Is Grammarly HIPAA Compliant: Protect Your Confidential Information

If you use Grammarly, you might wonder about HIPAA compliance (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Is Grammarly HIPAA Compliant? Learn more.

There are lots of people who take advantage of cloud services to help them with their writing. If you use Grammarly, then you probably like the spellcheck feature, the Gmail integration, and the grammar checking features in Google Docs. At the same time, does Grammarly have the same information security as apps designed specifically for healthcare?

Grammarly is HIPAA compliant, but there might still be situations where you need to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) in accordance with security policies. How does this grammar checker protect user data, and what do health care providers need to know about these security standards? Learn more about the relationship between the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and Grammarly.

What Is HIPAA Compliance?

First, keep in mind that this is for a US-based audience, as rules and regulations related to healthcare overseas might vary. HIPAA refers to a set of rules and regulations that are designed to protect people’s confidential healthcare information. Patients have the right to dictate who sees their medical records and what people do with their healthcare information once they have them.

Patients even have to give permission before medical doctors share their information with other doctors who are a part of the care team. Organizations need to take steps to protect patient information, which is where HIPAA compliance comes into play.

Organizations that have a breach of patient information are obligated to report the breach. Then, if the organization is found to not have taken appropriate steps to protect that information, they could be fined and sanctioned.

All organizations, including those inside and outside of medicine, that might come into contact with patient information need to protect that information accordingly.

Is Grammarly HIPAA Compliant?

So, is Grammarly HIPAA compliant? Recently, Grammarly published a statement related to its security. Grammarly stated:

We are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, demonstrating our commitment to protecting insecure and sensitive user information. 

Now, the statement does not go into a lot of detail regarding the security measures that the application has in place, but this should give users some confidence that if they edit confidential health information through Grammarly, the information should still be protected. The application went on to say that it is committed to securing the confidential information of everyone using the product, regardless of the industry in which they operate. 

What Is a BAA?

If you decide to use Grammarly to edit confidential health information, you might be looking for an area to sign a business associate agreement, which is usually shortened to BAA.

A business associate is a company, person, or entity that performs activities or functions that involve the use of protected health information, or PHI. This if the exact type of information that HIPAA was designed to protect.

If you work with PHI, then you might be working with a covered entity. As a result, you need to comply with HIPAA privacy rules and regulations. If you use Grammarly, then you may need to get a business associate agreement signed. 

Essentially, a business associate agreement is a contract between a business associate and a covered entity. It is required by law to ensure compliance with all rules and regulations related to HIPAA. There are numerous points that have to be included in a BAA, and you need to make sure the agreement is comprehensive enough to protect yourself and any information you might be using.

Fortunately, there is a way for you to get a BAA signed through Grammarly as well. If you need to get a signed BAA through Grammarly, you simply need to reach out to them. 

Why Is HIPAA Compliance Important?

This might seem like a lot of work to use a straightforward grammar checker, so you may be wondering why this is important. Everyone has a right to protect their health information, and nobody wants to have their confidential information revealed. Furthermore, if someone has access to the PHI of someone else, they may be able to use this information to commit identity fraud.

Therefore, the app has been put in place to protect healthcare organizations, their patients, and their providers. If a business is found to be in violation of HIPAA, it could be facing significant fines and sanctions. You do not want this to happen to you, so you need to make sure you protect yourself when you use applications, including Grammarly. 

Final Word on Is Grammarly HIPAA Compliant

If you work with protected health information, you need to be aware of all rules and regulations related to HIPAA. If you do not follow the guidelines put in place by HIPAA, you could be facing significant fines and sanctions. This includes HIPAA security, privacy, and breach notification rules.

You may not realize that Grammarly falls under this umbrella, but if you use the application to edit confidential information, you need to make sure that information has been secured. Fortunately, it looks like Grammarly has taken the appropriate security precautions, but you still might need to get a BAA signed. If you need to do so, you may need to reach out to Grammarly directly. 

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