Safeguarding patient information in the digital age

In today's healthcare landscape, delivering exceptional patient experiences is no longer a nice-to-have; it's a must-have. Healthcare providers must understand their patients to systematically identify areas for improvement and act on insights to drive impact and outcomes. With increasing reliance on technology for data collection and analysis, it is crucial to safeguard patient data and comply with regulations.

Qualtrics is a strategic partner that recognizes the tremendous responsibility and privilege it is to care for healthcare data. Like healthcare, Qualtrics believes in the guiding principle of “doing no harm” - and that means helping healthcare organizations safeguard Protected Health Information (PHI), protect patient privacy, and enabling customers to achieve Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance. Qualtrics' security and privacy features can help providers build trust with patients, mitigate risks, and protect sensitive information.

Understanding PHI, BAA and HIPAA

To protect patient privacy and comply with regulations, it’s important to understand the interplay between PHI, Business Associate Agreements (BAA), and HIPAA.

Protected Health Information (PHI)
PHI is personally identifiable health information and may include information about an individual’s health status, medical history, or treatment information. Protecting PHI is an ethical and legal obligation for healthcare organizations to maintain trust between them and individuals.

Business Associates Agreement (BAA)
Covered entities are organizations or individuals that handle PHI and are subject to HIPAA. Covered entities include health care providers that electronically transmit health information in connection with a transaction subject to HIPAA, health plans, and health care clearinghouses.

A Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a contract between a HIPAA-covered entity and a third party - a business associate - that is appointed to process PHI on behalf of the covered entity. The BAA includes obligations that the business associate will comply with to safeguard PHI and comply with HIPAA. BAAs help to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of PHI when it is accessed or managed by third parties. Upon request, Qualtrics will execute BAAs with its customers who are covered entities.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
HIPAA is a US federal law that focuses on protecting the privacy and security of individuals' health information by establishing standards for handling personal health records and granting patients rights over their information.

Some key provisions of HIPAA include:

• Privacy Rule: Establishes the privacy obligations of an organization regarding an individual's PHI.
• Security Rule: Sets standards for securing electronic PHI, including requirements for administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of e-PHI.
• Breach Notification Rule: Requires covered entities to notify affected individuals and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the event of a data breach.
• Enforcement Rule: Provides civil and criminal penalties for violations of HIPAA.

How Qualtrics Helps Protect PHI in HIPAA-Compliant Manner

Qualtrics recognizes the importance of protecting patient privacy and safeguarding PHI. Qualtrics offers features that enable customers to secure patient data and ensure regulatory adherence.

• Secure Data Storage: Qualtrics employs security measures to safeguard PHI, including data encryption at rest and in transit, robust access controls, and regular security audits.
• Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC): Qualtrics enables healthcare organizations to define user roles and permissions, enabling organizations to ensure only authorized personnel have access to PHI.
• Data Minimization: Qualtrics enables customers to determine what data to collect from their end-customers therefore, allowing customers to collect only necessary PHI, thereby minimizing exposure. Qualtrics supports data masking at ingestion. Brand administrators define organizational policies that enable the masking or deletion of sensitive information such as name, email, and IP address when it’s collected,before saving the records in the Qualtrics system.
• Audit Trails: Qualtrics enables customers to review access logs to track user activity, facilitating compliance audits with the ability for brand admins to search, filter, and export audit events through an easy-to-use interface and APIs.
• HITRUST CSF Certification: Qualtrics has achieved Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) Common Security Framework (CSF) certification, a comprehensive, certifiable framework that aligns with HIPAA requirements, demonstrating our commitment to data security and privacy.

You can learn more about Qualtrics’ security and privacy accreditations here.

Empowering Healthcare with AI

Qualtrics uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze vast datasets and deliver actionable insights to tailor patient experience and improve operational efficiency. When leveraging AI, Qualtrics acknowledges the importance of protecting personal health information, especially in scenarios where data is used for AI training. Qualtrics employs robust anonymization techniques to remove personally identifiable information, protecting patient privacy, and ensuring compliance. Qualtrics adopts a responsible approach to use of AI by ensuring that the training data is not skewed. Qualtrics executes model risk assessment checks, including bias and fairness testing before certifying the AI models for customer use.

Qualtrics’ approach to AI enables us to deliver products and services that provide:

• Enhanced Patient Experience Management: Qualtrics harnesses AI to analyze large datasets of patient feedback, identifying patterns, and codifying sentiments that might go unnoticed by human analysts. This process enables efficiency and quality. Providers and experience management professionals can spend less time sifting through data, and instead, focus on the highest impact improvement efforts.
• Predictive Analytics: By feeding historical and real-time data into AI models, Qualtrics can help providers predict outcomes. This foresight allows for better resource allocation, staffing, and patient management, leading to increased operational efficiency and patient satisfaction.
• Customization and Personalization: At the individual and segment level, AI empowers providers to more deeply understand patient and employee needs. This understanding of emotional and care delivery needs has led provider systems to transform their operations. The subsequent outcomes include increased patient experience performance, increased volume and ratings in online reviews, reduced nurse attrition, expanded access for patients, and other key benefits.

You can learn more about Qualtrics AI security and privacy here and Qualtrics commitment to implementing an ethical experience management program here.

Best Practices for Using Qualtrics in a HIPAA-Compliant Manner

Qualtrics is a valuable tool for healthcare organizations, and it's essential to use it in a HIPAA-compliant manner to protect patient privacy. Here are some best practices:

• Implement Access Controls: Limit access to PHI to authorized personnel.
• Data Minimization and Retention: Collect only necessary data and establish clear guidelines for data retention and disposal.
• Train Employees: Ensure that employees understand HIPAA regulations and how to handle PHI appropriately.
• Risk Assessments: Conduct regular risk assessments to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities and implement measures to protect PHI.
• Monitor and Review: Regularly review Qualtrics settings and data handling practices to maintain compliance.

By leveraging Qualtrics' capabilities and following these best practices, healthcare organizations can better protect patient data and assist organizations in achieving HIPAA compliance with confidence.