Why Olark Isn't HIPAA Compliant

HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) created guidelines for protecting the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and patient records in the US.

It is also worth noting that HIPAA covers Protected Health Information (PHI) communications. PHI is communication between a doctor and a patient. It is a medical record created by a doctor, nurse, or healthcare provider. It can also include a medical billing record created by a healthcare provider. You must comply with HIPAA if the communication is created by a healthcare provider. HIPAA-compliance also applies if it is a conversation between a healthcare provider and a patient.

Is Olark HIPAA-compliant?

Olark is not currently HIPAA-compliant.

Olark does not currently undergo HIPAA-compliance auditing. Because of this, we are ineligible to say we meet their requirements. HIPAA compliance requires private and regulated network and transmission security. Olark uses cloud servers. More details about data use and transmission can be found in sections 11 and 12 of our Request for Olark.

We believe that your coverage under our Terms of Service provides protection comparable with a reasonable BAA (business associate agreement), but we do not have a process in place to sign them on a customer by customer basis currently.

Does this mean that you'll never have the opportunity to have Olark in your HIPAA-compliant workplace? No way! Being HIPAA-compliant is not something we’re against providing.

Olark features are often built around customer requests. The higher the number of people who ask us for something, the more likely we are to build it. If you'd like to use a HIPAA-compliant version of Olark at your company, send an email to support@olark.com. We would be happy to add you to our current list of customers interested in Olark becoming HIPAA-compliant, and we will contact you if there are any updates to share.