Sep 24, 2025 4 min read

The Essential Guide to HIPAA Compliance: Protecting Health Information with Confidence

When it comes to healthcare technology, trust is built on privacy. Every piece of personal health information entrusted to your application represents a promise to protect patients’ security, confidentiality, and dignity.

At Xano, compliance means more than meeting requirements. It’s about building trust by designing systems with security at the heart of everything we do. With healthcare systems becoming increasingly digital, HIPAA has evolved to meet modern digital security challenges. This blog unpacks the latest updates, best practices, and steps you can take to confidently build HIPAA-ready solutions on platforms like Xano.

Before we go any further though, we should note that Xano’s HIPAA-ready features are designed to support your compliance efforts but do not guarantee that your organization or application is compliant. Compliance depends on how you implement and manage your systems and data. Xano does not provide legal advice, makes no guarantees of compliance, and disclaims liability for any failure to meet regulatory requirements.

Now with that disclaimer out of the way, here are some concrete recommendations to help you deliver HIPAA compliance in your organization and your next software project.

Why HIPAA Matters

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), enacted in 1996, set national standards to safeguard personal health information. Since then, amendments like the Security Rule (2006), the Breach Notification Rule, and the HITECH Act (2009) have expanded protections to address digitization and cyber threats.

For developers, startups, and enterprises building in healthcare, HIPAA is the foundation for safeguarding Protected Health Information (PHI) and avoiding costly penalties, breaches, or reputational harm.

Latest HIPAA Updates You Need to Know

HIPAA regulations are evolving rapidly. Some of the most recent and upcoming changes include:

Enhanced PHI access – Patients can now inspect their records in person, take notes, and receive copies within 15 days (down from 30).
Expanded patient rights – Patients will gain more control over how their electronic health records (EHR) are shared between providers.
New categories of PHI – Substance Use Disorder (SUD) records and reproductive health data are now explicitly protected.
Mandatory security controls – Multi-factor authentication (MFA), encryption at rest and in transit, and device safeguards (e.g., remote wipe) are being proposed as standard.
Annual audits & risk analysis – Covered entities and business associates must conduct annual compliance audits and detailed risk assessments.
Contingency planning – Proposed rules suggest a 72-hour limit for restoring systems and data after an incident.
Revised penalty structure – The OCR has adopted a tiered penalty system, with significant consequences for violations.

These changes reflect a fundamental shift: HIPAA is no longer about basic compliance, it’s about advanced cybersecurity and patient empowerment.

Key HIPAA Concepts & Terminology

Before diving into compliance strategies, it’s important to align on terminology:

Covered Entities: Healthcare providers, health plans, and clearinghouses.
Business Associates: Organizations handling PHI on behalf of a covered entity.
PHI & ePHI: Individually identifiable health information, in any form, especially electronic formats.
Minimum Necessary Standard: Limit PHI access to the least amount required to perform a task.
Breach: Any unauthorized access, disclosure, or use of PHI that compromises its security.

Safeguards Required by HIPAA

HIPAA’s Security Rule mandates three categories of safeguards to protect PHI:

Technical Safeguards: Access controls, audit logging, and strong encryption.
Administrative Safeguards: Risk assessments, workforce training, sanction policies, and contingency plans.
Physical Safeguards: Secure facilities, workstation use policies, and device/media controls.

Together, these create a layered defense against threats.

HIPAA for Mobile Applications

With healthcare increasingly mobile, apps handling PHI must meet the same standards as traditional systems. This means:

Avoiding PHI in push notifications.
Using robust SSL encryption.
Enforcing session timeouts and authentication.
Running penetration and vulnerability tests before deployment.

Mobile apps have unique risks, and compliance requires deliberate design choices to protect patient data from unauthorized access.

HIPAA in Software Development

Building HIPAA-compliant software is best achieved when you weave security and compliance in from the start. Key steps include:

Expert consultation: Engage legal and security professionals to reduce risks.
Data separation & encryption: Keep PHI segregated and encrypted with strong algorithms like AES-256.
Logging & monitoring: Maintain detailed audit trails of access and activity.
Testing & maintenance: Continuously test, patch, and validate security controls.

Shared Responsibilities: You and Your Platform

HIPAA compliance is a shared responsibility. Hosting and data platforms, such as Xano and others, provide a secure foundation, but it’s up to you to configure and operate your applications in a way that meets regulatory requirements.

What Hosting & Data Platforms Provide

Secure infrastructure within physically protected data centers.
Encryption for data at rest and in transit.
Integrity and availability safeguards for the core backend services that power your applications.

What You Provide

Application-level controls: Strong authentication, role-based access, and API security.
Data governance: Properly identifying, classifying, and managing PHI throughout your workflows.
Administrative safeguards: Conducting risk analysis, training your workforce, and monitoring activity.
Audit trails: Logging and tracking access to ePHI at the application level.
Backup & recovery: Implementing your own data recovery and continuity strategy.
Incident management: Leading investigations, risk assessments, and breach notifications if your application is compromised.

Practical Steps Toward Compliance

To strengthen your compliance foundation, you should:

Develop clear policies – Define access controls, training, and breach response protocols.
Train your workforce – Make HIPAA awareness part of organizational culture.
Execute BAAs – Sign agreements with all third parties that handle PHI.
Monitor & audit – Conduct internal audits and maintain logs of compliance activities.
Validate security regularly – Perform vulnerability scans, penetration tests, and configuration reviews.

Implementing HIPAA Compliance in Xano

Xano offers a HIPAA-compliant hosting package, but it’s your responsibility to configure your applications correctly. Best practices include:

Data architecture: Segregate PHI into separate databases or tables.
Separate environments: Keep development, staging, and production isolated.
Access controls: Enforce role-based authentication for PHI endpoints.
Environment security: Protect environment variables and limit personnel access.
Regular audits: Continuously review permissions and configurations.

Whether acting as a Business Associate (covered entity) or a Subcontractor (working for a covered entity), Xano executes the required agreements (BAA or BASA) to meet HIPAA obligations.

Final Thoughts

HIPAA compliance is an ongoing commitment to secure systems, well-trained teams, and staying ahead of evolving regulations.

Xano provides the infrastructure and tools, but your organization must design, configure, and govern applications responsibly. By combining strong technical safeguards with sound policies and continuous vigilance, you can build healthcare solutions that are not only powerful and scalable, but also private, secure, and trustworthy.

Download the eBook to Learn More

Want to go deeper? Explore Xano’s Guide to Health Information Privacy e-book for a full breakdown of technical best practices.

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