HIPAA Compliant Forms

Form Vessel is designed to help organizations build and manage form workflows that align with HIPAA requirements, especially the technical safeguards for protecting ePHI. We provide security features that support compliant handling of sensitive data, including access controls, encryption, audit logging, and backup protections.

While no software can guarantee HIPAA compliance on its own, Form Vessel is built to support your organization’s compliance efforts by strengthening the security and integrity of form-based PHI and ePHI workflows.

No. No tool can guarantee HIPAA compliance on its own. HIPAA compliance depends on how your organization configures, uses, and governs every system and workflow that interacts with PHI and ePHI.

That said, Form Vessel is built to support HIPAA-aligned form workflows with robust security controls designed to help you meet HIPAA requirements.

You can use a free form builder for a medical practice, but you should be extremely cautious if the form will collect or transmit PHI (Protected Health Information). Most free form builders are not designed for HIPAA-regulated use and do not support HIPAA compliance by default.

In particular, many free tools:

• Do not offer a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), which HIPAA typically requires when a vendor may handle PHI on your behalf

• Lack key security controls like access controls, audit logs, encryption, and secure storage

• Require significant technical work and ongoing governance to configure safely

If your forms will capture patient details, clinical information, or anything that could identify someone in a healthcare context, you should choose a solution that is built to support HIPAA-aligned workflows and is willing to sign a BAA.

A form supports HIPAA compliance when the full workflow around it protects PHI and ePHI during collection, transmission, storage, and access. That typically includes encryption, access controls, audit logging, and backup protections. If a vendor stores or processes PHI on your behalf, they should also be willing to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA).

A Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is required when a vendor creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI on your behalf. In most cases, if you use a form tool to collect or store patient information, the vendor is considered a Business Associate and should be willing to sign a BAA. If a vendor won’t sign a BAA, the tool is generally not appropriate for HIPAA-regulated workflows.

Even if your website isn’t designed to collect PHI, it often can in ways that aren’t obvious. Visitors may include medical details in contact forms, appointment requests, or uploads, and even basic information like a name paired with a request for a specific service can become PHI in a healthcare context. In addition, some website tools (such as analytics, chat widgets, or embedded forms) may capture or transmit sensitive data behind the scenes. Using HIPAA-supporting form workflows helps reduce accidental PHI exposure and gives your organization stronger safeguards when patients share more than you expect.