For Privacy Officers, Security Officers, and Healthcare IT Leaders
Map administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to your control environment. Track risk assessments, evidence, and remediation — all with the audit trail HIPAA demands.
The HIPAA Security Rule establishes national standards for protecting electronic protected health information (ePHI). It requires covered entities and business associates to implement three categories of safeguards: Administrative (policies, procedures, workforce training, risk management), Physical (facility access, workstation security, device controls), and Technical (access controls, audit controls, transmission security, integrity controls).
The Security Rule is intentionally flexible — it specifies required and addressable implementation specifications rather than prescribing specific technologies. This flexibility means organizations must conduct a risk assessment to determine appropriate safeguards, document their decisions, and maintain evidence that safeguards are operating effectively.
“HHS enforcement actions consistently cite the same failures: no current risk assessment, inadequate access controls, and missing documentation. HIPAA compliance isn't about technology — it's about documented, ongoing risk management.”
OCR enforcement data reveals persistent gaps: risk assessments that haven't been updated in years (or were never completed), access controls that don't match documented policies, insufficient audit logging, and business associate agreements that exist on paper but lack operational oversight.
Healthcare organizations face unique challenges: complex environments with clinical systems, medical devices, and third-party integrations; workforce turnover that creates access management gaps; and the tension between data accessibility for patient care and the restrictions required for ePHI protection.
Thirdsentry maps your control environment to HIPAA Security Rule safeguards — Administrative, Physical, and Technical — with clear visibility into which implementation specifications are satisfied, which are addressable and documented, and where gaps exist.
The platform's risk assessment workflow evaluates threats to ePHI systematically, generates risk scores, and converts identified vulnerabilities into remediation tasks with owners and deadlines. This directly satisfies the Security Rule's risk analysis requirement (§164.308(a)(1)) with documented, repeatable methodology.
Evidence collection tracks safeguard implementation continuously: workforce training records, access review documentation, system audit logs, encryption status, and business associate oversight activities. When OCR comes knocking — or when your compliance officer needs a status report — the evidence is organized, linked, and current.
Map controls to Administrative, Physical, and Technical safeguards with required vs. addressable specification tracking.
Systematic ePHI risk analysis satisfying §164.308(a)(1) with documented methodology and repeatable process.
Track BAA status, assess BA security posture, and document ongoing oversight activities.
Continuous evidence collection linked to specific safeguards — training records, access reviews, audit logs.
Risk assessment findings become tracked tasks with ownership, deadlines, and documented resolution.
Generate compliance reports and evidence packages ready for OCR inquiries or internal audits.
Thirdsentry focuses on the HIPAA Security Rule — the technical and administrative safeguards for ePHI. Privacy Rule obligations (minimum necessary, patient rights, breach notification procedures) are complementary but require additional operational processes beyond what a GRC platform manages.
Yes. Business associates have the same Security Rule obligations as covered entities. The platform supports the same safeguard mapping, risk assessment, and evidence collection regardless of your HIPAA role.
The platform provides a structured risk assessment workflow that evaluates threats and vulnerabilities to ePHI, calculates risk scores, and documents the analysis. This satisfies the Security Rule's risk analysis requirement with a repeatable, auditable process.
See how Thirdsentry automates HIPAA control mapping, evidence collection, and gap analysis — so your team focuses on risk decisions, not compliance overhead.