Security & Compliance

Built for hospice compliance.
Every CoP. Every audit.

CareNoteIQ covers all 24 Medicare Hospice Conditions of Participation. HIPAA-compliant infrastructure, immutable audit logs, and a BAA executed before any PHI is enabled.

HIPAA Technical Safeguards AES-256 Encryption at Rest All 24 Hospice CoPs Covered 7-Year Record Retention §418.104
CoP Matrix HIPAA Safeguards Encryption Workforce BAA Audit Readiness
Section 01

Medicare Hospice CoP Coverage Matrix

All 24 Conditions of Participation under 42 CFR Part 418. Green = shipped and live in the demo. Every regulation is enforced by in-app workflows, not just documentation.

Regulation Condition of Participation CareNoteIQ Feature Status Demo
§418.52 Patient Rights Signed rights acknowledgments, advance directives vault (DNR/POLST/living will), grievance log with 14-day resolution clock, state hotline tracking ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.54 Comprehensive Assessment Initial ≤5-day + 15-day updates; 7 §418.54(c) sections; automated due-date alerts; sign/lock; IDG review link ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.56 Plan of Care Versioned POC with AI synthesis from clinical notes; problems list, goals, interventions, visit frequencies; IDG 15-day review cycle; immutable sign/lock ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.58 QAPI Program 9 seeded quality indicators; monthly auto-computation; PIPs with PDSA cycles; quarterly governing body review with dual sign-off; trend charts ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.60 Infection Control Infection trend tracking surfaced in the QAPI indicators dashboard; reportable disease tracking in compliance module ~ Partial View demo →
§418.62 Licensed Professional Services NP face-to-face documentation; physician recertification narrative (AI-drafted); RN admission + visit notes; IDG attestation ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.64 Core Services Social worker psychosocial notes (6 sections + AI narrative); chaplain/spiritual care notes; bereavement risk assessment + 13-month contact schedule ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.66 Nursing Services RN admission assessment, visit notes, supervisory evaluations, NP face-to-face; all sign/lock with timestamp ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.68 Counseling Services Spiritual care (chaplain) and social work visit notes with structured counseling fields; grief counseling logged in bereavement contact records ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.70 Short-term Inpatient Care GIP justification log (5 CMS-approved symptoms; daily log; 5-day consecutive warning); LOC change orders with ordering physician ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.72 Physical / OT / SLP Therapy Therapy services tracked as visit frequency entries in the Plan of Care; discipline-specific visit notes on roadmap ~ Partial View demo →
§418.74 Waiver of Certain Conditions Documented in Plan of Care waiver notes; physician order tracking ~ Partial View demo →
§418.76 Hospice Aide Services Aide roster (CNA/HHA cert tracking); care plans; visit notes with vitals + care tasks; RN 14-day supervisory evaluations; 12 hr/yr in-service tracking; monthly quota alerts ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.78 Volunteer Services Volunteer roster; training tracker (HIPAA, infection control, etc.); hours log with direct/indirect patient care categorization; 5% ratio compliance; annual DON recruitment narrative ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.100 Organization & Administration / Governing Body Governing body roster; meeting minutes with MD evaluation + QAPI review flags; annual MD evaluation (5 scored sections); services under arrangement; hospice locations + org chart ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.102 Medical Director MD/DO designation (NPI, license, board cert, contract on file); physician designee coverage roster with active date ranges ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.104 Clinical Records Completeness tracking (7 required elements); AI-assisted transfer/discharge summaries; configurable retention policy (min 6 yr, default 7); authorized disclosure access log; daily expiry alerts ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.106 Drugs & Biologicals Active medication list; allergy/adverse reaction records; pharmacist drug regimen review per cert period; controlled substance count log + disposal records; polypharmacy flagging; med reconciliation events ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.108 Short-term Inpatient (Contracted) LOC periods tracking (RHC/CHC/GIP/IRC); CHC daily nursing/HHA hours threshold; GIP daily justification log; level-of-care billing tile ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.110 Hospices Providing Inpatient Care GIP documentation requirements covered via GIP justification log; symptom tracking; continuous LOC period management ~ Partial View demo →
§418.112 SNF/NF/ICF Coordination Coordination notes tracked in clinical records; transfer/discharge summary module; facility contact documented in election statement ~ Partial View demo →
§418.113 Emergency Preparedness All-hazards risk assessment; written EP plan (versioned); staff contact tree + patient notification protocols; annual training log; full-scale + tabletop exercise log; patient evacuation tiers; quarterly cron alerts ✓ Shipped View demo →
§418.114 Personnel Qualifications Credential vault per staff member; OIG LEIE + SAM.gov monthly exclusion checks; license expiry alerts (60/30/7 days); staff competency assessments; onboarding checklist; professional references (3 per CHAP) ✓ Shipped View demo →
CMS HOPE HOPE Assessments (eff. Oct 2025) CMS HOPE V1.00; 4 timepoints (Admission, HUV1, HUV2, Discharge); CMS-specified item codes; iQIES-compatible XML export; timeliness alerts ✓ Shipped View demo →
Section 02

HIPAA Technical Safeguards — 45 CFR §164.312

Every §164.312 specification implemented in the platform. Access to PHI is blocked by default until a BAA is executed and phi_enabled is flipped by CareNoteIQ staff.

§164.312 Spec CareNoteIQ Implementation Audit Evidence
§164.312(a)(1)
Access Control
8-role RBAC Developer, Owner, Admin, DON, Physician, NP, RN, Social Worker, Chaplain, Hospice Aide, Office Staff. Every API endpoint enforces role check via lib/rbac.js. PHI routes return 403 before the query executes. Role assignment logged at user creation; access attempts logged to audit_logs with user_id, role, endpoint, IP, timestamp
§164.312(b)
Audit Controls
Append-only audit_logs table Every PHI read, create, update, and delete event records: user_id, patient_id, action, resource_type, IP address, timestamp. Uses PostgreSQL bigserial PK — rows are never updated or deleted. 2M+ events/year for active orgs; queryable in compliance dashboard by DON+; exportable for surveyor requests
§164.312(c)(1)
Integrity
Immutable sign/lock pattern Clinical notes, POC, HOPE, IDG, and all care documents become immutable after signing — the signed_at / locked flags are set and any UPDATE to locked rows returns a 409 Conflict. Passwords use bcrypt (12 rounds). locked=true check enforced in DB layer before every UPDATE; bcrypt hash verified against stored hash — plaintext never persisted
§164.312(d)
Person/Entity Authentication
Session-based auth with idle timeout Login issues a cryptographically random session token (stored httpOnly cookie, 24h TTL, server-side session table). Idle timeout: 30 minutes. Password reset via 1h expiry token. Rate limited to 5 attempts / 15 min / IP. sessions table indexed for fast lookup; expired sessions garbage-collected; MFA on roadmap (Q3 2026)
§164.312(e)(1)
Transmission Security
TLS 1.2+ enforced by Render All traffic served over HTTPS; HTTP requests upgrade to HTTPS at the load balancer. TLS certificates auto-provisioned and rotated by Render's managed certificate infrastructure. No plaintext PHI is ever transmitted. HSTS header enforced; Render infrastructure enforces TLS minimum at the edge; certificate expiry monitored by Render
§164.312(a)(2)(i)
Unique User ID
Per-user accounts only — no shared logins Every user account is individually provisioned with a unique email address. Shared credentials are blocked by unique constraint on the users.email column. All audit_logs entries carry the individual user_id; shared logins are architecturally impossible
§164.312(a)(2)(iii)
Automatic Logoff
30-minute idle session termination Inactivity beyond 30 minutes invalidates the server-side session and redirects to login. The session token cookie becomes invalid immediately server-side. Session last_activity timestamp updated on every authenticated request; comparison triggers logoff
Section 03

Encryption Posture

PHI is protected at rest, in transit, and in backup. No plaintext credentials or tokens are stored.

Database — At Rest

Hosted on Neon Serverless Postgres. Storage is AES-256 encrypted at rest on AWS infrastructure. Neon manages key rotation automatically.

AES-256

Transit — TLS

All connections use TLS 1.2+. HTTPS enforced by Render's edge. HSTS headers prevent downgrade attacks. No plaintext PHI leaves the origin server.

TLS 1.2+

File Storage — R2

Clinical documents (advance directives, license scans, discharge summaries) stored in Cloudflare R2. Objects are encrypted server-side with AES-256 by Cloudflare.

AES-256

Session Tokens

Session tokens are cryptographically random (Node.js crypto.randomBytes). Stored as httpOnly cookies — not accessible to JavaScript. Tokens expire in 24h and are purged on logout.

crypto.randomBytes

OAuth Credentials

Third-party OAuth tokens are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage in service_connections.metadata. Keys are scoped to the application environment.

AES-256-GCM

Backup Encryption

Neon provides automated point-in-time recovery with encrypted backup storage. Backup retention: 7 days on the hosted plan. Backup keys managed by Neon / AWS KMS.

AWS KMS
Section 04

Workforce Compliance Automation

§418.114 personnel requirements enforced by the platform — not spreadsheets. Expiry alerts fire automatically before credentials lapse.

OIG LEIE + SAM.gov Exclusion Checks

Every staff member is checked against the OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities and SAM.gov Excluded Parties List on hire and monthly thereafter. Results logged to exclusion_checks — clean, match, or inconclusive. Monthly audit emails fire on the 1st at 07:00 UTC. Discharge from care is flagged automatically on a match. Satisfies §424.516 and the §418.114 background check requirement.

✓ Shipped

License & Credential Expiry Tracking

The Personnel Credentials module tracks license number, state, issued date, expiry, primary source verification (PSV) date and method, and document scan for every staff member. Alert emails fire at 60, 30, and 7 days before expiry. Expired credentials are flagged in-app and block care documentation sign-off. Satisfies §418.114 active license verification requirements.

✓ Shipped

Annual HIPAA Training Requirement

HIPAA training completion is tracked per staff member in personnel_files with completion date and renewal due date. CareNoteIQ blocks clinical documentation access for staff with lapsed training. Annual renewal due dates auto-compute from completion date. DON receives alert before lapse.

✓ Shipped

Role-Specific Competency Assessments

Initial and annual competency evaluations tracked per staff member by role (RN/NP/SW/Chaplain/Volunteer). 17 CMS-required aide skills tracked individually with rating. Remediation plans and next evaluation due dates computed automatically. Satisfies §418.100(g) and §418.76(c)(1).

✓ Shipped
Section 05

Business Associate Agreement

CareNoteIQ acts as a HIPAA Business Associate. PHI access is architecturally blocked until a BAA is executed and the organization's phi_enabled flag is set by CareNoteIQ staff — not by the customer.

Standard HHS-aligned BAA template

Our BAA template aligns with the HHS model Business Associate Agreement provisions and covers all HIPAA Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule obligations. The agreement governs permitted uses and disclosures of PHI, breach notification timelines (within 60 days of discovery), data return or destruction on termination, and subcontractor (sub-BA) obligations with Neon Postgres, Render, and Cloudflare R2.

Every production customer executes a BAA before PHI is enabled. The signing record — acceptance timestamp, signing user ID, IP address, and version — is stored in the organizations table and displayed in the Organization settings for audit purposes.

Section 06

Audit & Survey Readiness

CMS, CHAP, and Joint Commission surveyors ask for documentation you can produce in minutes — not days. The Survey Readiness Workbench surfaces every compliance gap before the surveyor does.

Mock Survey

CHAP & Joint Commission Mock Audit PDF

One-click generation of a cross-CoP compliance audit PDF. Covers all 12 major CoPs, flags open deficiencies with the specific regulation citation, and watermarks clearly as a practice document.

Open Survey Workbench →
Record Retention

7-Year Clinical Record Retention

Retention policy configurable per organization (minimum 6 years per §418.104(c); CareNoteIQ default is 7 years). Legal hold toggle. Daily alerts fire 90 days before a record reaches its retention end date.

See in demo →
Access Log

Authorized Disclosure Report

Every patient record access is logged with access type, resource type, user, IP, and timestamp in clinical_record_access_log. Surveyors can receive a printable disclosure report for any date range per §418.104(d).

See in demo →
12-CoP Scorecard

Live Compliance Scorecard

The Survey Readiness dashboard shows green / yellow / red tiles for each CoP in real time. Mock Surveyor Mode toggles a simulated surveyor view. Gaps are linked directly to the relevant documentation workflow.

Open scorecard →
Survey Export

Encrypted Survey Packet Export

DON/Admin/Owner can generate a ZIP of all clinical documentation for a patient cohort and date range. Download links expire in 7 days. Packets are stored in Cloudflare R2 and never cached on the server.

See in demo →
HOPE / iQIES

HOPE Assessment XML Export

CMS HOPE V1.00 data elements exported as iQIES-compatible XML for CMS submission. Submission events logged immutably with status (generated / submitted / accepted / rejected). Timeliness window enforcement built in.

See in demo →