The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) sets forth privacy and security standards for those providing health or wellness services. It also extends to the tools these professionals use like customer relationship management (CRM) software. The best HIPAA-compliant CRMs adhere to these requirements but also include ways to manage operations like offering patient record management, marketing, and patient service support.
We looked at multiple HIPAA-compliant and wellness industry-specific CRM software and narrowed it down to the top five options:
- Caspio: Best overall―ideal for large organizations looking for maximum customization
- PatientPop: Excellent choice for healthcare businesses looking for simple-to-use telehealth tools
- Enquire CRM: Great option for assisted living service businesses
- NexHealth: Solid solution for healthcare providers looking for an intuitive and secure payment processing solution
- Salesforce Health Cloud: Good choice for healthcare and life sciences organizations who want advanced features built into their CRM software
How We Evaluated the Best HIPAA-compliant CRMs
To determine the best HIPAA-compliant CRMs, we evaluated overall product pricing as well as having a high degree of security standards within the scope of HIPAA. The CRM should also provide tools for healthcare operations like medical billing capabilities, electronic health record (EHR) management, and appointment scheduling tools, and offer both intuitive platform usability and robust customer support.
Based on our evaluation, Caspio is the best overall choice because of the mass customization capabilities offered by the platform for laying out the interface, designing the database display, and developing individual applications within the CRM.
The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process for choosing the best HIPAA-compliant CRM:
30% of Overall Score
With cost typically being among the most important criteria for any small business, price was the most heavily weighted when reviewing the best HIPAA-compliant CRMs. We considered access to free plans, varying subscription options, and whether or not monthly billing was available.
20% of Overall Score
In addition to being compliant with HIPAA standards, we looked at features specifically designed to assist with healthcare or life sciences business operations, such as tools for marketing campaigns, integrations with electronic medical record (EMR) systems, and reporting capabilities for visualizing and improving operations.
20% of Overall Score
The functions of any application are only as beneficial as it is usable. Thus, these criteria were analyzed by the technical skill required to set up the HIPAA-compliant CRM software, the knowledge needed to operate the platform, and the overall intuitiveness of navigating the interface.
20% of Overall Score
Extensive support and service can prevent issues a user might encounter while using the platform. Help and support were evaluated in terms of customer service hours and availability of support via phone, live chat, and email.
10% of Overall Score
In addition to first-hand experiences with the providers, we evaluated what other users are saying about each HIPAA-compliant CRM. These criteria consider how customers feel based on their reviews to gain insight on product popularity, ease of use, and overall value for the price.
Caspio: Best Overall HIPAA-compliant Software
Caspio
What We Like
- Free option available
- Offers low-code customization capabilities
- Users can build data management applications for both medical servicing and administrative activities
What's Missing
- Turnkey HIPAA-compliance only available on Grow plan
- Mobile application
- 24/7 customer service support
Caspio Pricing at a Glance
- Free: Limited options
- Explore: $100 per month
- Build: $200 per month
- Grow: $400 per month
- Corporate: Quoted separately
- Free trial: 14 days
*Pricing is based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for a higher price.
The main product feature Caspio pushes is mass customization capabilities. Not only can organizations design their custom dashboard, but they can also design HIPAA-compliant applications using a low-code approach to get built-in applications for charting data, creating web forms, scheduling appointments, mapping, and much more.
Despite the ability to create certain mobile applications through the Caspio platform, Caspio itself doesn’t have a mobile application to manage CRM activities. For businesses looking for a mobile HIPAA-compliant CRM, we would recommend Enquire CRM or NexHealth as viable options.
Caspio Features
Caspio application design home page (Source: Caspio)
- HIPAA-compliant database applications can be made using point-and-click tools
- Users can build a system for medical equipment and inventory tracking
- HIPAA-compliant appointment scheduling and reminder applications can be built-in
- Easy-to-use business process automation design
PatientPop: Best for Telehealth Solutions
PatientPop
What We Like
- Free plan with basic marketing features like web form appointment scheduling, email templates, and automatic blog postings
- Intuitive navigation interface
- Digital patient registration is customizable, mobile-friendly, and HIPAA-compliant
What's Missing
- Low-cost plan with text, digital faxing, or email marketing capabilities
- Live chat customer support channel
- Seamless calendar synchronization process
PatientPop Pricing at a Glance
- Free: Limited to telehealth marketing functions
- Standard: $150 per license, per month
- Pro: Quoted separately
Compared to other HIPAA-compliant CRMs, PatientPop offers users more modern solutions, particularly through its virtual telehealth tools. Healthcare practices using PatientPop can make it easy for patients to schedule virtual appointments, stay notified in the tele-waiting room, and talk with their healthcare providers in a high-definition (HD), two-way video conference.
PatientPop makes it easy to conduct video conferences for medical appointments. However, if users run into issues, they are limited to customer service through phone and email, and only during business hours. For more robust customer service, we invite you to check out Salesforce Health Cloud which is available during extended hours on all channels.
PatientPop Features
PatientPop dashboard (Source: Dribbble.com)
- Two-way, HD video telehealth tools
- Integrations with more than 60 electronic medical records (EMR) systems
- Built-in reputation management tools for generating and monitoring online reviews
- Tools within the platform to manage website search engine optimization (SEO)
Enquire CRM: Best for Assisted Living Organizations
Enquire CRM
What We Like
- Built-in referral management tools
- Mobile application interface is easy to navigate
- Synchronization with Outlook and Google calendar apps
What's Missing
- Transparent pricing information
- Customer support via live chat
- User-friendly report generation tool
Enquire CRM Pricing at a Glance*
- Enquire CRM: Quoted individually
Compared to the other HIPAA-compliant CRMs on this list, Enquire CRM was specially designed for assisted living service businesses like home health care, hospice, and senior living facilities. This is reflected in its marketing automation features for managing referrals, digital marketing campaigns, and insights on prospective residents.
Many built-in solutions allow Enquire CRM users to keep in contact with residential and nonresidential patients, including a live chat channel through the website, inbound call answering, and outbound follow-up calls.
Many of the customer reviews for Enquire CRM suggest there are issues generating reports within the platform. For more intuitive report generation solutions, we recommend Caspio, which can generate fully customizable reports easily through point-and-click functionality.
Enquire CRM Features
Enquire CRM Pipeline View. Source: GetApp
- Customizable call terminology to track phone calls and processes
- Convertible live chat-to-phone call transition
- Tools for building popup forms so website visitors can sign up for newsletters or events, or enter the live chat portal
- Easy-to-use one-click communication for calling, emailing, or texting prospects
NexHealth: Best HIPAA-compliant Payment Processing CRM
NexHealth
What We Like
- No additional fees for third party integrations
- Comprehensive solution with tools for marketing, administrative activities, and healthcare service operations
- User-friendly mobile application
What's Missing
- Transparent plan pricing
- Automatic calendar synchronization for patient appointment cancellations
- Partial payment invoicing capability
NexHealth Pricing at a Glance
- Acquire: Quoted individually
- Retain: Quoted individually
- Delight: Quoted individually
The most notable standout feature of NexHealth in comparison to other HIPAA-compliant CRMs is their easy-to-use built-in tool for sending and receiving payments. Users of NexHealth can send invoices to patients through text or email, in which the patient can easily see the balance due and click a link to make the payment.
One common issue reported by NexHealth users is that patients still receive reminders for canceled appointments due to calendar syncing errors. For healthcare businesses looking for a more synchronized and automated process for scheduling management activities, we recommend considering PatientPop.
NexHealth Features
NexHealth email payment invoice (Source: SoftwarePundit)
- Built-in tools for sending invoices and collecting payments via email or text
- Integrations with many practice management systems (PMS), such as Cloud 9 Software, Curve Dental, Eaglesoft, and many more
- Automation tools for managing canceled appointments and “no shows”
- HIPAA-compliant patient text messaging
- Automated survey creation and deployment for Google, Facebook, and Yelp reviews
Salesforce Health Cloud: Best for Advanced Features
Salesforce Health Cloud
What We Like
- Parallel design and capabilities to other Salesforce products
- Customer service available through live chat, phone, and email
- Mass customization capabilities for interface display, tasks, healthcare event timelines, healthcare team roles, and more
What's Missing
- Low-cost plan
- Intuitive user interface to navigate and operate
- Full web application capabilities on the mobile application
Salesforce Health Cloud Pricing at a Glance
- Enterprise: $300 per user, per month
- Unlimited: $450 per user, per month
- Free trial: 30 days
*Pricing is based on annual billing.
Through its health cloud edition, Salesforce Health Cloud offers healthcare and life sciences businesses an array of advanced capabilities like disease contact tracking, data model creation, program management for life science trials, and tools to evaluate determinants of health ramifications based on social or environmental factors.
Although Salesforce Health Cloud is a HIPAA-compliant CRM that offers organizations plenty of state-of-the-art functionality, the interface is by no means intuitive, and operating the platform involves a steep learning curve. For businesses that want a CRM that is HIPAA compliant and much easier to use, we recommend looking at PatientPop or NexHealth.
Salesforce Health Cloud Features
Salesforce health cloud contact tracing feature (Source: Salesforce)
- Built-in advanced reporting features can cross reference, combine reports, and show information history
- Integration with EHRs to view patient history within the platform
- Utilization management features allow healthcare providers to automate decisions based on medical policy and service level agreements (SLAs) to reduce manual intervention times
- Contact tracing tools to visualize the potential spread of diseases and infections
- Ability to produce data models based on information from clinical trials and insurance data
