Healthcare organizations have fully embraced SaaS.
Collaboration tools, analytics platforms, scheduling software - it is all in the cloud.
But here’s the problem: most SaaS stacks are not built with HIPAA in mind, and many teams are using tools that silently put Protected Health Information (PHI) at risk.
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is the U.S. law that protects patient data.
Any SaaS platform that stores, transmits, or processes PHI must meet HIPAA requirements.
For SaaS apps, that typically means:
Most healthcare IT teams assume their cloud vendors are compliant.
But that’s not always true, especially when:
Suddenly, PHI is sitting in Slack, Google Drive, or some AI-powered app that marketing just started using.
And no one realized it.
Here is a quick visual to explain the risk tiers when considering a tool handling PHI:
HIPAA violations often start with small oversights that snowball into major compliance risks.
Here are the most frequent mistakes healthcare organizations make when using SaaS:
1. No Business Associate Agreement
Using a SaaS tool that handles PHI without a signed BAA is one of the most common violations.
Without a BAA in place, you are not HIPAA compliant, no matter how secure the tool claims to be.
2. Unauthorized access to PHI
Employees accessing patient records they don’t need or ex-employees who still have login access both create major privacy and compliance risks.
3. Failure to encrypt data
If PHI is not encrypted in transit or at rest, and a breach occurs, the penalties are severe.
Encryption is a baseline expectation under HIPAA.
4. Improper disposal of PHI
Old patient data left in unused cloud tools or deactivated accounts must be securely deleted.
Simply abandoning accounts is not compliant.
5. Use of unapproved SaaS apps
Shadow IT is a major HIPAA risk.
When teams sign up for apps without IT review, PHI can end up in systems with no safeguards or visibility.
Compliance does not mean ditching SaaS.
It means knowing what’s in use, locking it down, and staying proactive.
Here is how:
Perimeters gives you total visibility into your SaaS stack, including apps IT didn’t know existed.
From there, it helps you:
• Automatically detect and remediate HIPAA compliance gaps (plus 11 other frameworks)
• Flag apps without compliance certificates
• Enforce least privilege access and remove dormant accounts
• Automate app usage audits and compliance checks
• Lock down shadow IT before it creates exposure
With Perimeters, HIPAA compliance becomes manageable, even in a modern SaaS first environment.
Book a demo to see how Perimeters helps you become HIPAA compliant in just 5 minutes per day.
Software itself cannot be HIPAA compliant out of the box.
Compliance depends on how it’s configured, used, and secured within your organization.
However, a SaaS provider can support HIPAA compliance by offering required safeguards (like encryption and access controls) and signing a Business Associate Agreement.
Yes. If a SaaS provider handles Protected Health Information on your behalf, you must have a signed Business Associate Agreement in place to be HIPAA compliant.
Without a BAA, using the service for PHI, even if it is secure, violates HIPAA.
The best platform for HIPAA compliance depends on your needs, but for SaaS oversight and misconfigurations, Perimeters.io stands out.
It gives you full visibility into your cloud app stack, flags tools without compliance certificates, automates access control, and helps you enforce HIPAA policies at scale, even across shadow IT.
