If you run a healthcare practice in the Nashville area — a dental office, a chiropractic clinic, a private therapy practice, a small physician group — you already know HIPAA compliance is non-negotiable. But when you sit down to actually implement it, the requirements can feel overwhelming.
Here's what matters most from an IT perspective.
The IT Fundamentals of HIPAA
- Encrypted email: Patient information sent via email must be encrypted. Standard Gmail or Outlook won't cut it without additional configuration.
- Access controls: Every person who touches patient data needs their own login. Shared passwords are a violation waiting to happen.
- Audit logging: Your systems need to track who accessed what data and when. If there's ever a breach investigation, these logs are critical.
- Backup and disaster recovery: Patient records must be backed up regularly, and you need a tested plan for restoring them if something goes wrong.
- Network security: Your office network must separate patient data systems from guest WiFi, personal devices, and other non-essential traffic.
- Business Associate Agreements: Every vendor who touches patient data — including your IT provider — must sign a BAA.
Common Mistakes We See
The most common HIPAA IT failures we encounter in Nashville healthcare practices are surprisingly basic: staff sharing a single login to the EHR system, patient records backed up to an unencrypted USB drive in a desk drawer, and guest WiFi running on the same network as the practice management system.
These aren't complex technical problems. They're configuration and policy issues that a competent IT partner can fix in a matter of days.
We work with healthcare practices across South Nashville to implement HIPAA-compliant IT infrastructure that passes audits without disrupting your workflow.