HIPAA — Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

What Is HIPAA?

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is a United States federal law enacted in 1996 that establishes national standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information. While originally focused on insurance portability, HIPAA is best known today for its Privacy Rule and Security Rule, which govern how covered entities and their business associates handle Protected Health Information (PHI).

The Privacy Rule defines patients' rights over their health data—including the right to access, amend, and control disclosures. The Security Rule specifies administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that must be implemented to protect electronic PHI (ePHI). The Breach Notification Rule adds requirements for reporting unauthorized disclosures.

Why It Matters in Healthcare

HIPAA compliance is not optional for US-based healthcare organizations, health plans, and clearinghouses—or for the technology vendors that process PHI on their behalf. Beyond legal obligation, HIPAA provides a framework that aligns with universally recognized best practices in data protection:

• Patient trust: Patients are more willing to share sensitive information when they are confident that their data is protected by enforceable standards.
• Risk management: The Security Rule's requirements for risk assessments, access controls, encryption, and audit logging form a solid baseline for cybersecurity in healthcare.
• Breach accountability: The Breach Notification Rule ensures that affected individuals and regulators are promptly informed when incidents occur, enabling timely remediation.
• International influence: Although HIPAA is a US law, its principles have informed data-protection regulations in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, making HIPAA awareness relevant for any organization that handles health data globally.
• Vendor evaluation: When selecting an EHR, HIS, LIS, or PACS, procurement teams use HIPAA compliance as a minimum threshold for vendor qualification.

How Davix Relates to HIPAA

While Davix primarily serves healthcare organizations across Latin America, its platform is architected to meet the stringent security and privacy requirements of HIPAA:

• Encryption at rest and in transit: All patient data is encrypted using AES-256 and TLS 1.2+ protocols.
• Access controls: Role-based permissions, multi-factor authentication, and session management ensure that only authorized users access PHI.
• Audit trails: Every data access, modification, and export event is logged immutably for compliance auditing.
• Business Associate Agreements (BAAs): Davix is prepared to execute BAAs with customers that require them.
• Alignment with ISO 27001: Davix's information security management system follows ISO 27001 controls, which map closely to HIPAA's Security Rule requirements.

Organizations evaluating Davix can be confident that the platform's security posture meets or exceeds the expectations set by HIPAA—regardless of whether their jurisdiction formally requires it.