HIPAA Compliant Cloud Hosting for SaaS: What It Actually Requires

If your SaaS product stores or processes Protected Health Information (PHI), you’re subject to HIPAA — and that means your infrastructure choices can make or break your compliance.

There’s a dangerous myth that “secure = HIPAA-compliant.” The truth is, HIPAA compliant cloud hosting for SaaS requires a very specific setup, legal agreements, and operational processes.

We’ve built HIPAA-compliant SaaS platforms for therapy clinics, staffing agencies, and screening services. Here’s exactly what it takes.

You Need a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) — No Exceptions

HIPAA requires a signed BAA with any cloud provider that touches PHI.

Major providers that offer BAAs:

• AWS (specific HIPAA-eligible services only)
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud Platform

A BAA is not just a formality — without it, you’re automatically noncompliant.

Only Certain Services Are HIPAA-Eligible

Even with AWS or Azure, not every service is covered under their HIPAA scope.

Common AWS HIPAA-eligible services we use:

• EC2 (compute)
• RDS (PostgreSQL/MySQL databases)
• S3 (encrypted storage)
• CloudFront (secure content delivery)
• Cognito (secure user auth)
• CloudWatch (audit logging)

If you’re using an uncovered service for PHI, you’re out of compliance.

Encryption Everywhere — At Rest and In Transit

HIPAA mandates:

• AES-256 encryption at rest (RDS, S3, EBS volumes)
• TLS 1.2+ encryption in transit for all API calls, uploads, and downloads
• Encrypted backups with restricted restore access

We design all HIPAA SaaS hosting with encryption baked into infrastructure — not just app code.

Strict Access Controls and Logging

To pass a HIPAA audit, you must:

• Restrict admin and database access (least privilege model)
• Enforce MFA for all admins
• Log every login, query, and data change
• Retain logs for at least 6 years (HIPAA requirement)

AWS CloudTrail and CloudWatch handle this — but only if configured correctly.

Network Isolation Matters

Public internet exposure is your enemy.

We deploy HIPAA-compliant SaaS in:

• Private VPCs with subnet isolation
• Security groups blocking all unnecessary ports
• Bastion hosts for controlled SSH/RDP access
• VPN or Direct Connect for admin access

Compliance Is Ongoing — Not One Setup

HIPAA compliance is not “set and forget.”

You’ll need:

• Quarterly security audits
• Annual HIPAA training for your team
• Documented incident response plans
• Regular patching and vulnerability scans

We offer ongoing infrastructure management so compliance isn’t just something you hope for.

Final Thought

HIPAA compliant cloud hosting for SaaS is about more than servers and SSL — it’s about architecture, legal coverage, and operational discipline.

If you’re building a healthcare SaaS, get this right from Day 1. It’s much cheaper than rebuilding under an audit.