Ways to Make Microsoft Teams HIPAA Compliant

Every health industry organization is required to comply with HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Dealing with patient data and other sensitive information is a responsibility you must never overlook, but often compliance becomes a complicated process. How do you maintain compliance with Microsoft Teams?

In general, Microsoft Teams is HIPAA compliant, but that doesn’t mean you can utilize it freely without consequences. Despite its features, you still might need an efficient Microsoft Teams compliance archiving to avoid repercussions. There are many more ways to avoid HIPAA violations, and here are some of the following:

Educate and Train your Employees

You could implement as many security features as you need in MS Teams, but if your employees have no clue about the importance of maintaining HIPAA compliance, then there might as well be no point. 

Often, it all comes down to ignorance. Your employees might accidentally commit a violation without sufficient knowledge of every compliance aspect. Always prioritize educating your employees on the importance of compliance with HIPAA rules to ensure they do not make a mistake. Also, provide them with adequate resources and support, and encourage transparency and accountability at all times.

Of course, you, too, should lead by example. As a professional, you must follow compliance rules and enforce them inthe workplace.

Restrict Access and User Permissionsin Microsoft Teams

As an organization in the health industry, you should know that you will be handling numerous sensitive data that must be kept safe no matter what. These data include patient information, confidential records, and other health-related particulars. Failure to protect the data you gathered will result in a nasty legal violation.

Only grant permission to legitimate users working under your organization to prevent information theft and unauthorized access. Remind them to practice diligence with their account data. Moreover, audit permissions regularly and remove them once your employees leave. 

Always Audit Logs

Regular auditing is a way to investigate and track specific activities within Microsoft Teams. You should never skip this step, as it is paramount to discovering security gaps threatening collected data and helpingprovide solutions for closing them.

Implement Modern Authentication Procedures

These days, passwords are ineffective in deterring cyberattacks from hackers and phishers. Fortunately, many services offer much more powerful security options to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing sensitive records.

You can try incorporating multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO) into your MS Teams. These types of cybersecurity require a combination of passcodes, credentials, PINs, and other factors before granting access.

Use and Archiving Solution

Archive Microsoft Team solutions are one of the best methods of remaining compliant with HIPAA’s regulations. 

Archiving refers to capturing records and storing them in databases. This is used in many different sectors for activities such as instant messages. Archives are proof of all the data you have collected and how strong your security is.

LeapXpert offers a complete archiving and compliance solution for all your communication needs. While we focus on messages, we also have services for Microsoft Teams. Visit our website to book a demo for testing your MS Teams.