How to Secure Your Notion for HIPAA and How to Get the HIPAA Badge/Seal

 

Properly securing Notion for HIPAA compliance is critical if you're handling protected health information (PHI) within your organization. Here's what you need to know if you plan to use Notion to store, process, or share any healthcare info.

• Understand HIPAA Requirements: HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requires anyone handling health data to implement strong safeguards, both technical and organizational. If your Notion workspace will ever store names, health conditions, diagnosis info or anything considered PHI, you're subject to HIPAA rules.
• Check Notion’s HIPAA Readiness: Notion does not natively offer HIPAA compliance on its standard plans. As of now (2024), Notion only offers HIPAA compliance for Enterprise customers. You must contact Notion’s sales team, discuss your HIPAA needs, and ensure they offer a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) — a legal contract required by HIPAA.
• Sign a BAA with Notion: Make sure you have a signed BAA. Without this, you cannot use Notion for PHI under HIPAA. The BAA ensures that Notion is legally responsible for protecting health info your company manages in their platform.
• Technical Security Steps:
  • Enforce strong access controls: Only allow staff who need PHI access into the relevant workspace/pages. Remove all unnecessary collaborators.
  • Enable Single Sign-On (SSO): For Enterprise plans, require SSO with multi-factor authentication for an extra layer of login security.
  • Monitor account usage: Regularly review user activity logs for unauthorized access or unusual behavior.
  • Encrypt data: Notion encrypts data at rest and in transit, but confirm these standards meet HIPAA expectations with your rep.
• Administrative Safeguards:
  • Staff training: All personnel accessing Notion must understand what qualifies as PHI and proper handling procedures.
  • Incident response plan: Have a documented plan to handle data breaches or unauthorized access.
  • Data retention/deletion policy: Set clear rules for how long PHI is stored and how it is deleted when no longer needed.
• When You Need Expert Guidance: It’s common to need help interpreting regulations or managing technical details. Consulting with HIPAA assessment firms like OCD Tech can be invaluable. They offer readiness assessments and hands-on help to close any compliance gaps before an audit.
• How to Get "How to Secure Your Notion for HIPAA Badge/Seal": There is no official "HIPAA certified" badge—HIPAA doesn’t endorse products. However, you can obtain a HIPAA compliance attestation or seal from independent assessors after passing a thorough readiness review. Firms like OCD Tech review your policies, technical settings, and user training to verify you meet all the standards.

Most important to pass HIPAA audits:

• Having a signed BAA with Notion.
• Strict user permissions and documented, enforced security policies.
• Proven staff training on HIPAA basics.
• Incident management and ongoing monitoring.
• External compliance reviews, such as those provided by OCD Tech, supporting full readiness documentation.

If you follow the above steps—use Notion’s Enterprise HIPAA program, sign a BAA, harden your workspace, train your team, and do a readiness-check with a consulting firm—you’ll be well-positioned to secure Notion for HIPAA and pass any audit you face.