/ healthcare engineering
HIPAA-Compliant Web & App Development for Healthcare
HIPAA-ready web and app builds, with the safeguards engineered in and the paper trail ready for your audit.
Claorova builds HIPAA-compliant websites and applications for clinics, private practices, and health tech companies that touch protected health information (PHI). We engineer the safeguards into the product itself: encryption in transit and at rest, access controls with audit logging, PHI-safe intake and messaging flows, and infrastructure backed by signed Business Associate Agreements (BAAs). We sign a BAA with you, and we only build on subprocessors that will sign one with us.
The distinction that matters: we are the team that builds the controls, not a dashboard that tracks them. Compliance-automation tools like Vanta or Drata help you collect evidence, but they do not write your access-control logic, design your PHI data model, or configure your hosting to keep patient data out of logs. We do that engineering, then hand you the documentation your auditor or enterprise customer actually asks for.
What makes a website or app HIPAA-compliant?
HIPAA compliance is not a plugin or a badge. It is the sum of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards from the HIPAA Security Rule applied to every place PHI is created, stored, transmitted, or displayed. For a web or app build, that means the technical safeguards have to be designed into the architecture, and the whole chain of vendors that can see PHI has to be under a Business Associate Agreement.
On a Claorova build, that translates into concrete engineering. Below is what we put in place, in plain terms.
- Encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest for every store that can hold PHI: database, file storage, and backups.
- Unique user accounts, role-based access control, and least-privilege permissions so staff only see the records their role requires.
- Audit logging of who accessed or changed PHI and when, retained so it is available for an investigation or audit.
- Automatic session timeout and secure authentication (including MFA where appropriate) to protect unattended sessions.
- PHI kept out of places it leaks by default: URLs, analytics tools, client-side logs, error trackers, and third-party scripts.
- A signed BAA with you, and BAAs in place with every subprocessor in the stack that could touch PHI (hosting, database, email/SMS, storage).
Do you sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA)?
Yes. If we build or operate a system that handles your PHI, Claorova acts as a business associate and signs a BAA with you before that system goes live. A BAA is the legal contract HIPAA requires between a covered entity (or another business associate) and any vendor that handles PHI on its behalf. Without it, the vendor relationship itself is a violation, no matter how good the code is.
We also manage the BAA chain underneath us. Any subprocessor that can see PHI, for example the hosting platform, the managed database, or the transactional email and SMS providers, has to have a BAA in place before it enters your build. We select the stack accordingly and keep a record of those agreements as part of your compliance documentation. Where a tool you want does not offer a BAA, we tell you and propose an equivalent that does, rather than quietly routing PHI through it.
How do you handle PHI safely in a Next.js build?
Most of our web and app work runs on Next.js, React, and TypeScript, deployed on infrastructure that supports HIPAA workloads. The framework is not the compliance boundary, the architecture is, so we design the PHI boundary first and build the interface around it.
In practice that means PHI is handled server-side, never exposed in client-visible URLs or bundles, and never sent to analytics, session-replay, or error-tracking tools that are not covered by a BAA. Data models separate PHI from non-PHI so the sensitive fields have the tightest controls. We configure hosting, database, and storage on HIPAA-eligible services under a BAA (for example a HIPAA-configured managed Postgres rather than a default consumer tier), scrub PHI from logs and monitoring, and lock down forms, patient portals, and messaging so intake and communication stay inside the protected boundary. The result is a fast, modern site or app where the safeguards are structural, not bolted on after launch.
What do you deliver for audits and security reviews?
Building it securely is half the job. The other half is being able to prove it, whether you are pursuing a formal audit, answering a health system's security questionnaire, or documenting your posture for your own risk file. We produce the technical evidence and documentation for the parts of the system we build and operate.
We are engineers, not your auditor or attorney, and we do not issue certifications. What we do is make sure that when an auditor, an enterprise customer, or your compliance lead asks how PHI is protected, there is a clear, accurate answer with artifacts behind it.
- A written description of the technical safeguards and data flows for the system we built.
- Documentation of the BAA chain: who the subprocessors are and that agreements are in place.
- Access-control and audit-logging configuration, and how access is granted, reviewed, and revoked.
- Encryption details for data in transit and at rest across database, storage, and backups.
- Support answering security questionnaires and auditor questions about the engineering.
- A remediation path if a review surfaces a gap in the systems we maintain.
Who is this for?
This is for organizations that handle patient data on the web and cannot treat compliance as an afterthought. If a breach or a failed security review would sink a deal or trigger real penalties, the safeguards have to be right the first time.
Typical fits include clinics and private practices that need a patient portal, intake forms, or online scheduling that touches PHI; health tech and digital-health startups building a product that stores or transmits patient data; telehealth and care-coordination platforms; and established practices modernizing an older site that currently collects patient information through unprotected forms or email. If you are also weighing SOC 2 or ISO 27001 for enterprise sales, we handle that engineering too through our compliance engineering work, so one team covers the full technical posture.
What does a HIPAA-compliant build with Claorova look like?
We start by mapping where PHI enters, lives, and leaves your system, because that map defines the compliance boundary and everything else follows from it. From there we design the data model and access controls, select a HIPAA-eligible stack with BAAs in place, and build the site or app with the safeguards engineered in rather than patched on.
Before launch we harden and test the PHI boundary, confirm PHI stays out of logs, analytics, and URLs, and prepare your documentation. After launch we can maintain the safeguards, keep the BAA chain current, and support you through audits and security reviews. Pricing and timeline depend on scope, so we scope each engagement against your actual PHI footprint and compliance goals. To start, call
Frequently asked questions
Can you make an existing website HIPAA-compliant, or do you have to rebuild it?
It depends on how the current site handles PHI. If patient data flows through unprotected forms, plain email, or tools without a BAA, those paths have to be re-engineered, and sometimes rebuilding the affected parts is faster and safer than retrofitting. We start with an assessment of where PHI enters and moves through your current system, then tell you honestly whether we can remediate in place or whether a rebuild of the PHI-handling components is the sound call.
Will you sign a BAA with us?
Yes. When we build or operate a system that handles your PHI, we sign a Business Associate Agreement with you before it goes live, and we make sure every subprocessor in the stack that can touch PHI has a BAA in place with us as well. If a tool you want does not offer a BAA, we will tell you and propose a covered alternative.
Does HIPAA-compliant hosting mean the whole app is automatically compliant?
No, and this is a common and costly misconception. HIPAA-eligible hosting under a BAA is necessary, but it only covers the infrastructure layer. Compliance also depends on how your application is built: access controls, audit logging, encryption, and keeping PHI out of URLs, logs, and third-party scripts. A HIPAA-eligible host running an insecurely built app is still a breach waiting to happen. The engineering above the infrastructure is where most real risk lives.
Do you provide HIPAA certification?
No. There is no official government HIPAA certification, and any vendor claiming to hand you one should be treated with caution. What we provide is engineering that implements the required safeguards, plus the documentation and evidence you need for a real audit, a security questionnaire, or your own risk file. We are your engineering partner on compliance, not your auditor or your attorney.
Can you also help us get SOC 2 or ISO 27001 ready?
Yes. HIPAA, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 share a lot of the same technical controls, so it is efficient to engineer for them together, especially if you are selling into enterprises or health systems that ask for more than HIPAA. This runs through our compliance engineering service, so one team handles the full technical posture instead of stitching together separate vendors.
How much does a HIPAA-compliant website or app cost?
It depends on your PHI footprint and scope. A single secured intake form is a very different engagement from a full patient portal or a health tech product that stores and transmits patient records across multiple systems. Because the compliance boundary drives the work, we scope each build against where your PHI actually lives before quoting. Book a call to walk through your situation