Wild Apricot is not HIPAA compliant for HIPAA Covered Entities or Business Associates because the service is not offered with a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement and its membership management and communications features can create, receive, maintain, or transmit electronic protected health information outside the safeguards required by HIPAA.
HIPAA requires a written HIPAA Business Associate Agreement when a vendor performs services for a regulated healthcare organization and those services involve protected health information. The agreement must limit permitted uses and disclosures, require safeguards aligned to the HIPAA Security Rule, address breach reporting obligations under the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, and bind subcontractors to equivalent restrictions. Without a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement that covers the platform, a Covered Entity or Business Associate cannot place protected health information into the system or use the system to communicate protected health information.
Membership and event management platforms can easily collect protected health information through registration fields, intake questions, accommodations requests, attendance records, payment details, and member notes. Names and contact details can become protected health information when they are linked to healthcare services, benefits, clinical programs, support groups, or payment status. Automated communications such as email confirmations, reminders, renewals, invoices, and receipts can also disclose protected health information when the message content or subject line indicates a healthcare relationship or service type.
Wild Apricot features that increase exposure include online forms, contact databases, email marketing tools, directory pages, event pages, and integration connectors that synchronize contact and transactional data to other systems. Data exports and administrator access also create internal risk when the organization lacks role-based controls and audit practices aligned to the HIPAA Security Rule. Even when message content is limited, link tracking parameters and embedded identifiers can disclose regulated context through logs and third-party systems.
Wild Apricot can be used by healthcare organizations only for programs and communications that exclude protected health information and do not connect identifiable individuals to treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. When the intended workflow requires protected health information, select a vendor that will execute a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement for the services in scope and supports access controls, audit controls, transmission security, retention controls, and incident response procedures aligned with HIPAA requirements.