HIPAA compliant form builders help healthcare organizations collect PHI securely by handling critical technical safeguards like encryption, access controls, and audit logs, but compliance is still a shared responsibility. The software can reduce risk and streamline intake, but it only works when paired with proper configuration, limited access, clear policies, and staff training. When used correctly, these tools make it easier to stay compliant while improving accuracy and efficiency.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Always consult a qualified attorney or compliance professional when interpreting HIPAA regulations.
HIPAA compliant form builders can be a valuable tool for any healthcare organization looking to implement digital forms. We’ve posted a few blogs that talk about what compliant form tools do and what makes them compliant, but we thought it might be helpful to expand on how these tools work.
We can’t speak on the exact inner workings of every form tool on the market, but there are general trends that most HIPAA-ready software should follow when it comes to creating a compliance-focused system. Understanding these trends will help you understand what the software you’re using is doing under the hood, so you can see how it actually fits into your compliance goals.
This blog will explain the shared responsibilities created by HIPAA compliant form builders, what they should be doing for your organization to help with compliance, common mistakes, and what to look for when evaluating new form software.
It’s important to understand that a HIPAA compliant form builder can do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to having compliant forms, but they can’t handle 100% of the load. Instead, using these tools creates a set of shared responsibilities for each party to follow. Additionally, these responsibilities should be documented in a signed business associate agreement (BAA).
A HIPAA compliant form tool enables your organization to build forms with confidence. Their responsibilities revolve around ensuring the PHI they collect on your behalf is stored securely according to the standards outlined by HIPAA, among other things like access controls and encryption. They also should provide you with the relevant systems to properly document your compliance, like audit logs.
Your responsibilities revolve around using the tool the right way. No matter the number of safeguards that a form builder has, it is possible to use it in a non-compliant manner. The best tools will make this difficult, but it’s not impossible. For example, a non-authorized user can be set up with an account that has access to PHI even if they never need it. Additionally, your organization is also responsible for the other administrative tasks that are involved in integrating a tool like documentation, policy writing, and training.
Nothing can erase your HIPAA responsibilities, but a well-built digital form solution can make meeting them a lot simpler.
In reality, all it means to have a HIPAA compliant form builder is that it’s HIPAA-ready. This is because compliance comes from actions that you and your organization take, not any specific software. A quality form builder should enable you to achieve compliance, but it cannot do it for you.
The main way that HIPAA-ready form builders accomplish this is by focusing on the technical safeguards outlined in the Security Rule. This allows providers to focus their compliance efforts on things they’re already doing, rather than having to learn new technical skills to ensure digital systems are secure.
Some common HIPAA-ready features include access controls, audit logs, data integrity controls, encryption, and more. While those should be handled by your chosen form builder, you still have to implement the physical and administrative safeguards required by HIPAA that involve using your new form solution, such as updated policies, procedures, and training.
Many providers might be tempted to use free tools like Google Forms or WordPress form plugins. These are generally easy to use, and they come at no cost, however there are some important caveats that come with them.
Since these tools are built for general purpose situations, HIPAA-readiness is generally not standard. Not only might some of the technical safeguards be missing, but they also might not offer a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Regardless of the security features a platform offers, they cannot be used to handle PHI on your behalf without a BAA.
Some of these general-purpose options do offer HIPAA-ready features as add-ons, but it’s important to ensure that you read their pricing tiers carefully and select the right plan.
Whenever you integrate a new system into your organization, it’s important to follow your established onboarding procedures. These should include a risk assessment that evaluates if the tool has safeguards that are reasonable and appropriate for your situation. There is no standard risk assessment procedure outlined by HIPAA, but there are some important things you can look for when evaluating a form builder. The following list is not exhaustive, but it outlines some of the most important technical safeguards that a quality form solution should offer:
Each user should be uniquely identifiable. A HIPAA-ready form builder should enable your organization to provide all relevant individuals with their own account so that auditing access events is simpler.
Unique accounts should have controls that restrict access to only their assigned users. Accounts should be protected with strong password requirements and multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Encryption protects data from being read by unauthorized users by rendering the original text unreadable. It can only be converted back to a readable form by an authorized user with a valid decryption key. There are different types of encryption depending on if the data is at rest or in transit. A quality form builder should offer both.
Audit systems enable organization admins to respond to incidents quickly and efficiently. A HIPAA-ready form solution should monitor user actions with date and timestamps to create verifiable audit trails.
Data integrity goes hand in hand with audit systems. Administrators should also be able to track how data is interacted with. These controls monitor creation, edit, and deletion events.
Almost every healthcare organization can benefit from a HIPAA compliant form builder. Paper intake forms usually feel manageable, but the inefficiencies add up faster than most teams expect. A missing field here, poor handwriting there, or a patient showing up right at their appointment with a blank packet, it all turns into small 5 to 10 minute delays that quietly become part of the workflow. Multiply that across every patient and every day, and you’re suddenly losing a meaningful amount of time each year.
Most intake slowdowns come from two places. The first is accuracy errors like missing or incorrect info, illegible handwriting, and anything else that forces your staff to verify details, correct records, and rework what should have been done once. The second is arrival delays, which are especially common with paper. When forms aren’t completed ahead of time, teams have to squeeze intake paperwork into the schedule, then scan, upload, and manually enter data into the EHR while providers are waiting to review it.
This is where a HIPAA compliant form builder can make a real difference. Moving intake to secure digital forms helps eliminate the most common paper related problems. Required fields reduce missing data. Validation helps prevent obvious mistakes in fields like phone numbers and emails. Handwriting stops being an issue entirely. Since the information is already digital, your staff can spend less time transcribing and more time keeping the day moving.
The next step is to take a hard look at what you’re using today. Confirm that any tool collecting PHI has a signed BAA in place and that the core safeguards are actually enabled. This includes things like proper access controls, strong authentication, encryption, and audit logs. A form builder can only support compliance if it’s configured and used correctly.
From there, focus on reducing the friction in your intake workflow. If you’re still relying on paper or general purpose tools, it may be time to evaluate a HIPAA compliant form builder that helps eliminate errors, reduce manual work, and keep intake moving without adding unnecessary risk.