Is Cisco Webex a HIPAA compliant cloud service?

Written by Hoala Greevy | June 04, 2020

Since Paubox is a Business Associate to thousands of customers, we’ve been wondering if they are able to use Cisco Webex in a HIPAA compliant manner. In fact, we've noticed more vendors, customers, and prospects asking about HIPAA compliant services. This is especially true now as we see an accelerated, long overdue adoption of digital transformation in healthcare.

We know the HIPAA industry is vast, so we can empathize with just how many people need to use cloud services in this sector. Today we will determine if Cisco Webex offers HIPAA compliant service or not.

Cisco Webex

Cisco Webex is a cloud-based web and video conferencing solution. Incidentally, Cisco Webex is one of the first SaaS products on the internet. Webex was founded in 1995 by Subrah Iyar and Min Zhu. In 2007, Cisco Systems acquired Webex for $3.2B. It was subsequently rebranded to Cisco Webex. See Also: Zoom HIPAA Compliance: The Ultimate Guide

What is a Business Associate?

A Business Associate is a person or company that performs certain functions or activities that involve the use or disclosure of protected health information (PHI) for a Covered Entity. In a nutshell, the role of a Business Associate is to help Covered Entities comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule Read full article: What does it mean to be a Business Associate?

Business Associate Agreement provisions

If a Business Associate provides services to a Covered Entity, then a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) must be in place. A BAA is a written contract between a Covered Entity and a Business Associate and is required by law for HIPAA compliance. At a minimum, a Business Associate Agreement contains 10 provisions. Read full article: Business Associate Agreement Provisions

Cisco Webex and the Business Associate Agreement

We checked the Cisco Webex site for mention of their ability to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). We found the following pages:

On those pages, we clearly see that:

"Cisco Webex can be used in a healthcare environment consistent with customer needs for HIPAA compliance."
"In line with the HIPAA Security Rule, Cisco implements all the addressable specifications that are relevant to Cisco Webex services."
"For Healthcare – Webex will participate in HIPAA compliance through a Business Associate Agreement (BAA)."

Does Cisco Webex offer HIPAA Compliant Service?

The Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a key component to HIPAA compliance between a Covered Entity and a Business Associate. We were able to learn the following about Webex about their ability to be considered a HIPAA compliant cloud solution:

Cisco Webex explicitly states they are HIPAA compliant
Cisco Webex will sign a BAA with its customers

Conclusion: Cisco Webex is a HIPAA compliant cloud service.

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