to be protected
- The location where sensitive data is kept and where it moves through the network
- The individuals who can access confidential data, such as service providers and business associates
Protect
After an organization has worked through its assets and weaknesses, measures should be implemented to secure the data and network. It’s a good idea to employ logical and hardware security access controls. These may include establishing a cybersecurity plan, awareness training for employees, and administrative controls. Consider data security solutions that provide:
- Data at rest and in-transit encryption
- Data lifecycle monitoring
- Data breach protection
- Data backup and recovery
- Security reporting and monitoring
Detect
An organization should deploy detection tools and processes to identify malicious activity. These tools may include:
- Anti-malware and antivirus software that identifies and protects against malware
- A secure managed file transfer (MFT) solution like GoAnywhere MFT to securely share sensitive data within and outside an organization
- A data loss prevention (DLP) solution to provide visibility and control over sensitive data
- A data classification solution to identify and prioritize the data that needs protection
- A digital rights management solution to encrypt and control access to data
Related Reading: How GoAnywhere MFT Helps the Healthcare Industry Thrive
Healthcare Compliance
To see how GoAnywhere can make complying with the strict healthcare industry regulations easier, more efficient, and cost-effective, check out one of our personalized demonstrations. We know your time is valuable, so we offer 15-, 30- and 60-minute demos depending on your needs for a healthy, compliant file transfer process.
