Since Paubox is a Business Associate to thousands of customers, we’ve been wondering if they are able to use Podium 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 Podium offers HIPAA compliant service or not.
Podium
Podium is a cloud-based software startup that help businesses modernize customer interactions. These interactions can include messaging, customer feedback, and improving customer online reputations.
Podium was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah.
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
Podium and the Business Associate Agreement
We checked the Podium site for mention of their ability to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
We found the following pages:
On those pages, we can see that:
- As part of their Terms of Service (TOS), Podium agrees to secure and utilize PHI in accordance with the Podium BAA
- The Podium BAA is available for review on their site
- Podium states their data centers support storage of PHI in compliance with HIPAA guidelines
Does Podium 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 Podium about their ability to be considered a HIPAA compliant solution:
- Podium explicitly states they are HIPAA compliant
- The Podium Business Associate Agreement is available online
Conclusion: Podium is a HIPAA compliant cloud service.
