"When you're determining which business associate to hire, it's important to understand the terms that consultants and associates use to describe their services. HIPAA-compliant refers to software and data storage systems that have controls based on three categories of safeguards: administrative, physical, and technical. Each category includes shared responsibilities for the cloud provider, along with safeguards that are the sole responsibilities of each. A 'HIPAA-compliant' service has been found in compliance with the HIPAA Security and Privacy Rules. HIPAA-certified is a term consultants sometimes use to claim their work is HIPAA-compliant, but the HHS and its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) do not certify any persons or products as 'HIPAA-certified.'"

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