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HIPAA Security Risk Assessment Tool

Updated for the 2026 HIPAA Security Rule · Last reviewed: May 2026

Also called a HIPAA Risk Analysis under 45 CFR § 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A).

A HIPAA security risk assessment tool is purpose-built software that walks a covered entity or business associate through the risk analysis required under the HIPAA Security Rule — and produces the documentation OCR will actually accept during an audit. Unlike a generic GRC platform, a HIPAA SRA tool is mapped one-to-one against 45 CFR § 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A), pre-populated with healthcare-specific threats and vulnerabilities (EHR misconfigurations, BAA gaps, mobile-device exposure, lab-interface vendors), and structured so a small compliance team can complete a defensible assessment without a consultant. Medcurity is the HIPAA security risk assessment tool used by FQHCs running a HIPAA SRA on a HRSA-funded budget, critical access hospitals with limited IT staff, mental-health practices, and small practices doing their first SRA across the U.S. This page walks through how the tool works, what is included, and how it satisfies the 2026 HIPAA Security Rule update.

Built for the 2026 HIPAA Security Rule

The 2026 HIPAA Security Rule update — finalization expected in 2026 — eliminates the longstanding “addressable” designation for technical safeguards, which means encryption of ePHI at rest and in transit and multi-factor authentication for any system that touches ePHI both move from “implement if reasonable” to required. The Medcurity SRA tool already includes the 2026 baseline controls — encryption-at-rest verification, MFA-coverage attestation, and accelerated incident-reporting workflow — so customers running their 2026 assessment will not need a mid-cycle template swap.

Who uses the Medcurity SRA tool

How the Medcurity SRA tool works

  1. Scope — Define the assessment boundary: locations, EHR systems, business associates, paper workflows. The tool prompts for the BAA inventory and flags vendor-management gaps automatically.
  2. Threat library — Pre-loaded with healthcare-specific threats and vulnerabilities (lab-interface vendors, mobile EHR access, ransomware vectors, BAA scope across imaging vendors and clearinghouses) rather than the generic IT-shop threat list a horizontal GRC tool would supply.
  3. Controls assessment — Each safeguard is scored against the actual 45 CFR § 164.308–§ 164.312 language, with the 2026 baseline controls (encryption at rest, MFA coverage, accelerated incident reporting) flagged when not yet in place.
  4. Remediation tracking — Findings move through a remediation workflow with version control, evidence attachment, and audit trail — the documentation OCR expects to see during an investigation.
  5. Audit-ready report — Output is a single PDF or shareable link that meets OCR documented expectations for a “thorough, accurate, and complete” risk analysis under 45 CFR § 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A).

What is included

FAQ — HIPAA Security Risk Assessment Tool

Is a HIPAA SRA tool the same as a HIPAA risk assessment template?

No. A HIPAA risk assessment template is a static document — usually a Word file or spreadsheet — that lists the questions an assessor should ask. A HIPAA security risk assessment tool is software that runs the assessment workflow end-to-end: it asks the questions, scores the answers against a healthcare-specific threat library, tracks remediation across multiple users and locations, version-controls the evidence, and produces the report OCR expects to see during an audit. Templates are fine as a starting point for a single-provider practice. For any organization with more than a handful of users, multiple locations, or business associates to track, a template breaks down quickly — and the documentation gaps are exactly what OCR cites in resolution agreements. The Medcurity SRA tool replaces the template-plus-spreadsheet workflow with a single audit-ready system of record.

How often should we run an SRA in 2026?

The HIPAA Security Rule requires a risk analysis whenever there is a “material change” to your environment — new EHR, new location, new business associate of meaningful scope, a security incident, or a regulatory change. The 2026 HIPAA Security Rule update qualifies as a regulatory change for every covered entity, which means every organization should run (or refresh) its SRA in calendar year 2026. As an operating cadence, OCR has consistently signaled in resolution agreements that an annual risk analysis is the floor — not the ceiling — for organizations of any size. Medcurity recommends an annual full SRA, plus a rolling quarterly review of high-risk findings and any new business associates onboarded since the last assessment.

What is the difference between a HIPAA SRA tool and a GRC platform like Vanta or Drata for healthcare?

GRC platforms like Vanta and Drata are excellent for SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HITRUST evidence collection — they are built around continuous control monitoring across cloud infrastructure. They are not, however, mapped to 45 CFR § 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A) out of the box, and they do not include the healthcare-specific threat library (lab-interface vendors, mobile EHR access, paper-record workflows, BAA scope across imaging vendors and clearinghouses) that a HIPAA SRA actually requires. Most healthcare organizations that adopt Vanta or Drata still need a separate HIPAA SRA tool to produce the OCR-defensible risk analysis — the GRC platform supplies the evidence layer, the SRA tool supplies the regulatory framing. Medcurity is purpose-built for the HIPAA SRA workflow and integrates with GRC tooling via export, so a healthcare organization running both is not duplicating work.

Get started

See the Medcurity SRA tool in action: request a demo or contact our team to scope your 2026 HIPAA SRA.