The 2025 HIPAA Security Rule marks a significant advancement in healthcare cybersecurity expectations. While the updates may feel technical or regulatory in nature, their true purpose is to protect your patients, your data, and the continuity of your operations.

Whether you’re a multi-specialty practice, solo provider, or an IT partner supporting healthcare clients, here’s a breakdown of practical steps every organization should begin taking now to align with the new requirements and ensure full HIPAA compliance.

1. Review and Update Internal Policies and Procedures

Start with the foundation: your internal documentation. Existing policies should be thoroughly reviewed and updated to reflect the new standards introduced by the 2025 HIPAA Security Rule. Key focus areas:

• Data access controls

• Security incident handling procedures

• Remote work and mobile device policies

• Vendor management protocols

Your written procedures are the first thing an auditor or regulator will ask for in the event of a breach or investigation. Make sure they match how your team actually operates.

2. Conduct a Comprehensive, Up-to-Date Risk Assessment

HIPAA now emphasizes ongoing and documented risk analysis as a cornerstone of compliance. This is not a checkbox exercise, it should identify where ePHI is vulnerable and what controls are (or aren’t) in place. What to include:

• Inventory of all systems handling ePHI (EHRs, CRMs like HighLevel, communication tools, etc.)

• Assessment of physical, administrative, and technical risks

• Evaluation of third-party services and vendors

Your risk assessment will help you prioritize improvements and document your good-faith effort to comply with the new rule.

3. Ensure Technical Safeguards Meet 2025 Standards

The 2025 HIPAA updates call for specific technical safeguards, not just general intentions. This includes encryption, MFA (multi-factor authentication), audit logging, and data integrity protections. Steps to take:

• Confirm that all platforms (including marketing tools like HighLevel) support encryption at rest and in transit

• Enable MFA on all systems accessing ePHI

• Implement access logs and review them regularly

• Set auto-timeouts and role-based access permissions

If a platform or system you use doesn’t support these requirements, it may be time to reconsider or enhance it with third-party tools.

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