HIPAA is a federal law that sets national standards for the protection of patient information so that it is not disclosed without their consent or knowledge.
Who Needs to be HIPAA Compliant?
- Healthcare Providers
- Health Plans
- Healthcare Clearinghouses
- Businesses that deal with healthcare information.
What Should You Look for in a HIPAA Compliant CRM?
Track Patient Information
One of the most important features of a CRM is the ability to track all types of patient records, referrals, history, contacts,
Securely Communicate Between Related Parties
Communicating between related parties can be difficult with HIPAA so that you can securely send medical documents.
Large Integration Ecosystem
There are many SaaS solutions out there that can make your life easier. If you are easily able to connect your CRM to others via API or a no code solution like Zapier it may be beneficial.
Note: While Zapier is not HIPAA compliant, it can be very beneficial to use it to send information that does not contain PHI (Protected/Personal Health Information)
Built In Automation
A lot of automation will happen with purpose built CRM’s, however there may be automation that you would like to add in. A common example would be when a patient signs up for a checkup, they will automatically be put in a calendar and set up with a marketing follow-up plan.
What automation do you see yourself needing in your business? Can it be done out of the box with a ready made CRM solution or will you need to use external or secondary SaaS solutions.
Security
HIPAA demand a level of data protection and confidentiality. While many of these CRM’s will offer compliance, there may also be some security issues that you will need to deal with on your side to prevent any legal disputes.
Scalable
If you plan to scale and grow, choosing a robust CRM will prevent you from worrying about your CRM growing with you.
Backups
Medical records need to be retained for a certain number of years depending on state or federal law. Because of this it can be catastrophic to lose your data. Make sure there is no chance you lose your data with a CRM that has backups in multiple locations.
Restrictions
This is very important from an organizational standpoint. Not every person in your organization should be able to access patient data. A receptionist has very different needs from that of a doctor. For this reason you will need a CRM that can provide multiple levels of access.
Security Alerts and Lockdown
It is important that in the case of data breach you are immediately notified so that you can take the necessary precautions when it comes to patient data. Additionally, some CRM’s like Monday.com offer ‘lockdown’ modes where you can hit a panic button which will lock out everyone in the event that your account is comprimised.
Best HIPAA Compliant CRM’s
For HIPAA compliance we recommend taking a look at four different apps. Two of these are low/no code solutions that will allow you to build out a customized solution that is specifically tailored to your needs. The other 2 are HIPAA compliant out of the box and are built with ease of use in mind for healthcare professionals.
Healthcare Specific CRM’s
PatientPop
PatientPop is a robust CRM with a wide variety of features. Of the CRM’s we took a look at PatientPop is the most expensive, with the most features. You will need to contact PatientPop for exact pricing.
PatientPop Features:
- Reputation Management – Automate your follow-up surveys with review monitoring.
- Patient Intake
- Insights
- Marketing
- Telehealth
- Appointment Scheduling
- Text Messaging
- Mobile App
- Patient Payments
PatientPop offers a wide range of features and additional services that will help you grow, modernize, and streamline your practice.
NexHealth
NexHealth is a HIPAA compliant CRM that offers a lot of out of the box functionality. They have 3 different levels of service that are all HIPAA compliant.
| Acquire | Retain | Delight | |
| Online Booking | ✔ | ❌ | ✔ |
| Online Reviews | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Appointment Reminders | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Patient Messaging | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Virtual Waitlist | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Patient Recall | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Marketing Campaigns | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ |
| No Show & Cancellations | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Online Payments | ❌ | ❌ | ✔ |
| Online Forms | ❌ | ❌ | ✔ |
Customizeable CRM’s
These are solutions that offer a lot of flexibility, are HIPAA compliant, but will take a bit of setup in order to start working for you.
Caspio
Unlike the previous CRM’s we have gone over, Caspio is a low code platform that allows users to create an application without needing to utilize any code. With its Corporate level it comes with the necessary features to maintain HIPAA compliance.
If you are a healthcare provider looking for a HIPAA compliant method to store patient records, we recommend Caspio. You can build your own solution and enhance patient experience with digital patient forms or even allow patients convenient access to their own records.
Note: While you must use most advanced plan (corporate) to be HIPAA compliant, this plan is still much cheaper than any of the previous CRM’s. Get 20% off Caspio with our invitation.
Monday.com
Another low code platform, Monday is a fun CRM to work with and offers HIPAA compliance at it’s enterprise level.
Salesforce
Salesforce is an industry leader in delivering enterprise-grade solutions. They have a customized health care solution called Salesforce Health Cloud which is built specifically to be HIPAA compliant while also allowing you access to the tools that make Salesforce a great customer management tool.