Core Services
Healthcare organizations and their vendors are held to the HIPAA Security Rule’s administrative, technical, and physical safeguards — with OCR audits, 60-day breach notification deadlines, and Business Associate Agreement obligations attached. Fairway IT builds and maintains the risk assessments, security controls, and documentation that keep Chicago area healthcare organizations and their business associates compliant. Large Healthcare Data Breaches Reported to OCR in 2025 — a New Annual Record Average Cost of a Healthcare Data Breach — Highest of Any Industry (IBM, 2025) Average Time to Identify and Contain a Healthcare Data Breach OCR Financial Penalties Issued in 2025, Up From 16 in 2024 OCR enforcement is up, breach volume is at a record high, and the Security Rule demands ongoing risk assessment — not a one-time checklist. Your IT partner has to understand HIPAA compliance as deeply as it understands infrastructure. Healthcare has led every industry in average breach cost for 14 straight years. Attackers know patient records are valuable and that clinical operations can’t tolerate downtime — making healthcare a preferred ransomware target. HHS’s Office for Civil Rights requires a documented, ongoing Security Risk Assessment covering administrative, technical, and physical safeguards — not a one-time form. Gaps found during an audit or after a breach carry financial penalties. The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule requires notifying affected individuals, HHS, and in some cases the media within 60 days of discovery. Without an incident response plan built in advance, that clock becomes a crisis. Every vendor that touches PHI — billing services, IT providers, cloud platforms — needs a signed Business Associate Agreement, and their security posture becomes your liability. We help you track, vet, and manage that vendor chain. Electronic health record systems and networked medical devices are frequently unpatched or running unsupported software, and can’t always be updated on the same schedule as office IT — creating gaps attackers actively probe for. Telehealth and remote administrative work expand the number of endpoints and networks touching PHI. Every one of them needs to meet the same Security Rule access controls as an in-office workstation. We provide end-to-end HIPAA compliance support and the underlying IT security for Chicago area healthcare organizations and their business associates. The Security Rule-required annual risk assessment covering administrative, technical, and physical safeguards — with a documented remediation plan for every gap found. Written HIPAA policies and procedures that match how your organization actually operates — reviewed and updated as your systems and staff change. Tracking BAAs across every vendor that touches PHI, and vetting new vendors’ security posture before they get access. An incident response plan built and tested against the 60-day HHS notification deadline, so a breach doesn’t turn into a missed regulatory window. Network segmentation and monitoring for electronic health record systems and networked medical devices, including legacy equipment that can’t be patched on a normal schedule. Encrypted, redundant backup of PHI systems with tested restore procedures — built to keep clinical and administrative operations running through an incident. Next-gen endpoint protection on every workstation and server handling PHI — detecting and containing threats before they reach patient data. MFA-enforced, access-controlled remote connections for clinical and administrative staff — with logging that satisfies Security Rule audit requirements. The HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities and business associates to maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for electronic PHI — and to reassess them on an ongoing basis, not once and file it away. OCR audits and breach investigations both start by asking for your most recent risk assessment and the evidence that its findings were actually addressed. Fairway IT builds the risk assessment, the remediation plan, and the underlying security infrastructure together — so your documentation actually reflects your environment, and your environment actually meets what the documentation claims. ✓ Annual HIPAA Security Risk Assessments aligned to the Security Rule ✓ Encryption for data at rest and in transit across every PHI system ✓ Access controls and audit logging tied to individual user accounts ✓ Business Associate Agreements reviewed and tracked for every vendor ✓ Breach notification procedures tested against the 60-day HHS deadline ✓ Employee HIPAA training and phishing simulation programs We audit your systems, policies, and vendor relationships against the Security Rule’s administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. We close identified gaps and build or update the written policies and procedures that document your compliance posture. We review every Business Associate Agreement and vendor relationship touching PHI, flagging any that fall short of what HIPAA requires. 24/7 security monitoring, quarterly compliance reviews, and an annual risk reassessment — so your posture stays current, not just audit-ready once. The Security Rule requires covered entities and business associates to implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for electronic protected health information (ePHI). That includes a documented risk assessment, access controls, encryption, audit logging, workforce training, and written policies — all maintained and reassessed on an ongoing basis, not filed once and forgotten. OCR audits and breach investigations both start with your most recent risk assessment and the evidence you actually acted on its findings. The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule requires notifying affected individuals and HHS within 60 days of discovering a breach affecting unsecured PHI. Breaches affecting 500 or more individuals also require notifying prominent media outlets in the affected area. Meeting that deadline requires an incident response plan built and tested in advance — not assembled after the fact, when you’re already working against the clock. Any vendor that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI on your behalf — billing services, IT providers, cloud storage, answering services — needs a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Their security posture becomes your liability if they mishandle PHI, which is why we help clients track every BAA on file and vet new vendors’ security practices before granting access. At minimum, annually, and also whenever you make a significant change — a new EHR system, a new vendor with PHI access, a new office location, or a security incident. OCR treats an outdated or missing risk assessment as one of the most common findings in both routine audits and breach investigations, so an annual cadence is the practical minimum, not a formality. OCR typically requests your most recent Security Risk Assessment, your written policies and procedures, evidence of workforce training, your Business Associate Agreements, and documentation of how identified risks were remediated. Organizations that can produce current, accurate documentation — backed by security controls that actually match what the documentation describes — move through an audit far faster than those reconstructing records under deadline pressure. Fairway IT provides HIPAA risk assessments, compliance documentation, and the underlying security infrastructure for Chicago area healthcare organizations and their business associates — so you can focus on patient care, not chasing a compliance deadline. We understand HIPAA compliance and the security infrastructure behind it.
HIPAA Compliance IT Services — Chicago, IL
Pass the Audit. Protect the Patient Data.
✓ Security Rule risk assessments
✓ Breach notification readiness
✓ BAA management support
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$7.42M
279 Days
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The Challenge
Healthcare Organizations Face Growing Regulatory and Cyber Risk
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Ransomware Targeting Patient Data
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OCR Audits and Security Rule Requirements
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60-Day Breach Notification Deadline
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Business Associate Agreement Risk
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Legacy EHR and Medical Device Networks
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Remote and Hybrid Staff Access
HIPAA Compliance IT Services
Compliance Documentation and Security Infrastructure for Healthcare
COMPLIANCE & RISK MANAGEMENT
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Security Risk Assessments
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Policies & Procedures Documentation
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Business Associate Agreement Management
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Breach Notification Readiness
SECURITY & INFRASTRUCTURE
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EHR & Medical Device Network Security
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Encrypted Backup & Disaster Recovery
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Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR)
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Secure Remote Access for Staff
HIPAA Security Rule
The Security Rule Requires More Than a Checkbox
Getting Started
HIPAA Compliance Onboarding Process
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STEP
Security Risk Assessment
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Gap Remediation & Documentation
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STEP
BAA & Vendor Review
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STEP
Ongoing Monitoring & Compliance
FAQ
HIPAA Compliance Questions, Answered
Pass the Audit. Protect Your Patients.