Ensuring Data Security and Compliance in Healthcare Web App Development

By Isabel Mansfield

Data security and compliance is really important in any app targeting any niche but if we talk about a healthcare app development company then it focuses on adding valuable features to the app and adding great value for the end users.

Anyway, without a well designed and developed healthcare app that focuses on using all the security practices you can never expect your patients to enroll in the app and start using it for later usage.

From patient appointments booking online to the other activists like medications and prescription plus home delivery, things take time and a patient will only register on the app if they feel secure using the healthcare app.

You can always prefer to do a detailed survey and take a complete overview of the patient care, and know what’s trending in there, and what extra your competitors are giving the patient so that you can add that feature too in the healthcare app for an extended and better digital experience.

In this blog, we are going to talk and learn about the features that should be present for ensuring data security and how compliance can be met with the healthcare web application.

 Are you excited to explore it with us, let’s get started then…

A significant percentage of healthcare apps, including COVID-19 tracking apps, have been found to have security flaws, leaving them susceptible to data breaches and privacy violations. These breaches can lead to serious consequences, including financial penalties, legal action, and reputational damage for healthcare providers.

Research indicates that a large proportion of healthcare apps have at least one major vulnerability.

Now let’s start discussing the data privacy and compliance metrics for the healthcare app:

The healthcare sector has undergone a significant transformation after the launch of modernized technologies and with quick adoption of the techniques that carry forward the best results. However, the best healthcare app development companies focus on using tools that are essential for the healthcare infrastructure and serve to be a prime target for the cyber threat.

Ensuring data security and compliance is crucial in healthcare web app development to protect patient data and maintain trust.

The healthcare data is highly sensitive and valuable because it has complete data of the patient including their personal information, blood group, contact number and physical address that is quite important for hackers to get up to the database & hijack all the data.

If the data is leaked from any online portal it serves to be a bad word in the market for the healthcare provider or hospital and later on, no one is going to use the app nor consult with the hospital again.

Healthcare companies and organizations should navigate through the complex areas properly like the usage of HIPAA and other standards to ensure that the confidentiality plus integrity plus availability of the protected healthcare data is maintained for better results.

A web application development firm works on the key security measures for healthcare web app data protection:

1.   Data Encryption

The encryption of the data in both the transit and at rest is essential for protecting them from unauthorized access.

It’s really important to implement all the data encryption techniques in order to build a great security layer within the healthcare private data and hackers that are trying to get into the data.

2.   Accessibility and Controls

The accessibility and controls should be implemented role wise and the admins should have their roles with access whereas, patients and doctors should have different roles and accessibility. Only few people should have the access to the private and sensitive data of the patients, like data security professionals and admins.

A web application development firm should allow the users with great accessibility and control over the healthcare app.

The best way out is to implement role-based access controls (RBAC) for ensuring private data is secured.

3.   Authentic and Authorized Accessibility

The robust and most authentic accessibility should be given to the end users and it should include multi-factor authentication like allowing only those who have to code to get into the app or the database.

4.   Secure Data Storage

Simply by using a secure data storage solution, like encrypted databases and protecting it from PHI or data breaches.

The professional should know how to handle the data that is being kept within the database and ensure that it's protected from unauthorized access.

5.   Regular Security Audits

You can hire professional security auditors to test the app, and identify the vulnerabilities to ensure that compliance is met for better results.

6.   Incident Response Plan

Having an incident response plan is very impetus to place things in slots, and indeed a healthcare organization will respond instantly to the events being done like data breaches.

Let’s discuss about the compliance requirements for healthcare web apps:

1.   HIPAA Compliance

To ensure that the healthcare app is meeting the HIPAA compliance that is critical for any healthcare web app that should know to handle PHI.

It includes the implementation of the administrative and technical play physical safeguarding options.

2.   HITECH Compliance

The health information technology for the economic and clinical health act has asked all the healthcare organizations to notify the patients in the events of data breaches for better consideration.

3.   GDPR Compliance

For healthcare web apps that handle data from EU citizens, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance is essential.

Mobile app development agencies are now focusing on implementing the best practices for creating a worthy product that matches the customer’s personal needs especially if we talk about the healthcare domain. You can implement the robust security measures along with meeting the compliance requirements and following the best available practices for boosting the healthcare organization for further protection from malware attacks.

Also, as the healthcare industry continues to grow and evolve, you can prioritize the data security and compliance that will remain essential for delivering the best and high quality patient care to them.

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