Everything You Need to Know about HIPAA Compliant Live Chat

Here at ZyraTalk, we like to keep things casual. We’re not a fan of jargon. We’re big believers in speaking our clients’ language. In some of our other posts, we use emojis and crack the occasional joke.

But medical data protection is a serious matter. No emojis or punchlines here.

If you’re thinking of installing live chat for doctors or live chat for dentists, your webchat solution must be HIPAA compliant. What is HIPAA? Why does live chat need to be HIPAA compliant? Is ZyraTalk HIPAA compliant?

Keep reading for answers to all your questions about HIPAA compliant live chat.

HIPAA compliance for live chat: the basics

You might be familiar with the three HIPAA safeguards. These include physical, administrative, and technical safeguards.

Within each of these three broad areas is a long list of requirements, including everything from security protocols for mobile devices to training and contingency planning.

At the very least, live chat that’s HIPAA-compliant must:

• not store medical data or records outside of the U.S.

• not share data with unauthorized integrations

• use enterprise-level encryption

These are just the three main points. Want to learn more? Read the full list of HIPAA compliance guidelines.

Why does live chat need to be HIPAA compliant?

For starters, HIPAA compliance for live chat only applies to entities within the healthcare industry. That includes not just healthcare providers like doctors and dentists, but also health insurance agencies.

HIPAA stands for The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This legislation protects patient confidentiality and secures sensitive medical records.

Covered entities, or industries to which the law applies, must abide by these laws. Failure to do so will result in hefty fines and lawsuits.

Is ZyraTalk a HIPPA compliant live chat?

Yes!

Our HIPAA compliant live chat solution relies on Amazon Web Service’s HIPAA compliant servers. We’ve also signed a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with Amazon Web Services.

All sensitive medical data is masked behind a secure PIN. You control who has access to the sensitive data logs in the dashboard.

When you choose ZyraTalk, you can rest easy knowing that your patients’ data is fully protected.

HIPAA compliant live chat for the medical industry: wrapping up

Okay, so maybe a 500-word blog post doesn’t cover everything you need to know about HIPAA compliant live chat.

(Because that law is several hundred pages long.)

But we did cover the main points — at least, the ones that apply to live chat.

The main thing you need to know is the HIPAA compliance fundamentals are already taken care of for you in the ZyraTalk backend.

You may, however, need to implement additional measures depending on your industry, team’s training, and other factors.

As far as our end is concerned, we’ve covered all our bases. And we can help you cover yours, too. 

If you have questions about our HIPAA compliant live chat solution, we’ve got answers. Start chatting with us now, or book a demo and we can answer your questions on a call. Whatever works for you works for us.