Is SmartBot360 HIPAA Compliant? How to Check (2024 Update)

✅ SmartBot360 states on their official website that they are a HIPAA compliant Patient Communication software suitable for use in healthcare.

SmartBot360 assists healthcare professionals by streamlining administrative tasks, automating appointment scheduling, and providing patient information. It enhances patient engagement through reminders and answers common queries, improving overall efficiency and allowing professionals to focus on delivering quality care while reducing administrative burdens.

They state on their website that SmartBot360 is HIPAA compliant which is clearly a positive sign, but the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) legislation states that you can’t stop here and you need to thoroughly vet the vendor.

According to the HIPAA rules for Covered Entities and Business Associates:

'If a covered entity engages a business associate to help it carry out its health care activities and functions, the covered entity must have a written business associate contract or other arrangement with the business associate that establishes specifically what the business associate has been engaged to do and requires the business associate to comply with the Rules’ requirements to protect the privacy and security of protected health information. In addition to these contractual obligations, business associates are directly liable for compliance with certain provisions of the HIPAA Rules.'

Source: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-entities/index.html

Below we provide some general guidelines on how to first quickly screen this vendor for the HIPAA compliance fundamentals, and if all initial checks pass successfully, then to proceed and do your own in-depth audit to ensure that this vendor will qualify as your HIPAA-compliant Business Associate.

Quick Check on HIPAA Compliance Fundamentals for SmartBot360

A. Does SmartBot360 claim to be HIPAA compliant?

✅ They communicate they are HIPAA compliant which is a positive sign, as they legally commit from their side using such public statements.

'SmartBot360’s HIPAA-compliant nature gives you everything you need to automate your general patient screening procedure.'

B. Does SmartBot360 sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA)?

✅ They state they will sign their standard BAA with covered entities/business associates, which is again a good sign because if they don’t sign a BAA then it’s a deal-breaker for HIPAA compliance.

'SmartBot360 confirmed in an Email communication that they sign Business Associate Agreement (BAA).'

C. Does SmartBot360 claim they take measures to keep patient data private & secure?

✅ They publicly outline various of the privacy & security safeguards they have in place, but these can be very broad statements and you need to check the low level details here.

'We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.'

Vendor Audit for Checking if SmartBot360 is HIPAA Compliant

There is no one-size-fits-all set of requirements when selecting a 3rd party vendor as one of your HIPAA-compliant Business Associates, but here are some general guidelines:

1. Eligible Plan

First, you need to determine on which plans they offer HIPAA compliance and whether pricing makes sense for you:

SmartBot360 states that the HIPAA Compliance is available on all plans including Bsic, Office, Marketing and Enterprise Plan

2. Legal Contracts

Then, you need to carefully review & sign their legal contracts, especially their Business Associate Agreement and Terms of Service (ask them for the latest versions - in some cases, you might need to sign an NDA):

SmartBot360’s Business Associate Agreement
SmartBot360's Terms of Service
SmartBot360's Privacy Policy

3. HIPAA Safeguards

4. PHI Access

5. Re-assessment

Finally, at least once a year, reassess whether or not the vendor is still in compliance with HIPAA.

Source 1: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services HIPAA Privacy Rule Guidance Material
Source 2: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services HIPAA Security Rule Guidance Material

Final Remarks on SmartBot360’s HIPAA Compliance Status

HIPAA compliance has no one-size-fits-all vendor assessment methodology but we have covered here various best practices on how to thoroughly evaluate SmartBot360 for HIPAA compliance, so that they can be eventually trusted to process or store your sensitive patient data.

Regardless of the above, for all your 3rd party vendors, you need to follow the fundamental HIPAA principle and always disclose to them the 'minimum necessary' information, which means only disclosing the amount of PHI you absolutely have to.

If you follow the 'minimum necessary' principle and you regularly evaluate your 3rd party vendors for their commitment to the HIPAA standards while having solid Business Associate Agreements with them in place, then you can minimize the risk of a potential HIPAA violation and decrease the probability of a damaging data breach happening in the first place.