HIPAA Compliance Consulting for Medical, Dental and Specialty Practices
HIPAA compliance services usually arrive as a binder of policies and a training video. Then the practice keeps sending patient records through unencrypted email and nobody has opened an audit log in a year. The Security Rule cares about what the systems do. NetSys puts the technical safeguards in place, documents the risk analysis with your compliance officer, and keeps the evidence current, so an investigator's first request is answered from a folder rather than a scramble.
The short answer
A HIPAA compliance consultant helps a practice or business associate meet the Security Rule: a documented risk analysis, safeguards that answer it, business associate agreements in place and evidence kept current. NetSys does that work as engineers, alongside your privacy and security officer. We are not a law firm, and no government-recognized HIPAA certification exists.
HIPAA compliance services from NetSys start with a plain reading of what the rule wants. The Privacy Rule governs how patient information may be used and shared; that is mostly policy and belongs to your compliance officer and counsel. The Security Rule governs how electronic patient information is protected, and most of it is enforceable only through configuration: who can log in, what they can reach, whether the laptop is encrypted, and whether anyone would notice a compromised account.
That second set is our work. We treat each technical safeguard as a control with an owner, a setting and a piece of evidence. HHS has also proposed updates to the Security Rule that would make several safeguards mandatory rather than addressable. Our blog tracks where those changes stand, and we build to the stricter reading either way.
Risk Analysis First, Then Controls, Then Evidence
You can start with our free remote external penetration test, limited to available information and agreed external scope. A separate assessment and implementation scope covers the inventory of systems that touch ePHI, including the ones nobody mentioned (the imaging workstation, the personal phone with practice email on it). The technical risk analysis is written the way investigators expect, with likelihood, impact and a dated remediation plan. Then we close the gaps in Microsoft 365, Intune and the network, and set the review schedule that produces fresh evidence every quarter.
What Our HIPAA Compliance Services Cover
Risk Analysis and Documentation
The document every HIPAA investigation asks for first.
- Inventory of the systems, devices and vendors that create, receive, store or transmit ePHI
- Technical risk analysis with likelihood, impact and a remediation plan with dates on it
- Security Rule policy templates, tailored with your compliance officer
- Business associate agreements tracked, including Microsoft's agreement covering your tenant
Security Rule Technical Safeguards
Access control, audit, integrity, authentication and transmission security, as settings.
- Unique accounts, MFA and conditional access in Entra ID, with automatic logoff on shared workstations
- Full-disk encryption on every laptop and desktop through Intune, recovery keys escrowed
- Email encryption and data loss prevention rules that protect patient identifiers automatically
- Audit logging retained and reviewed, with alerts on unusual access to patient data
Monitoring and Incident Readiness
Breach determinations need facts, and facts need logs.
- Endpoint detection and response on every device, watched around the clock
- Practice data and Microsoft 365 backed up and test-restored, with a written recovery plan
- Incident response runbook built around the Breach Notification Rule's decision points
- Security awareness training with phishing simulations that use healthcare lures
Evidence All Year
Compliance you can show on any given Tuesday.
- Quarterly access reviews, exported and signed off by the practice
- Configuration and log exports organized against the Security Rule standards
- Vendor and BAA register kept current as systems come and go
- Delivered remotely nationwide; on-site in our published coverage areas
Why Practices Choose NetSys for HIPAA Compliance Services
Fifteen minutes with a NetSys engineer, not a salesperson, and you will know where your hipaa compliance services stands and what it would take to fix it. Call 845-203-3914 or request a call to discuss the scope and next steps.
Who does the work: meet the NetSys team on our About page.
- Technical safeguards configured and monitored by the same engineers who run your Microsoft 365 tenant and devices
- The risk analysis is an engineering document, not a checklist with every box ticked yes
- Honest scope: we build and evidence the controls; your compliance officer and counsel own the program
- Experience with medical and dental practices in Brooklyn, Westchester and on Long Island
- Free remote external penetration test within an agreed external scope to start; month to month after that
How the HIPAA risk analysis runs
The order follows NIST SP 800-66 Rev. 2, the federal resource guide to the Security Rule. Your security officer owns the result; we do the technical work:
- Scope: every system, device and vendor that creates, receives, stores or sends ePHI, including the imaging workstation and personal phones with practice email
- Threats: what could realistically reach that data, from ransomware and phishing to a lost laptop or a breached vendor
- Weak points: missing MFA, unencrypted devices, shared logins, unpatched systems and gaps in audit logging
- Likelihood and impact: each threat and weak point rated for how likely it is and how much harm it would do
- Risk level and plan: a ranked list with an owner and a date for each fix, signed off by your security officer
- Review: the analysis updated when systems, vendors or the practice change, with evidence kept each time
HIPAA requires this analysis of every covered entity and business associate, whatever its size (45 CFR 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A)).
Business associate agreements: who signs with whom
A business associate agreement records who protects patient data outside your practice. The three relationships most practices have:
| Relationship | Is an agreement needed? | What NetSys does |
|---|---|---|
| Your practice and NetSys | Yes, when the IT work reaches systems that hold ePHI, which makes the provider a business associate (45 CFR 160.103) | We sign a business associate agreement with the practice before that work starts |
| Your practice and Microsoft | Yes, for the Microsoft 365 services that store or send ePHI | We confirm Microsoft's agreement covers your tenant and configure the services it applies to |
| Your practice and other vendors | Yes, for any vendor that creates, receives, stores or sends ePHI for you, such as EHR, billing, backup or AI answering | We keep the register current as vendors come and go, and flag any vendor without an agreement |
An agreement does not make anyone compliant on its own; the safeguards still have to work. This is general information, not legal advice.
HIPAA security awareness training for practice staff
The Security Rule requires a security awareness and training program for every member of the workforce, management included (45 CFR 164.308(a)(5)). For practice staff we run the security side of it:
- A monthly phishing simulation built on a current lure, including healthcare lures
- A two-minute lesson for anyone who clicks, delivered while the lure is fresh
- A quarterly module on a broader topic, such as payment fraud or data handling
- An onboarding session for every new hire, tracked to completion
- Completion records you can show in a HIPAA review
The full program: security awareness training and phishing simulation.
Privacy Rule and other HIPAA workforce training content is scoped per engagement with your privacy and security officer. The current rule sets no fixed frequency for training; this program runs monthly.
Where we deliver HIPAA Compliance Services
HIPAA Compliance Services in New York City · HIPAA Compliance Services in Brooklyn, NY · HIPAA Compliance Services in Westchester County · HIPAA Compliance Services in Nassau County, NY · HIPAA Compliance Services in New Jersey. We also support clients remotely wherever their systems run. See all locations and service areas.
HIPAA Compliance Services FAQs
What is HIPAA compliance?
HIPAA compliance means a healthcare provider, health plan or clearinghouse (a covered entity), or a vendor that handles patient data for one (a business associate), meets the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules in 45 CFR Parts 160 and 164. In practice that is a current risk analysis, safeguards that answer it, business associate agreements with every vendor that touches patient data, trained staff, and a written way to decide whether a breach must be reported. HHS's Office for Civil Rights enforces the rules, and no government-recognized HIPAA certification exists.
What are HIPAA compliance services?
HIPAA compliance services are the work of putting the rule's required safeguards in place and proving they operate. On the technical side that means a risk analysis, access control and MFA, device and email encryption, audit logging, backups, monitoring and a tested incident plan. NetSys delivers that side, working with your compliance officer, who owns the program.
How much do HIPAA compliance services cost?
It depends on how many people and systems touch patient data, how much safeguard work is already done, and whether you want one-time remediation or ongoing management. For most practices the controls are simply part of a NetSys managed agreement, which is month to month with no long-term contract, so there is no separate compliance subscription. A quote follows an agreed scope for the broader assessment or implementation.
Who has to comply with HIPAA?
Covered entities: healthcare providers that transmit health information electronically for standard transactions, health plans, and clearinghouses. Also business associates, meaning any vendor that creates, receives, stores or transmits protected health information for a covered entity. Veterinary practices are usually outside HIPAA, since animal records are not PHI, but many ask us for the same controls because their clients and insurers expect them.
Is there a HIPAA compliance certification, and can NetSys certify us?
No, and neither can anyone else in a way HHS recognizes. HHS does not endorse any HIPAA certification, so a certificate carries no weight with an investigator. What carries weight is a current risk analysis, documented safeguards, training records and evidence that controls are reviewed. We produce that evidence; the compliance determination stays with your practice and its counsel.
Does using Microsoft 365 make us HIPAA compliant?
Not by itself. Microsoft offers a business associate agreement covering Microsoft 365 services, which is necessary, and then the tenant has to be configured: MFA and conditional access enforced, data loss prevention and encryption policies applied to patient identifiers, audit logging turned on and retained, and devices managed through Intune. A default tenant with a BAA attached is a common finding in breach investigations.
Do we need a risk analysis if we are a small practice?
Yes. The risk analysis requirement applies to every covered entity and business associate regardless of size, and it is the first document OCR requests after a reported breach. A small practice's analysis can be shorter, but it still has to identify where ePHI lives, what threatens it, how likely and damaging each threat is, and what you are doing about it.
Is our IT provider a business associate under HIPAA?
Usually, yes. HIPAA defines a business associate as a person or company that creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information for a covered entity (45 CFR 160.103). An IT provider managing systems that hold ePHI fits that definition, so the practice needs a business associate agreement with it. General information, not legal advice.
What does a HIPAA compliance consultant do?
A HIPAA compliance consultant finds where patient data lives, runs the risk analysis, measures the gaps against the Security Rule and helps close them, then keeps the evidence an investigator asks for. Ours are engineers, so we also configure the fixes in Microsoft 365, Intune and the network. Your compliance officer and counsel own the program.
What are the HIPAA IT compliance requirements?
They are the Security Rule's technical safeguards in 45 CFR 164.312: access control with unique user IDs, audit controls, integrity protection, person or entity authentication and transmission security. Administrative safeguards such as the risk analysis, and physical safeguards for devices, sit alongside them. Encryption is addressable today, and HHS has proposed making it required.
Does NetSys provide HIPAA compliance training for staff?
Yes, for the security side. NetSys runs security awareness training for practice staff: a monthly phishing simulation built on a current lure, a two-minute lesson for anyone who clicks, a quarterly module on a broader topic, an onboarding session for new hires, and training completion records you can show in a HIPAA review. Privacy Rule and other HIPAA workforce training content is scoped per engagement with your privacy and security officer.
Is HIPAA compliance software enough on its own?
No. Compliance software can hold your policies, track training and keep the risk register and vendor agreements in one place, which is useful. It does not turn on MFA, encrypt a laptop, retain audit logs or test a restore. Those safeguards have to be configured in the systems that hold patient data, and the evidence an investigator asks for comes from those systems, not from the tracking tool.
Can a practice use AI tools or text messaging with patient information?
Only through services whose vendor signs a business associate agreement covering that use, set up so the data is protected. HIPAA does not ban either technology; it expects the same safeguards and agreements as any other system that handles ePHI, and the risk analysis should list each one. The common gap is a consumer chat app or AI tool used without an agreement. Our post on which AI tools will sign a BAA covers the current options.
Guides on this topic
- IT for Healthcare Practices
- IT for Dental Practices
- IT for Veterinary Practices
- HIPAA IT Compliance Checklist
- HIPAA Security Rule Changes
- Email Encryption for Business
- HIPAA-compliant email: when regular email is allowed
- Security awareness training and phishing simulation for staff
- Microsoft 365 Management
- Free External Penetration Test
- IT consulting for healthcare practices
- HIPAA compliance in Google Workspace
- AI tools that will sign a BAA
- business associate agreement for HIPAA compliance
- Microsoft 365 HIPAA compliance
- HIPAA compliance audit
- consolidating two health-services divisions
- which health data counts as ePHI
- managed IT services in Bergen County
- IT services for Red Bank and Monmouth County
- Incident response built around the Breach Notification Rule
- Is Faxing HIPAA Compliant? Fax and eFax Rules for Practices
Have the risk analysis ready before OCR asks.
Most of the Security Rule is enforceable only through configuration: who can sign in, whether the laptop is encrypted, whether a shared workstation logs itself off, whether anyone reads the audit log. We configure those and record each gap in the risk analysis with a date on it. Your compliance officer keeps the program.