Is Trello HIPAA-Compliant?

Written Mar 20, 2022 by Dock Health Team

Just as technology has revolutionized the way we work in healthcare, it's also changed the way we manage our administrative tasks. With so many online tools available to us, it can be hard to know which are HIPAA-compliant and which are not. If you're currently using Trello or are interested in learning if you can use it for managing projects, tasks, and due dates related to healthcare administration, you might be wondering: is Trello HIPAA-compliant?

Keep reading for an overview on HIPAA requirements for software platforms, whether or not Trello is HIPAA-compliant, and to learn more about a powerful alternative to managing your tasks and to-do lists in a solution designed specifically for healthcare.

What does HIPAA stand for?

As a friendly reminder, HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a US law that provides data privacy and security regulations for the healthcare industry. HIPAA compliance is mandatory for all covered entities, which includes healthcare providers, health plans, and clearinghouses.

What are the requirements?

In order to be compliant with HIPAA, covered entities must take reasonable steps to protect patient health information (PHI) from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. This means implementing physical, administrative, and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and security of PHI.

Who (and what) needs to comply?

It's probably obvious that hospitals and doctors' offices need to follow HIPAA, but who else? If you're in the business of providing healthcare goods or services, you need to be HIPAA compliant. This includes health insurance companies, pharmacies, medical equipment suppliers, home health care agencies, claims processors, and more.

But if you work in the healthcare industry, you know that HIPAA doesn't just apply to professionals who interact with or handle patient information—it applies to the tools you use, too. That's why having HIPAA-compliant software is so important when it comes to working with protected health information (PHI).

So, is Trello HIPAA-compliant?

The short answer is no, Trello is not foundationally HIPAA-compliant. While Trello offers a number of features that could potentially be used to protect PHI, it does not meet all of the requirements for being a HIPAA-compliant application. In particular, Trello does not offer any features that would ensure the security of PHI data.

Is Trello secure?

In a Trello forum, healthcare facility advisor Glen Miller explains, “Trello (and also certain software like Trello) should be avoided, as it represents tremendous legal risk. I cannot underscore that enough,” Miller writes, “And this is due not only to the risk of user error. You could think of Trello as a data company similar to Facebook: it categorically conflicts with the guiding principles of healthcare organizations and health data. Your process for evaluating and selecting a project management software must be equally rigorous to your process of selecting an EHR system.” One of the biggest requirements is for tools and partners to be HIPAA-compliant is to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), a written arrangement that specifies each party's responsibilities when it comes to managing PHI. Atlassian, Trello’s parent company, will not sign a BAA on behalf of Trello. Without this key component, Trello cannot be HIPAA-compliant.

Will other productivity tools sign BAAs?

Some new entrants to the task and project management market—like ClickUp and Monday.com—will offer to sign BAAs, but this comes with a big caveat: these BAAs are only signed at the enterprise level, starting at a minimum of $10,000 contracts for larger organizations. While this is more than Asana and Trello offer, many of ClickUp and Monday.com’s outside integrations are rendered useless because they are not HIPAA-compliant on their own. Dock Health, on the other hand, requires having a BAA in place before using the platform. We are foundationally HIPAA-compliant, for everyone, at every level.

To say Dock would be a better, more affordable, and more integrated solution for any healthcare organization—big or small—would be an understatement.

Dock Health: HIPAA-compliant Trello alternative

If you're looking for an online tool to help you manage your healthcare tasks and to-do lists, Dock Health is a HIPAA-compliant alternative to Trello that might be just what you need. Dock Health offers all of the task management power of Trello, plus a number of additional features that make it perfect for healthcare professionals. Unlike other productivity and to-do list applications, Dock Health connects with a wide range of third-party tools, including electronic health records (EHR) integrations. Cerner, Epic, athenahealth, AdvancedMD, Kareo, DrChrono, and Elation EHR are some of our most popular connections. Dock Health can also be linked securely to Gmail or Google Workspace, Jotform, Hubspot, RingCentral, and other non-healthcare applications.

Some of the other features that make Dock Health a great choice for those in the healthcare industry include:

  • SmartFlow™ library with pre-built automations
  • Custom integrations with other tools
  • Task due dates and times
  • Recurring due dates
  • Task priority
  • Customizable task statuses
  • File attachments
  • Individual and team assignees
  • Task history and audit trail

Trello for Healthcare

Trello is not HIPAA-compliant, but Dock Health is. Dock Health is a cloud-based task management tool that was created specifically for healthcare professionals. If you're looking for a HIPAA-compliant alternative to Trello, Dock Health is a great option. With its wide range of integrations and powerful features, Dock Health is perfect for managing healthcare tasks and to-do lists. Get in touch today to book a demo, or try any of our plans for free for 15 days.