Did you know Azure Maps is HIPAA compliant (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)?

Companies and organizations in the healthcare industry require geospatial services to achieve location intelligence and perform spatial analysis. Imagine knowing there was an accident or disease outbreak but not knowing where it was? Location information can be critical to many health outcomes, not just for individuals but for whole communities as well. Azure provides a solution environment allowing healthcare and health insurance providers to meet their strictest data compliance obligations, as Azure Maps complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 

While Azure Maps enables companies and organizations across every industry to build intelligent location-enabled and map-based experiences, our customers in the healthcare industry have an added requirement to make sure the data they send to Azure Maps is handled according to HIPAA compliance standards. Whether you are using a map to visualize health-related data, geocode patient home or work addresses, or calculate travel time and distance from a patient’s location to the nearest healthcare facilities, Azure Maps ensures HIPAA compliance is achieved for protected health information (PHI).

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) establishes requirements for the use, disclosure, and safeguarding of protected health information (PHI) in Electronic Medical Records (EMR). It applies to covered entities such as doctors’ offices, hospitals, health insurers, and other healthcare companies that require access to PHI, as well as to business associates, such as cloud service providers, that process PHI/EMR on their behalf. The scope of HIPAA was extended with the enactment of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, created to stimulate the adoption of electronic health records and supporting information technology.

To see the Azure Maps HIPAA compliance status, go to the Microsoft Azure Compliance Offering site and download the Microsoft Azure Compliance Offerings document, which offers compliance information for all Azure offerings.

Get started today using Azure Maps by going to the Azure portal to create an Azure Maps account and reference the Azure Maps documentation for more information. As always, we look forward to your feedback on our Azure Maps Microsoft Q&A site.