This guide provides information about how Vercel supports HIPAA compliance and addresses customers subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA, as amended, including by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health—HITECH—Act).
Important: HIPAA compliance is a shared responsibility between the customer and Vercel, and customers are ultimately responsible for ensuring their own compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Each customer is responsible for independently evaluating its own particular use of the services as appropriate, in accordance with our Shared Responsibility Model. We encourage you to consult with your own legal advisors on how to configure your use of the Vercel platform to maintain compliance with the data privacy laws and security standards that are relevant to you and your business.
The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is one of the most important sectoral regulations related to privacy within the United States (US). The Secretary for the Health and Human Services (HHS) developed a set of required national standards designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of health data. Certain businesses, covered entities and business associates, are required to comply to these regulations to ensure that health data is transmitted without compromising its security.
Vercel supports HIPAA compliance as a business associate by committing to the following:
- Implementing and maintaining appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to safeguard a customer's Protected Health Information (PHI).
- Notifying customers of any data breaches without undue delay.
- Signing Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with customers.
Vercel conducts a HIPAA audit on an annual basis. For more information about this and our other compliance frameworks, see Vercel’s Trust Center.
Vercel's HIPAA BAA covers our entire global infrastructure. This comprehensive coverage provides several key advantages for healthcare organizations:
Multi-regional redundancy ensures your healthcare applications remain available even during regional outages, supporting the business continuity requirements essential for patient care systems.
Our global edge network delivers exceptional performance by placing your application closer to users, reducing latency for critical healthcare services where every second matters.
We maintain consistent security controls across all regions, eliminating the complexity of varying security implementations and simplifying your compliance management.
With no geographic restrictions on compliant deployments, you can serve patients globally while maintaining HIPAA compliance, expanding your reach without compliance concerns.
Vercel's serverless approach provides significant security advantages for healthcare applications:
Our architecture creates a reduced attack surface through serverless functions, limiting the potential entry points for attackers targeting sensitive health information.
Automatic scaling ensures your application remains responsive during usage spikes without requiring manual intervention, critical for healthcare systems that may experience sudden demand.
Healthcare teams benefit from built-in security features that work without additional configuration, reducing the technical complexity of maintaining a secure environment.
Our ephemeral execution environments minimize persistent vulnerabilities by creating fresh environments for each execution, significantly reducing the risk of compromised systems.
Vercel's platform handles critical security requirements automatically, allowing healthcare developers to focus on building applications rather than configuring security:
Automatic HTTPS with SSL/TLS encryption protects patient data in transit, meeting HIPAA requirements for transmission security without additional setup.
Our built-in DDoS protection and Web Application Firewall safeguard healthcare applications from common attack vectors, maintaining availability for critical services.
Integrated bot management and threat detection identify and mitigate suspicious activities before they can impact patient data or service availability.
With secure-by-default configurations across all services, healthcare organizations can deploy with confidence knowing security best practices are automatically applied.
As described above, Vercel provides a secure and compliant infrastructure for the storage and processing of PHI data. The following sections describe relevant features and recommendations for setting up a HIPAA compliant application on Vercel.
Understanding the division of security and compliance duties between Vercel and customers is essential for effective HIPAA implementation. When implementing security features on our platform, we recommend consulting with your organization's legal, compliance, and IT security advisors to determine the specific configuration requirements that align with your HIPAA compliance obligations and risk management strategy.
For more information, see Vercel's Shared Responsibility Model documentation.
Our foundational services are designed with security in mind and fully covered under our BAA:
- Vercel Edge Network and CDN for secure, global content delivery
- Vercel Functions for secure serverless application logic
- Edge Config and KV storage for managing configuration and data
- Build and deployment pipeline with security controls throughout
- Environment variable management for secure credential handling
- Vercel Static IP's for secure integration with healthcare systems
Healthcare organizations benefit from our enterprise-grade security capabilities:
- Vercel Secure Compute: Isolated cloud networks with dedicated IP addresses, providing enhanced security boundaries for sensitive workloads
- Fine-grained RBAC and Access-Control: Identity and access management that integrates with existing healthcare identity systems
- Audit Logging: Comprehensive activity tracking to support compliance requirements and security investigations
Our secure development tools support the entire healthcare application lifecycle:
- Vercel CLI and development tools for secure local development
- Git integrations and version control for code integrity and auditability
- Marketplace integrations with HIPAA-compliant providers for extended functionality
- Third-party service integrations to connect with your existing healthcare technology stack
Security Settings
- Enable Vercel Secure Compute: Customers subject to HIPAA may enable Vercel Secure Compute (available only on Enterprise plans) for additional layers of protection. This allows customers to have more control over which resources they allow to have access to their information through private, isolated cloud environments and dedicated outgoing IP addresses.
- VPC peering and VPN support (built on top of Secure Compute) allows customers to create fewer entry points into their networks by establishing secure tunnels within their AWS infrastructure.
- Configure Custom Domains: With proper SSL/TLS certificates
- Set Up Team Management: With appropriate role-based access controls
- Enable Audit Logging: For compliance monitoring and reporting
- Configure Environment Variables: For secure credential management
Development Best Practices
- Implement proper separation between development, staging, and production environments using custom environments
External Database Integration
- Ensure database providers offer HIPAA-compliant services
- Execute BAAs with database providers
- Verify encryption at rest and in transit
- Implement proper backup and disaster recovery procedures
- Leverage Vercel Static IP’s or Secure Compute to access backend providers
Data Residency and Backup
- Understand data storage locations and cross-border implications
- Implement appropriate backup retention policies
- Ensure disaster recovery procedures meet business continuity requirements
- Document data handling procedures for audit purposes
Ongoing Monitoring
- Regular review of access logs and audit trails
- Continuous monitoring of security alerts and incidents
- Periodic review of team member access and permissions
- Regular assessment of third-party integrations and dependencies
Compliance Auditing
- Document all security configurations and procedures
- Maintain records of risk assessments and mitigation strategies
- Prepare for compliance audits and assessments
- Regular review and updates of security policies
The HIPAA BAA is available via Vercel's all customers who are covered entities or business associates under HIPAA. Contact Vercel support to review BAA terms and ensure proper coverage.
No. By offering a BAA, Vercel helps support your HIPAA compliance, but using Vercel doesn't automatically ensure compliance. Your organization is responsible for ensuring adequate compliance programs, internal processes, and that your use of Vercel aligns with HIPAA requirements.
No. If you're a SaaS provider with a healthcare solution on Vercel, your customers can sign a BAA directly with you. They don't need a separate BAA with Vercel unless they also directly use Vercel services independently.
Generally, no. Vercel's services typically involve creating, receiving, maintaining, or transmitting PHI, which qualifies Vercel as a business associate. The conduit exception is very limited and applies only to pure transmission services with temporary storage incident to transmission.
Vercel will report security incidents according to BAA terms and will provide breach notification if required by HIPAA. The response depends on the nature of the incident and whether it constitutes a breach of unsecured PHI.
Yes, HIPAA permits international data storage with proper BAAs and safeguards. However, you must conduct a risk assessment considering geographic and geopolitical risks and implement appropriate additional safeguards if needed.
- HIPAA Government Website
- HHS Guidance on HIPAA and Cloud Computing
- NIST Cybersecurity Framework
- NIST SP 800-66 HIPAA Security Rule Guide
For enterprise customers requiring HIPAA compliance:
- Contact Vercel Enterprise support for BAA review and execution
- Review the latest version of this guide for updates
This guide is subject to updates as Vercel continues to enhance its security and compliance capabilities. Always refer to the latest version and consult with your legal and compliance teams for specific implementation guidance.
Last updated: August 11, 2025 | Version: 1.0