Why Do I Need HITRUST?

HITRUST is a prescriptive framework designed for the Health care industry.  If you provide services or technology to insurance payers, health care providers, or other players in the health care market, HITRUST may be a requirement you’ll encounter during the contracting and proposal process.

Why do companies typically need HITRUST?

Companies that handle HIPAA-protected health care data are required to be compliant with the HIPAA Security Rule and often-times are required by their customers to be HITRUST certified. Some companies voluntarily undergo HITRUST as it is a competitive advantage in the marketplace.  When selecting vendors, organizations with HITRUST certification go to the top of the list as cybersecurity-conscious entities.

Why is HITRUST a requirement for some companies?

Healthcare organizations look to HITRUST Certification to provide risk mitigation for third-party relationships. The base set of controls HITRUST requires to a long way towards achieving HIPAA and other regulatory compliance standards. In some cases, the requirement simply may be a pass down from other relationships the company has.

If my company does not need HITRUST now, could we need it in the future?

Health care is the primary industry that requires HITRUST. HITRUST is often a contractual requirement to do business with built payers and providers. Usually, they give a timetable of 18 to 24 months to achieve certification. They may accept an alternative standard such as SOC 2 until HITRUST Certification can be achieved.

If your organization has sensitive health or personal data as part of its data processing services, we can discuss what is the best strategy to prepare for a HITRUST assessment.  Alternatively, if HITRUST is not the right answer, there may be other options. We are experts at designing customized compliance strategies designed to grow with organizations.  We can explain the various compliance solutions and help you to identify the one that best suits your customers’ demands.