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HIPAA → Private Clouds
HIPAA compliant private cloud
While choosing the type of hosting your company needs is complicated enough on its own, if your business requires HIPAA compliance, the question becomes far more complex.
Using dedicated servers has been the default option for companies that need to ensure that all HIPAA regulations are followed for a long time. But with the increasing popularity of the cloud, especially its flexibility and scalability, more businesses started to wonder whether the cloud environment could be used with the same level of safety and HIPAA compliance as traditional dedicated servers.
The answer is yes. But as there are a few specifics to consider, we should first review what HIPAA compliance is and how it relates to both dedicated and private cloud servers.
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What is a HIPAA compliant private cloud?
A HIPAA-compliant private cloud is a dedicated cloud hosting environment specifically designed to help organizations meet the strict security and privacy requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It provides healthcare organizations with isolated, secure infrastructure that ensures electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) is protected through robust encryption, access controls, and continuous monitoring.
Unlike public cloud options, a private cloud offers greater control over data and resources, so organizations can implement customized compliance measures, maintain audit trails, and fulfill legal obligations such as signing a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with the provider.
Key factors for a HIPAA-complaint private cloud
First, it’s important to note that HIPAA compliance is a shared responsibility. The hosting provider secures the infrastructure and implements required safeguards, while the healthcare organization manages access, data use, and ensures proper policies are followed to protect patient information.
Both parties must collaborate closely to maintain full compliance and protect electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). Using HIPAA-compliant hosting is not a blanket guarantee of compliance.
Business associate agreement (BAA)
A Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a legal contract between a healthcare organization and its hosting provider that outlines each party’s responsibilities for protecting electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). It’s required to ensure HIPAA compliance, so make sure your hosting provider will sign one.
Data management
HIPAA-compliant private clouds implement comprehensive security safeguards such as encryption, firewalls, intrusion detection, and multi-layered defenses to protect sensitive health data from unauthorized access, breaches, and cyber threats.
Access control
Access control restricts ePHI access to authorized personnel only, using role-based permissions, strong authentication methods, and regular access reviews. This minimizes the risk of unauthorized data exposure.
Data backup and recovery
Backup and disaster recovery solutions ensure that healthcare data is regularly saved and can be quickly restored in case of accidental loss, hardware failure, or cyberattacks, maintaining data integrity and availability.
Provider certifications
Hosting providers need to obtain certifications like SOC 2, PCI DSS, and ISO standards that demonstrate their commitment to maintaining secure environments and following industry best practices required for HIPAA compliance.
Regular audits
Routine audits assess the effectiveness of security controls and compliance policies. This helps organizations identify vulnerabilities, ensure ongoing adherence to HIPAA requirements, and prepare for potential external inspections.
Uptime and availability
High uptime guarantees and redundant infrastructure in HIPAA-compliant private clouds ensure that healthcare applications and data are consistently accessible—supporting critical operations without disruption or downtime.
Physical safeguards
Physical safeguards protect the data center environments where ePHI is stored, using controlled access, surveillance, and environmental protections like fire suppression and redundant power systems to prevent unauthorized entry, damage, or downtime.
How to choose: 6 considerations for choosing private cloud hosting
Some hosting providers only offer HIPAA-compliant solutions for healthcare organizations. Others have specific configurations to make servers and platforms compliance-ready. Either solution can work, but you still need to do your homework.
1. Know your organization’s needs
Choosing a HIPAA-compliant private cloud starts with understanding your organization’s specific needs—data volume, application types, user access, and regulatory demands—to ensure the hosting solution fits your goals perfectly.
2. Prioritize security
Look for a provider with strong security measures like encryption, intrusion detection, robust access controls, reliable backups, and clear incident response and breach notification policies to keep ePHI safe and maintain compliance.
3. Plan to scale
Select a provider that offers a broad platform so you can scale without sacrificing compliance. You need the flexibility to easily adapt to evolving compliance needs, growing data, and changing healthcare regulations without disrupting operations.
4. Look for healthcare experience
Providers experienced in healthcare IT and HIPAA requirements know the unique security challenges you face and can help you optimize your hosting environment for seamless, compliant performance.
5. Ask about a BAA
Your hosting provider must sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), legally committing to protect ePHI and clearly defining compliance responsibilities for both parties. If it’s not on their website, ask.
6. Minimize downtime
High uptime guarantees backed by redundant infrastructure and proactive monitoring are essential to ensure your healthcare data and applications remain available when you need them most.
How to choose dedicated vs private cloud for HIPAA
HIPAA doesn’t explicitly prohibit any particular server setup. You can be HIPAA-compliant even on a public cloud, but proving and ensuring such compliance would be much more difficult and is not recommended.
Thus, the question narrows down to finding a great hosting provider that is fully compliant with HIPAA (such as Liquid Web) and then choosing between private cloud or dedicated hosting based on your business needs.
The best use cases for a dedicated server are:
- More granular security and configurability for businesses that have very specific infrastructure requirements
- Traditional applications benefit from fast performance but don’t require any cloud features
The best use cases for a private cloud are:
- Testing software in multiple environments
- Ecommerce applications that require high scalability and redundancy
- Consolidation of hosting/vendors
- Secure and scalable environments for healthcare businesses
FAQ: HIPAA compliance and cloud providers
Getting started with a HIPAA-compliant private cloud
If you require isolation for your data and the flexibility and scalability of the cloud, private cloud is the right choice. There are many private cloud plans for businesses of any size, and you can adjust your scale on the fly at any time without compromising availability.
Reach out to us at Liquid Web today. Our technicians would be happy to answer any questions regarding private clouds and help you choose the most suitable VMware Private Cloud plan for your business needs.
Click below to explore options or start a chat with one of our hosting experts now.
Get HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting
Secure cloud servers for healthcare industry hosting
Additional resources
What is HIPAA-compliant hosting? →
A complete beginner’s guide
Scaling a compliant cloud →
How to scale up without compromising security
HIPAA guide for small business →
A complete resources for medical SMBs
Jake Fellows is the Sophisticated Hosting Product Manager for Liquid Web’s Managed Hosting products and services. He has over 10 years experience involving several fields of the technology industry, including hosting, healthcare, and IT-system architecture. On his time off, he can be found in front of some form of screen enjoying movies, video games, or researching into one of his many technical side projects.