Last updated: June 27, 2025
HIPPA vs HIPAA? The good news is that you only need to worry about one of them.
- HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This critical U.S. law protects individuals’ medical records and personal health information handled by healthcare providers, health plans, hospitals, and other entities.
- HIPPA is simply a misspelling—and doesn’t refer to any law, organization, or regulation.
It’s surprisingly common for people to type “HIPPA” instead of “HIPAA.” Phonetically, it’s an easy slip, but there’s only one correct spelling for the US law that governs the privacy and security of patient health information.
A good rule of thumb: If it’s spelled like “hippo,” it’s incorrect! For extra fun, you can try stretching out that final ‘aaah’ sound when you say it out loud.
Fortunately, search engines are good at catching this kind of typo. You’ll still find relevant information whether you type HIPPA or HIPAA. However, precision should go far beyond checking your spelling for healthcare organizations, especially those developing software products. If you’re unsure about the terminology or the fine details of important regulations as they apply to software, you’re not alone. Fortunately, the experts are here to help. Let’s break it down.
Key Takeaways
- “HIPAA” stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; “HIPPA” is a common typo.
- Precision in terminology reflects the level of care needed when developing custom healthcare software.
- HIPAA compliance is critical for any digital health solution handling patient data, and partnering with experienced developers helps mitigate risk.
Table of Contents
- The HIPAA vs HIPPA Problem: Why Precision Matters
- Developing HIPAA-Compliant Healthcare Apps
- Get Expert Help with HIPAA Compliance
The HIPAA vs HIPPA Problem: Why Precision Matters for Healthcare Software
In regulated industries like healthcare, details are everything. Using the correct term is more than a cosmetic issue. It signals professionalism and a genuine understanding of the regulatory landscape governing sensitive health data handling.
Businesses building custom healthcare mobile apps, medical device companion software, or patient portals must comply with HIPAA’s stringent requirements. Precision in language often reflects precision in execution, an essential quality when your technology solutions process electronically protected health information (ePHI).
HIPAA’s Security Rule governs how ePHI must be handled to protect patient privacy and data integrity (1). Even small errors can erode client trust and may be perceived as a red flag about a vendor’s attention to detail. Trust and credibility are invaluable in healthcare software, but there’s more at stake here than reputation. Compliance missteps, even honest mistakes, can result in significant legal and financial penalties (2).
Developing HIPAA-Compliant Healthcare Apps
At Medical Web Experts, we live and breathe HIPAA compliance. With over a decade of experience building secure, compliant, and effective solutions for healthcare organizations, we know the regulations inside and out. If your organization plans to create a patient-facing software product, we can build a custom app, portal, or website that satisfies both your organization’s unique needs and the strict requirements of HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, or any other applicable law.
This includes:
- Implementing secure architectures for handling ePHI
- Ensuring proper encryption for data storage and transmission
- Building audit trails and access controls
- Designing patient-facing apps with privacy-by-design principles
We’re not just spelling and grammar pedants! Our precision extends to how your software handles data, manages user permissions, and integrates with other systems like EHRs or lab results platforms. If you’re developing a custom healthcare app, remember that compliance is a business-critical responsibility.
Get Expert Help with HIPAA Compliance
While the difference between HIPAA and HIPPA might seem trivial, this common misspelling really does highlight the attention to detail necessary to succeed in the healthcare industry. Contact Medical Web Experts to learn how we can help ensure your next digital health solution is secure, compliant, and future-ready.
Read more:
- HIPAA-Compliant Messaging: How to Safely Share ePHI
- How To Design a HIPAA-Compliant Website
- How to Make a HIPAA-Compliant Healthcare App
