The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and subsequent Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act define policies, procedures, and processes that are required for companies that store, process, or handle electronic protected health information (PHI).

Health Care Organizations face some of the strictest, most complex data security regulations and standards set in the form of HIPAA and HITECH laws.

As a whole, the health care sector is deep into a transition away from paper-based records management and into digital operations. This has led to a greater dependence on information technology and forced many hospitals, clinics and physician offices to start managing HIPAA compliant data centers.

The result has been something of an upheaval as IT leaders in Health Care are facing greater responsibilities while formalized regulations are constantly evolving and becoming more complex in response to industry demands.

Like most regulatory guidelines, HIPAA and HITECH focus on the degree to which organizations need to protect patient data, not the nuances of how they need to go about enacting effective security measures. This can add to complexity, especially for IT teams already struggling to keep up with new technology demands.

However, there is one thing that can help simplify all of these data management regulations – the emphasis is on controlling who can access different types of information.