7 Overlooked Factors in a HIPAA-Compliant Web Form Tool

In the last decade alone, healthcare organizations and their form vendors have faced multi-million-dollar penalties for preventable compliance gaps. Anthem’s 2018 breach resulted in a $16 million HIPAA settlement after a cyberattack exposed the data of nearly 79 million individuals, while Memorial Healthcare System was fined $5.5 million for failing to restrict internal access to patient records. 

It shows a consistent pattern, healthcare orgs are choosing tools not designed to handle protected health information (PHI). 
The irony, is most healthcare teams know they need HIPAA-compliant web forms. What they often overlook is how easy it is to choose the wrong form tool, especially when popular form builders look polished and “secure enough.”
So, here are 7 critical things healthcare teams overlook when choosing a HIPAA-compliant web form tool, and how you can avoid costly mistakes.

 

1. “HIPAA-Friendly” Is Not the Same as HIPAA-Compliant
 

Many form builders claim to be HIPAA-friendly or secure, but that language is deliberately vague.
What healthcare teams miss:

• HIPAA compliance is not a checkbox
• Security features ≠ legal compliance
• Encryption alone does not make a tool HIPAA compliant

A truly HIPAA-compliant web form must align with HIPAA guidelines across legal, operational, and technical requirements. 

2. No Business Associate Agreement (BAA)

This is one of the most common, and dangerous, oversights.
If a form tool:

• Collects patient data
• Stores submissions
• Processes PHI in any way

…it must offer a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA). A BAA makes the form tool vendor legally responsible for safeguarding protected health information (PHI) and complying with HIPAA regulations when handling, storing, or processing patient data on your behalf.

Many popular form builders (including Typeform) don’t offer a BAA at all.

Rule of thumb: No BAA = no HIPAA compliance, regardless of features.

3. Forms Built for Marketing, Not Healthcare Workflows

Most mainstream form builders were designed for Surveys, Event registrations, or Marketing lead capture. But healthcare workflows are different.
Overlooked gaps include:

• Patient intake logic
• Consent capture
• Conditional PHI fields
• Audit trails for access and changes
• Healthcare CRM or PRM 

A HIPAA-compliant web form tool should be designed for clinical workflows, not retrofitted from a marketing use case.

4. Limited Control Over Data Access & Permissions

HIPAA data protection is about controlling internal access too. So you need full control over your data according to HIPAA guidelines. 

Healthcare teams often overlook features like:

• Role-based access control
• Staff-level permissions
• Visibility limits for PHI fields

If everyone on your team can see every submission by default, that’s a compliance risk. Look for tools that let you:

• Restrict access by role
• Limit who can view, edit, or export PHI
• Maintain accountability internally

A well-known example of internal HIPAA failure occurred in 2008, when UCLA Medical Center had to fire 13 employees and suspended six physicians for accessing Britney Spears’ medical records without a legitimate reason. The incident triggered a state investigation and highlighted a core HIPAA lesson: compliance requires strict internal access controls, monitoring, and accountability.

5. No Audit Logs or Activity Tracking

HIPAA guidelines emphasize accountability and traceability. Yet many clinics choose form tools that don’t log access history, can’t track edits or downloads, or offer no audit trail during compliance reviews

If something goes wrong, you should be able to answer:

• Who accessed the data?
• When?
• What actions were taken?

If your form tool can’t answer that, it’s not HIPAA ready. 

6. Data Storage & Retention Are an Afterthought

Where your form data lives matters with HIPAA. Healthcare teams often miss:

• Where submissions are stored geographically
• How long data is retained
• Whether deletion policies align with HIPAA requirements

A HIPAA-compliant web form tool should clearly define:

• Secure storage practices
• Retention controls
• Easy, compliant data deletion when required

7. Assuming Popular Tools Are “Safe Enough”

This is the biggest mistake of all. Just because a tool is popular, looks well-designed, and is used by a lot of other businesses, doesn’t make it safe to use for healthcare and HIPAA use cases.  

Let’s compare the top form builders - are they HIPAA compliant? 

At a glance, many popular web form tools appear similar. They offer modern design, dozens of integrations, and competitive pricing. But when you look specifically at HIPAA compliance, the options narrows dramatically.

❌ NOT HIPAA-Compliant (Only GDPR or No HIPAA Support)

1. Typeform – GDPR compliant only
2. Heyflow – GDPR compliant only
3. Growform – GDPR compliant only
4. Leadcapture.io – GDPR compliant only
5. Tally.so – GDPR compliant only
6. Youform – GDPR compliant only
7. Fillout – GDPR compliant only

✅ HIPAA-Compliant

1. MakeForms – GDPR and HIPAA compliant
2. Jotform - Some plans support HIPAA (HIPAA available)
    

HIPAA Web Form Tool Checklist: What to Verify Before You Subscribe
Before choosing any form builder, healthcare teams should confirm that HIPAA compliance is built in, not added later. Use this checklist to avoid costly compliance gaps.

Must-Have Requirements

 

• ☐ Signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA)
  This is the biggest sign that a web form tool is compliant. If they are willing to sign a BAA, it means they are clearly accepting responsibility for safeguarding PHI.

• ☐ Role-Based Access Control
  Ability to limit who can view, edit, or export PHI based on staff roles.

   

• ☐ Audit Logs & Activity Tracking
  Clear records of who accessed patient data, when, and what actions were taken.

   

• ☐ Healthcare-First Workflows
  Forms designed for intake, consent, and clinical use—not repurposed marketing or survey tools.

   

• ☐ Data Residency & Storage Transparency
  Clear disclosure of where PHI is stored, how it is hosted, and whether data residency practices align with HIPAA requirements for secure storage, access, and retention.

• ☐ Clear Alignment With HIPAA Guidelines
  Transparent documentation showing how the platform supports HIPAA administrative, technical, and operational safeguards.

Why Healthcare Teams Choose MakeForms for HIPAA-Compliant Web Forms

For healthcare teams that don’t want to gamble on compliance, choosing a form builder designed with HIPAA in mind from day one matters. MakeForms is one such platform, built to support HIPAA-compliant web forms through signed BAAs, granular access controls, audit logs, and clear data handling practices aligned with HIPAA guidelines. 

Instead of retrofitting compliance onto a marketing-first tool, healthcare organizations can use MakeForms to collect patient data confidently, knowing the platform was designed to protect PHI. Start a free trial here and start publishing HIPAA compliant forms right away.