8 Best HIPAA-compliant ticketing systems

For individuals outside of the healthcare industry, HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a concept that most have heard referenced before without ever truly comprehending its full scope. For healthcare professionals, however, it’s essential to understand every in and out of this landmark legislation to ensure that they’re continually operating in compliance with its specifications. 

The utilization of ticketing systems can greatly assist in HIPAA adherence efforts by automating confidentiality agreements, verifying system security, promoting employee accountability, and much more.

Today, we’ll dive into what HIPAA is, how a capable ticketing system can help ensure adherence to HIPAA, and which HIPAA-compliant ticketing system is best for your business.

What is HIPAA?

HIPAA is a United States Act of Congress that has been in place since 1996. Its primary focus is to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without authorization. HIPAA sets a precedent for national standards on the safeguarding of protected health information (PHI) while requiring healthcare organizations to implement measures to ensure its confidentiality and availability. Various other stipulations are encompassed within HIPAA, including the Privacy Rule, Security Rule, Breach Notification Rule, and Enforcement Rule.

How can a ticketing system ensure HIPAA compliance?

Ticketing systems help verify HIPAA compliance by providing a unified platform for managing various aspects of compliance efforts. With all HIPAA-related procedures consolidated in a single space, organizations can ensure that no efforts go overlooked, while all actions are sufficiently monitored.

Offer a Business Associate Agreement

A business associate agreement (BAA) is a contract between a covered entity and an external partner. These contracts outline the obligations of the business associate in safeguarding PHI following HIPAA regulations.

BAAs clearly define the permitted uses of PHI by business associates. They specify that PHIs can only be accessed for the purposes outlined in the agreement while prohibiting any unauthorized disclosure of this sensitive information. It further mandates that external partners implement appropriate security measures to protect PHI. This includes implementing administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to secure electronic PHI (ePHI) per the HIPAA Security Rule.

Ticketing systems can automate the process of initiating, negotiating, and finalizing BAAs, while also enforcing accountability and monitoring compliance throughout their lifecycles.

Ensure security/data encryption

The centralized platforms offered by ticketing systems can serve to manage security incidents, encryption protocols, and access controls related to PHI. Organizations often leverage this software to prioritize security tasks, such as configuring access permissions and monitoring for unauthorized access attempts.

Additionally, ticketing systems can facilitate the implementation of encryption technologies to protect PHI across various platforms. Businesses can utilize the software to document encryption policies, deploy encryption solutions, and track encryption status across their IT infrastructure. This might involve ciphering data at rest, in transit, and during processing to mitigate the risk of breaches. 

Audit trails

Ticketing systems also allow establishments to customize audit settings to meet specific HIPAA requirements. Administrators can configure the system to capture timestamps, IP addresses, and the nature of actions performed. For further transparency, most systems can also integrate with other security tools and monitoring solutions to enhance the visibility of audit logs. 

To help expedite this process, ticketing systems streamline the evaluation of audit trail data and generate compliance reports. Built-in reporting features are typically included with this software, enabling administrators to identify trends and extract relevant information from audit logs. These reports can then be used to demonstrate adherence to HIPAA requirements during compliance assessments.

Proper training

The development of training materials, such as interactive modules and quizzes, can be easily facilitated through the use of a ticketing system. Administrators often leverage the software to create training tickets or assign tasks to employees, outlining the required deadlines for completion. 

Ticketing systems also promote ongoing education and the reinforcement of HIPAA principles through continuous learning opportunities. Upper management can utilize their software to schedule regular training sessions, webinars, or workshops to keep employees informed about changes in regulations and emerging threats. Moreover, the ticketing system might serve as a platform for employees to submit questions, seek clarification on policies, and report any compliance-related concerns.

What to look for in HIPAA-compliant ticketing software

Choosing robust ticketing software can provide businesses with desirable cost-effectiveness, as they often provide wide-ranging help desk capabilities in addition to their HIPAA compliance measures. Common features offered within these systems include omni-channel messaging, self-service options, extensive automation tools, and more.

Cross-channel support

Ticketing systems are often connected with channels such as email, phone, social media, and live chat, allowing customers to reach out through their preferred means. When a user submits a query via email, for example, the software automatically generates a ticket with all relevant details attached.

Additionally, ticketing software consolidates all cross-channel communication in a unified platform, providing agents with enhanced context and opportunities for improved personalization. Representatives can leave internal notes, assign tickets to specific team members, or escalate issues all from within the system.

Self-service portal

Self-service portals typically feature a knowledge base, FAQs, and troubleshooting guides. They allow customers to search for answers to their questions independently, empowering them to resolve issues on their own, while reducing dependency on support staff.

Portals also often include ticket submission forms and account management tools, enabling customers to initiate support requests or perform account-related tasks. These forms can provide detailed information about a user’s issues and support relevant files to help expedite customer service interactions.

Automation capabilities 

One of the more prominent automation features of ticketing systems is ticket routing, where incoming requests are automatically assigned to the most appropriate agent based on predefined criteria. By eliminating the manual assignment of tasks, ticket routing ensures that inquiries are promptly directed to the right personnel.

Most organizations will also find ticketing software’s workflow automation capacity to be useful, as it expedites repetitive tasks and standardizes support procedures. Specific rules can be configured to trigger actions such as sending automated responses, escalating tickets, or updating ticket statuses.

Incident/problem/change management

When a change request is submitted, ticketing systems can automatically generate a ticket to capture relevant details such as the proposed change, its impact, and the rationale behind it. Change management workflows are often implemented to facilitate approval processes, ensuring that adjustments are assessed for potential risks and properly authorized before implementation.

If an incident occurs, users or automated monitoring tools can create tickets in the software to report the issue. These tickets are then prioritized based on their urgency and assigned to the pertinent support team for investigation. Following resolution, problem tickets can be generated, containing detailed information about the disruption, its impact on business operations, and any known workarounds.

Continuous monitoring/reporting

Extensive dashboards and analytics tools are typically offered in ticketing systems, allowing administrators to track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as ticket volume, response times, and resolution rates. By monitoring these metrics in real time, organizations can identify trends, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement in their support processes. 

For example, if a sudden increase in ticket volume is detected, it may indicate a widespread issue that requires immediate attention, while consistently high response times may highlight inefficiencies in agent workflows or resource allocation. 

Integrations

Integration with existing IT infrastructure enables establishments to leverage their existing tools while maximizing the utility of their ticketing software. Ticketing systems are often connected with customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, empowering agents to access comprehensive customer profiles directly from within the ticketing interface. This integration promotes more personalized support experiences while improving overall efficiency in issue resolution.

Ticketing software is also commonly integrated with monitoring tools, which allow organizations to automate ticket generation for service disruptions. By connecting with monitoring systems, ticketing software can automatically capture relevant details about the incident, prioritize tickets based on severity, and route them to the relevant support teams for resolution. 

Scalable to business needs

Competent ticketing systems should be able to easily handle increasing ticket volumes without sacrificing performance. As businesses expand, most software can accommodate higher levels of support inquiries by scaling resources such as server capacity, storage, and network bandwidth. Additionally, many ticketing systems employ cloud-based infrastructure, which enables automatic scaling in response to fluctuating demand.

Ticketing systems also provide robust customization and configuration options that allow the software to be molded to fit evolving requirements and workflows. Administrators can define custom ticket fields, statuses, and automation rules to reflect their changing support processes and business rules. This flexibility enables ticketing systems to easily adapt to adjustments in organizational objectives or customer expectations without the need for extensive IT support.

8 best HIPAA-compliant ticketing systems

1. Freshdesk

Freshworks’ Freshdesk acts as a full-feature help desk software, offering extensive omni-channel capabilities, wide-ranging automation features, robust security protocols, and much more to assist support teams in serving customers while properly securing their data.

Our clients enjoy advanced features such as generative AI to gather and analyze vast amounts of information, providing data-driven insights to highlight areas for improvement. Moreover, Freshdesk’s extensive ticketing capacity ensures that all customers are responded to in a timely and accurate manner while safeguarding all communication with access management tools and network restrictions.

Key features

• Custom SSL certificates allow organizations to secure their own support domain or vanity URL for a safe and personalized experience

• IP and network restrictions can whitelist IP ranges, restrict login access outside of work, and create secure access for agents to log in from anywhere

• Identity and access management empowers users to log into Freshdesk using other accounts by setting up a single sign-on (SSO) script to authenticate their credentials

• Easily configure a custom mail server for all email transactions to verify that they’re hosted autonomously outside Freshworks – completely hosted on the client’s end

• Enable security assertion markup language (SAML) SSO for users to access your support portal with unified identification and authentication

• Team inbox tracks and manages incoming support tickets from all channels in a single location

• Service Level Agreement (SLA) management assists in setting deadlines for ticket responses based on business hours or categories

• Ticket field suggestor automatically recommends fields to categorize, prioritize, and route incoming requests

• Ticket dispatch automatically assigns requests to agents based on keywords or properties

Pros

• Omnichannel messaging is supported through email, phone, chat, social media, website, messenger, and more

• Chatbot, help widget, knowledge base, and more offer wide-ranging self-service capabilities for customers to resolve issues autonomously

• Extensive collaboration tools like shared ownership, linked tickets, and parent-child ticketing allow teams to leverage collective expertise to better serve end-users

• Robust reporting tools such as real-time dashboards, scheduled reports, and customer satisfaction (CSAT) ratings empower businesses to constantly refine strategies and identify areas for improvement

• Automatic email notifications alert both agents and end-users to ensure that tickets are resolved as efficiently as possible

Why customers rave about Freshdesk?

Our clients in the healthcare sector love Freshdesk’s automation capacity which allows customers to quickly answer important health-related questions while ensuring the protection of these sensitive interactions. When live assistance is required, our AI-driven platform can automatically direct communication to the most relevant agent, while ensuring that conversations are prioritized based on severity or urgency. 

One of our satisfied clients, Liza S., lauds Freshdesk’s ease-of-use and automation capacity, saying, “The platform offers a seamless experience for our support team, allowing them to efficiently manage and prioritize customer queries. The automation features have significantly streamlined our workflow, reducing response times and ensuring that no customer concern goes unnoticed.”

2. Spiceworks

Spiceworks is a help desk software that’s purpose-built for IT professionals, striving to improve technical support for end-users. It assists in managing tickets, providing omni-channel support, and tracking agents’ performance.

Key features

• Customizable web portal available for users to self-submit tickets and include relevant information regarding their request

• Ticket rules allow businesses to easily assign tickets, designate categories, and set due dates based on pre-defined triggers

• Auto ticket assignment and routing can direct requests to different departments based on priorities and categories

Pros

• Ability to generate multiple ticket templates to capture relevant details from unique users

• Extensive mobile capacity through Android and iOS applications caters to remote and geographically dispersed teams

• Automated responses help live agents answer recurring questions faster

Cons

• Lags behind similar systems in the ability to consolidate tickets from all channels in a single location

• Limited AI capabilities – no chatbot offered, resulting in more manual interactions and higher ticket resolution times

• Emphasis on IT support, resulting in a lack of viability for general customer service initiatives

Price

All of Spiceworks’ solutions are offered free of charge

3. ServiceNow

ServiceNow is a cloud-based workflow automation platform that caters to large organizations aiming to enhance operational efficiencies by streamlining routine work tasks. It aspires to bridge the gap between IT, business objectives, employees, customers, and data all in a single platform.

Key features

• Predictive intelligence empowers agents to solve issues quickly with smart suggestions powered by natural language processing (NLP)

• Workforce optimization assists in managing teams effectively with real-time visibility into agent scheduling and performance

• AI agent helps resolve issues faster through conversational intelligence that understands simple, human language

Pros

• Low-code self-service portal deflects issues by offering a single platform for all users to access services, information, and applications

• Compensates for lack of certain features by offering robust third-party integration potential

• Knowledge, incident, change, and problem management tools ensure that IT teams possess sufficient resources to handle any situation they may encounter

Cons

• Without integrating with other tools, its features are fairly generalized, which may restrict its viability for specific uses

• Complex interface which may be hard to navigate and customize for non-technical employees

• Subtasks within larger tasks can be easily overlooked, resulting in internal and external miscommunication

Price

You’ll need to contact ServiceNow directly for a custom quote for your specific business requirements

4. Jira

Jira Service Management is a service desk software that enables straightforward receiving, tracking, and managing of requests from end-users. It offers easy-to-understand prioritization of service incidents by organizing all tickets in a centralized location.

Key features

• Configuration management helps identify dependencies and minimize risks by providing enhanced visibility into the infrastructure that manages critical services

• SLA management supports as many policies as are needed to monitor deadlines based on elapsed time or request categories

• Form builder offers 325+ templates to quickly collect and validate all the information an organization needs regarding a request

Pros

• Comprehensive customer support and ITSM capacity help optimize costs if you plan on utilizing all of its features

• Customizable live queues that can be prioritized based on custom fields or SLAs

• Workflow engine allows organizations to mold Jira to fit their specific requirements and objectives

Cons

• Limited capacity to generate customer profiles, narrowing personalization efforts

• Restricted self-service options when compared to similar solutions

• Lacks sufficient notifications for end-users to keep them updated on how their ticket is progressing

Price

$0 for up to three agents, while you’ll need to contact Jira directly for a quote on its Enterprise plan

5. HappyFox

HappyFox is a help desk system emphasizing multi-channel support for tickets arriving via email, web, phone, and social media. It’s integrable with various business applications for accounting, feedback, CRM, commerce, and more.

Key features

• Audit logs help track changes made within the platform to ensure organizations remain compliant with standards, while also ensuring employee accountability

• Two-factor authentication (2FA) provides an additional layer of security to reduce the risk of unauthorized access

• Session-based security automatically logs an employee out when they leave their computer unattended while still logged in

Pros

• Flexibility in agent-based pricing and unlimited agent packages may provide better value for large enterprises

• Data security, IP restrictions, and SSO options provide even more safeguarding measures to verify HIPAA compliance

• Extensive and free educational resources ensure that employees receive sufficient onboarding and ongoing training

Cons

• Limited social media integration can restrict omnichannel approaches

• Can be a bit pricey depending on what plan you’re interested in.

• Overabundance of features and challenging navigability may present a steep learning curve for some users

Price

From $29 per user per month for the Mighty plan, up to $89 per user per month for its Enterprise Plus plan

6. Zendesk

Zendesk is an AI-powered support platform offering an easy-to-use interface that can be scaled as an organization evolves. It leverages extensive automation features for service teams to enhance and expedite operations.

Key features

• Data masking allows establishments to customize data access based on specific roles so that agents only see what's essential

• Advanced redaction automatically detects and removes personal data with AI-powered censoring suggestions

• Access logs monitor which users search for data, what they access, and where they are

Pros

• Extremely customizable dashboards that can be tailored to provide insights into the most relevant KPIs

• Help desk and CRM capabilities consolidated into a single platform for enhanced cost-effectiveness

• Open API and extensive third-party integrations enable seamless connection with existing IT infrastructure

Cons

• Starter plan pricing may be prohibitive for startups and small businesses

• Limited internal collaboration tools, which can restrict opportunities for different departments to work together

• Data importing, exporting, and management features are lacking and complicated

Price

The basic plan begins at $55 per user per month, while you’ll need to contact Zendesk directly for a quote on its Enterprise package

7. Hiver

Hiver is a collaboration software that helps businesses engage with customers, employees, and external providers. It offers multi-channel communication capabilities, self-service tools, and robust automation capacity to confirm that all issues are taken care of efficiently and accurately.

Key features

• AI chatbot, Harvey, offers traditional bot capabilities, while also identifying and closing conversations that get reopened due to non-actionable “thank you” responses

• AI Summarizer allows agents to turn lengthy emails into brief notes, boosting handoffs and expediting resolutions

• Collision alerts ensure that no two team members accidentally work on the same query, helping to avoid mistakes like email duplication 

Pros

• Enhance collaboration among teams with notes and @mentions to ensure timely and accurate responses

• Powerful automation that can be triggered based on rules, round robin, or content contained within a message

• Tools like conversation ID and conversation followers assist agents in following complex threads, while supervisors can monitor progress and performance as well

Cons

• No option to create new tickets unless they’re attached to an email

• Lack of distinction between messages creates challenges in referencing past conversations

• Limited task automation may result in duties being assigned to agents already handling excessive workloads

Price

From $15 per user per month for Lite plan, up to $79 per user per month for its Elite package

8. JitBit

Jitbit is a support ticketing software, available both as an SaaS and on-premises solution. It’s equipped with sufficient mobile capacity, powerful integrations, self-service tools, and more.

Key features

• Team mailbox promotes transparency throughout the support team while enabling actions like bulk sending and ticket merging

• Canned responses and links to knowledge base articles can be sent with just a few clicks, reducing resolution times and empowering users to find answers autonomously

• Powerful automation triggers can send automatic replies, assign tickets, and set ticket due dates

Pros

• Android and iOS mobile apps and 500+ potential integrations promote accessibility from anywhere and compatibility with existing infrastructure

• SSL encryption and SSO options enhance system security to help ensure HIPAA compliance

• Extensive polyglot capabilities are ideal for larger enterprises catering to global client bases

Cons

• Lack of customization features can limit the platform’s application in niche markets

• Several user reviews mention poor customer service when assistance is required

• Analytics and reporting features are rigid and limited, hindering organizations’ capacity to gather useful insights

Price

• $29 per month for a single agent, while its Enterprise package accommodates up to nine agents at $249 per month

Choosing the right HIPAA-compliant ticketing system for your business

As the primary concern of HIPAA is verifying robust security protocols, you’ll first need to ensure that potential ticketing systems provide wide-ranging safeguarding features to protect sensitive health information. This generally includes extensive encryption capabilities, access controls to limit user permissions, and audit trail functionality to track user activities.

Once this has been confirmed, you’ll want to assess potential software’s customization potential. Look for tools that allow you to create customized ticket templates for managing various compliance tasks, such as employee training, incident response, and risk assessments. The ticketing system should also support automated notifications to prompt users to complete compliance activities, helping reduce the risk of oversights.

Furthermore, organizations anticipating future growth should verify that potential systems offer sufficient flexibility to accommodate evolving requirements. Seek out a solution that can scale with your business and adapt to technological advancements over time. Don’t forget to evaluate the software’s ease of use to ensure that it’s accessible to employees and facilitates user adoption.

Turn to Freshdesk for your ticketing needs

Freshdesk serves as the trusted ticketing software for healthcare organizations across the globe, offering an abundance of specialized tools aimed at ensuring HIPAA compliance.

Our state-of-the-art data security features include custom SSL certificates, IP and network restrictions, and identity and access management to verify that only authorized users view sensitive patient information. Freshdesk clients also enjoy the ability to configure their own custom mail server to facilitate autonomous control of incoming and outgoing emails. This means that all email interactions are outside of Freshworks and completely managed internally.

Furthermore, curated reports, custom reports, and real-time dashboards enhance visibility into system performance and data protection, helping confirm adherence to regulatory requirements. If there are any features your establishment requires that Freshdesk doesn’t offer, simply browse our robust Marketplace for access to hundreds of third-party applications that can be easily connected to the platform!