HIPAA compliance checklist for practices
✅ Provide regular staff training on phishing, passwords, and safe device use.
✅ Use only encrypted, HIPAA-compliant communication tools with signed BAAs.
✅ Require multifactor authentication and limit data access to “minimum necessary.”
✅ Keep all software, devices, and policies updated, including paper safeguards.
✅ Conduct regular risk assessments and audits, and document how you respond to issues.
✅ Extend protections to remote and hybrid staff just as you do inside the office.
✅ Treat compliance as ongoing, not one-and-done—review and adapt every year.
For more than two decades, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has set the ground rules for how medical practices protect patient information. But as technology evolves, so do the risks and the enforcement. Today’s physician practices face threats not just from lost paperwork or a misplaced fax, but from ransomware gangs, phishing schemes, and even staff members who mean well but take shortcuts with data.
For practice administrators and physicians alike, HIPAA compliance isn’t optional—it’s a business survival skill. Violations can bring fines, damage a reputation, and erode patient trust. Worse, many breaches are preventable if compliance is built into everyday workflows.
Here are five practical ways to keep your practice HIPAA-compliant.
