You have been hired as the CISO for a hospital. The hospital currently deploys a hybrid cloud model using a Software as a Service (SaaS) product for healthcare clearinghouse services. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require an agreement between Cloud Service Providers (CSP) and the covered entity. Based on HIPAA, once the agreement between the covered entity and the CSP signed, the CSP is ____________?
According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), once an agreement is signed between the covered entity (in this case, the hospital) and the Cloud Service Provider (CSP), the CSP is considered a Business Associate. As a Business Associate, the CSP is directly liable for compliance with the applicable requirements of the HIPAA Rules. This means that the CSP must implement and maintain appropriate safeguards to protect the health information they manage on behalf of the covered entity, and they are subject to the same stringent regulatory requirements to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI).
why not B ?
You company is directly, as per agreement CSP is partially.
In the context of a hybrid cloud model where both on-premises infrastructure and cloud services are used, the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) is still considered a Business Associate under HIPAA if it handles protected health information (PHI) on behalf of the covered entity. Regardless of whether the PHI is stored or processed on-premises or in the cloud, the HIPAA regulations apply to any entity that has access to PHI. Therefore, based on HIPAA, once the agreement between the covered entity (the hospital) and the CSP is signed, the CSP is: B. Directly liable for compliance with the applicable requirements of the HIPAA Rules