Is Web Chat HIPAA Compliant?

If you are considering implementing web chat in your business, in all likelihood your motivation is due to looking for more leads or better service for your clients. 

Live chat does provide a great way to connect with potential clients who are looking for instant messaging interactions from any device. 

Yet, when you are looking into any new tool, it’s also important to keep in mind any potential security issues you may be facing. Particularly, if you are in the health care field, you know the importance of HIPAA Compliance. 

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which exists to make sure controls are in place to prevent sensitive information being compromised. 

Whether you are in healthcare or not, some of the protocols to consider are useful for any business. Security measures are not to be taken lightly and are also not something to be reactive about. 

You want to be on guard for any potential threats ahead of time, and when you are putting live chat in place, need to be ahead of any potential threats.

Here are a few considerations to keep in mind as you look into live chat:

Encryption

As your information is stored away after a conversation, who has access to it? With encryption you create a key that only allows authorized individuals to have access. This is the preferred method of keeping security in your documents. 

Audits

You also need to know if you can audit your conversations in the case of some sort of breach. You need to be able to identify who was accessing data and when. 

This also includes keeping transcripts and audit trails for all conversations so you can go back and see who said what and when.

Where is the Data?

In cloud computing, your data is still on a server somewhere. Do your homework to make sure your live chat provider has done their homework and is storing data somewhere secure. 

Data centers can still be compromised and a breach is much less likely at a company that has put the security measures in place to prevent unauthorized access.

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