PHI-safe employee monitoring: HIPAA & WorkTime

WorkTime is a HIPAA-exempt employee monitoring software, trusted by healthcare and enterprise teams for 25+ years. Get full visibility into employee performance & zero risk to patient privacy!

What are HIPAA and PHI?

In the healthcare sector, patient privacy isn’t just an ethical responsibility. It’s mandatory by law. HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was created to safeguard sensitive patient information, especially within electronic systems. It regulates how healthcare organizations handle and protect PHI. Protected health information (PHI) is defined as any personal data linked to a patient’s medical history, treatment, or payment. With HIPAA compliance comes serious responsibility and consequences. Any software that handles Protected Health Information (PHI) is required to comply with strict HIPAA regulations. That’s a big problem for most employee monitoring software. How can you track productivity without risking exposure to PHI or violating HIPAA privacy rules? WorkTime offers a HIPAA-exempt solution! Our PHI-safe employee monitoring tracks productivity without ever touching patient data.

Healthcare requirements for employee monitoring

Healthcare employee monitoring isn’t just about tracking productivity. It requires strict compliance with healthcare regulations. So, what is HIPAA compliance, and how does it affect employee monitoring? Under HIPAA Privacy Rules, healthcare providers must secure Protected Health Information (PHI) using strict administrative, physical, and technical safeguards, covering how the data is stored, accessed, and transmitted. Key components of HIPAA compliance for monitoring are the following:

1. Administrative safeguards. Organizations must implement well-defined policies that guide staff actions to maintain HIPAA compliance and protect PHI.
2. Physical safeguards are vital to ensure monitoring tools don’t weaken security. Access to devices must be strictly controlled to prevent unauthorized exposure of protected health information.
3. Technical safeguards. HIPAA compliance requires healthcare organizations to use technologies that protect PHI from unauthorized access. This includes proper use of encryption, access control, and ensuring that software does not collect or transmit sensitive patient data.

Unfortunately, most employee monitoring tools fail to meet these standards, collecting data like screen content, keystrokes, or clipboard activity. That’s why you need a HIPAA compliance tool. WorkTime PHI-safe employee monitoring solutions are designed to monitor healthcare productivity ​​without directly or indirectly capturing any Protected Health Information (PHI), ensuring full compliance with HIPAA standards.

Why most employee monitoring software is not HIPAA-safe

Most employee monitoring tools on the market are not built with healthcare regulations in mind. They often take a generic approach, focusing on control, data capture, and surveillance rather than HIPAA compliance, privacy, or industry-specific needs. Thus, the majority of these solutions are not HIPAA-safe and pose serious risks for any healthcare organization. It results in HIPAA privacy violations because such tools:

• Capture entire screens that may display protected health information (PHI).
• Log keystrokes, potentially recording usernames, passwords, or patient notes.
• Monitor clipboard content, which may contain copied protected health information.
• Record emails, chats, and app content where PHI can be discussed or shared.
• Integrate with or access systems that contain EHR data.

Simply put, if a monitoring tool has access to PHI, even indirectly, your organization is responsible for ensuring full HIPAA compliance. It is a costly and complex process that includes entering into BAAs, conducting risk assessments, and maintaining strict security controls. That’s why it’s vital to choose the right HIPAA compliance tool. How to protect patient health information in the workplace? The good news is - there is a solution, and it’s built specifically to avoid these problems. Unlike conventional tools that collect sensitive data or require intrusive oversight, WorkTime is HIPAA-exempt and designed to ensure no interaction with PHI.

WorkTime is HIPAA-exempt

In healthcare, choosing the wrong monitoring software (one that risks exposing protected health information) can lead to severe HIPAA privacy violations. But what if you could ensure employee productivity and prevent HIPAA violations? That’s exactly what WorkTime delivers. We offer the most secure, PHI-safe monitoring solution tailored for the healthcare sector. WorkTime is fully HIPAA-exempt by design. Why is WorkTime the safer choice? Because it operates outside the scope of PHI. There is no HIPAA burden, no HIPAA employee compliance complications, and no patient data exposure. With WorkTime PHI-safe employee monitoring, healthcare providers can track and boost healthcare productivity confidently and ethically.

• No screen capturing. WorkTime HIPAA compliance solutions avoid accidental exposure of patient records, emails, or clinical dashboards.
• No keystroke logging. WorkTime PHI-safe employee monitoring prevents the recording of typed patient data, login credentials, or sensitive notes.
• Prevent HIPAA violations. No clipboard tracking ensures PHI copied from EHRs or internal systems is never captured.
• Boost healthcare productivity. WorkTime monitors only productivity metrics. It tracks active/idle time, logins/logouts, and application usage, but never content.

• No content or file monitoring. WorkTime compliance software for healthcare doesn’t access or analyze emails, documents, chats, or patient communications content.
• Secure your critical healthcare data. WorkTime does not integrate with or access EHRs or medical systems. Complete separation from clinical tools keeps WorkTime outside the HIPAA scope.
• Protecting PHI in the workplace. No PHI storage, transmission, or processing. Nothing collected means nothing exposed. It means full data safety and PHI protection by design.

PHI-safe mode: extra precautions by WorkTime

WorkTime goes a step further with PHI-safe mode, a powerful safeguard created specifically for healthcare organizations. This feature exists to prevent even the slightest chance of indirect PHI exposure, ensuring that no sensitive data is collected, even unintentionally. This level of precaution is rare among employee monitoring solutions, making WorkTime PHI-safe employee monitoring the safest, most healthcare-conscious choice on the market. How do WorkTime PHI-safe mode features prevent HIPAA violations?

• Exclude URL parameters from monitoring. Most EHR platforms do not include PHI in URL parameters, but WorkTime allows you to turn off this feature to ensure PHI protection, as nothing sensitive is ever collected.
• Exclude URL paths from monitoring. URL paths rarely contain PHI, but the WorkTime healthcare employee tracking option can completely exclude them, preventing any indirect exposure.
• Exclude subdomains from monitoring. Even though subdomains don’t typically carry PHI, WorkTime PHI-safe employee monitoring lets you disable subdomain tracking just to be safe.
• Exclude window titles from monitoring. Window titles can sometimes display protected health information like patient names or record numbers. You can disable this feature entirely, preventing the capture of any visible protected health information (PHI).

Choose WorkTime - productivity-focused, compliant, PHI-safe

Most monitoring tools don’t offer this level of safety. They simply capture everything by default, including data that may accidentally contain PHI. That can put your organization at serious risk of violating HIPAA security rules. That’s why WorkTime offers PHI-safe employee monitoring to eliminate even the slightest risk of indirect PHI exposure. Protect your organization from HIPAA risks. Get started with WorkTime today!