Best HIPAA and PCI Compliance Software
Seven HIPAA and PCI compliance platforms compared by origin, plus the control overlap table that shows which framework sets the floor where both apply.
By the Scrutineer team
September 2026 · 8 min read
Try it while you read
No account, nothing to install.
Pick a framework or a vendor and run a scrutiny. You get per-control statuses, the evidence behind each one, and a prioritized gap list.
Interactive walkthrough on a sample company, not a scan of your systems.
›
Worked example with sample findings, not a scrutiny of your environment. Not an audit attestation.
The best HIPAA and PCI compliance software for a company that carries both is the one that evidences a shared control once and reports it twice, while keeping the two frameworks' different scopes apart. Most tools on page one support both frameworks on paper. The difference that decides the purchase is whether the product treats HIPAA's risk-based standards and PCI DSS's fixed requirements as one control library, or as two checklists you maintain side by side.
This guide is for the companies that genuinely sit under both: medical billing and revenue cycle firms, patient payment platforms, telehealth and dental groups that take cards, healthcare call centers, and SaaS vendors that host patient records and process payments for them. It compares seven platforms on what each was first built for, then shows where the two frameworks overlap and where they do not, so you can tell a real dual-framework tool from a logo on a features page.
Which software handles both HIPAA and PCI compliance?
Most modern compliance automation platforms list both frameworks, including Vanta, Drata, Secureframe, Thoropass and Scrutineer. Specialists come at it from one side: Compliancy Group from HIPAA, SecurityMetrics from PCI assessment and scanning. The practical test is not the framework list but how many of your controls the tool can evidence once and map to both.
| Platform | Originally built for | Best fit for a HIPAA and PCI company | What to check before you buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanta | SOC 2 automation for startups, founded in 2018 | Cloud-native SaaS companies that already run SOC 2 and are adding HIPAA and PCI DSS | How it handles PCI requirements that are not cloud configuration, such as quarterly ASV scans and the annual penetration test |
| Drata | SOC 2 continuous control monitoring, founded in 2020 | Engineering-led companies that want automated tests running against their cloud and identity stack | Whether its PCI coverage matches your validation path, a Report on Compliance or a specific SAQ |
| Secureframe | Compliance automation across common frameworks, founded in 2020 | Healthtech companies and business associates managing HIPAA next to SOC 2 or ISO 27001 | How much of the PCI cardholder data environment it can actually see, as opposed to asking you to upload |
| Thoropass | Compliance automation paired with audit services, renamed from Laika in 2023 | Companies that want the software and the assessor relationship from one vendor | Whether you want your assessor and your readiness tool under one roof, and who else could audit you later |
| Compliancy Group | HIPAA compliance for healthcare providers and their business associates | Practices and small healthcare organizations where HIPAA is the main obligation and card volume is modest | How much of PCI DSS it evidences. Its center of gravity is HIPAA policies, training and risk analysis |
| SecurityMetrics | PCI assessment and vulnerability scanning for merchants | Merchants that need ASV scans, an SAQ and HIPAA help from a firm that also assesses | Whether you want a scanning and assessment firm or a control library, since those are different purchases |
| Scrutineer | One control library mapped to several frameworks and evidenced continuously | Companies that carry HIPAA and PCI DSS together, often alongside SOC 2, and want each control evidenced once | It is not a QSA, an ASV or your HIPAA auditor. It prepares and keeps the evidence those people review |
None of these vendors is priced here. Quotes in this category depend on the number of frameworks, employees, cloud accounts and integrations, and on whether audit or scanning services are bundled. Prices that circulate in comparison posts usually come from a competitor rather than the vendor itself, so get each quote directly.
Is card data PHI?
Often, yes. HIPAA's definition of protected health information covers individually identifiable information about payment for health care, so a card number stored against a patient's account at a provider or its billing company is usually both cardholder data under PCI DSS and PHI under HIPAA. That single fact is why these companies cannot run the two programs in separate rooms.
It also changes your scoping conversation. Network segmentation can shrink the PCI cardholder data environment to a handful of systems. It does nothing to HIPAA scope, which follows ePHI wherever it lives: the EHR, the billing platform, the call recording store, the shared drive with last month's remittance files. A tool that models one scope for both frameworks will either overstate your PCI footprint or understate your HIPAA one.
Where HIPAA and PCI DSS overlap, and where they do not
The two frameworks are built differently. The HIPAA Security Rule is risk-based: it sets standards and marks many implementation specifications as addressable, meaning you assess them and document your decision. PCI DSS v4.0.1 is prescriptive: it names the control, the frequency and often the number. That asymmetry is the most useful thing to know when you buy software, because it runs in one direction.
| Control area | HIPAA Security Rule | PCI DSS v4.0.1 | What one control library should do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Risk assessment | Accurate and thorough risk analysis, 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A) | Targeted risk analyses for requirements that allow flexible frequency, 12.3.1 | Keep one risk register and tag which entries each framework relies on |
| Multi-factor authentication | Person or entity authentication, 164.312(d), with no method named | MFA for all access into the cardholder data environment, 8.4.2 | Evidence MFA once. The PCI evidence also answers the HIPAA standard |
| Passwords | Password management is an addressable specification, 164.308(a)(5)(ii)(D) | At least 12 characters, 8.3.6 | Set the PCI minimum everywhere ePHI lives, not just in the CDE |
| Encryption | Addressable at rest, 164.312(a)(2)(iv), and in transit, 164.312(e)(2)(ii) | Stored account data rendered unreadable, 3.5.1, and strong cryptography in transit, 4.2.1 | Treat encryption as required for both, and record the HIPAA decision to adopt it |
| Vulnerability testing | Evaluation, 164.308(a)(8), with no fixed frequency | Quarterly ASV scans, 11.3.2, and annual internal and external penetration tests, 11.4 | Schedule to the PCI calendar and cite the results as HIPAA evaluation evidence |
| Logs and records | Documentation kept six years, 164.316(b)(2)(i) | Audit logs kept twelve months, three immediately available, 10.5.1 | Two retention clocks on different artifacts. The tool must hold both |
| Vendors | Business associate agreements, 164.308(b) and 164.314(a) | Written acknowledgments and a responsibility matrix per service provider, 12.8.2 and 12.8.5 | One vendor record carrying both artifacts, since many vendors need both |
| Incidents | Security incident procedures, 164.308(a)(6), and breach notification rules | A tested incident response plan, 12.10.1 | One plan with both notification paths written into it |
Read the table from right to left and a pattern shows: meeting the PCI requirement on the systems that hold ePHI usually satisfies the matching HIPAA standard, while meeting the HIPAA standard rarely satisfies PCI, because PCI wants a specific frequency or number. Build to PCI's floor wherever both apply, and let the HIPAA documentation record the decision. The proposed HIPAA Security Rule update published in January 2025 would make MFA and encryption required rather than addressable, which pushes HIPAA toward the same floor.
The incident row deserves a second look, because the two frameworks meet at the worst possible moment. A compromise of a billing system can trigger card brand and acquirer notification under PCI and a breach risk assessment under HIPAA in the same week, with different people waiting on each. Your plan should name both paths, and the team running the response needs incident management software that pages the right engineer and keeps the timeline, because that timeline is the evidence both assessments ask for afterward.
Do I need both HIPAA and PCI compliance?
You need both if you create, receive, store or transmit ePHI as a covered entity or business associate, and you store, process or transmit payment card data or can affect its security. A billing company that takes patient card payments, a telehealth platform charging a copay, and a dental group with a card terminal at the front desk all qualify.
How much PCI work follows depends on your validation path. A practice using a standalone payment terminal with a hosted payment page may validate with a short SAQ. A billing company that stores card numbers for recurring patient payment plans is a much bigger PCI program. If you are the service provider in that chain rather than the merchant, our comparison of PCI compliance software for service providers covers the extra requirements that apply to you.
Is there a HIPAA certification like PCI compliance?
No. PCI DSS compliance is validated every year, either through a Report on Compliance by a Qualified Security Assessor or through a Self-Assessment Questionnaire, and your acquirer or customers expect the document. HIPAA has no official certification. HHS's Office for Civil Rights enforces it through complaints, breach reports and audits, so your evidence is what you show when asked.
That difference shapes the software you need. PCI rewards a tool that is ready for one annual event. HIPAA rewards a tool that keeps evidence current all year, because the request can come at any time. A company carrying both needs the second behavior, which also makes the annual PCI assessment easier. Our HIPAA compliance software page shows how that continuous evidence works for the Security Rule.
How to choose HIPAA and PCI compliance software
- Start from where the data overlaps. List the systems holding card data, the systems holding ePHI, and the ones holding both. The overlap is where a shared control library saves the most work, and it is usually billing, payments and customer support.
- Check PCI depth, not the logo. Ask how the tool evidences quarterly ASV scans, the annual penetration test and the service provider responsibility matrix. Cloud configuration checks cover only part of PCI DSS.
- Check HIPAA depth the same way. Ask where the risk analysis lives, how addressable decisions are documented, and how business associate agreements are tracked against vendors.
- Ask for one vendor record. Your payment processor, call recording vendor and cloud host may each need a BAA and a PCI responsibility matrix. Two separate vendor lists drift within a quarter.
- Price the assessor separately. Bundled audit or scanning services can be convenient, but decide whether you want your assessor and your readiness tool from the same company before you sign.
Where Scrutineer fits
Scrutineer maps one control library to HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR, so an MFA control or a quarterly scan is evidenced once and shows up under every framework that asks for it. Our PCI compliance software tracks the dated requirements, and the HIPAA risk assessment software keeps the risk analysis tied to the same systems. Vendor records carry the BAA and the PCI responsibility split together. Scrutineer does not scan your network as an ASV, does not sign a Report on Compliance and does not certify anything: your QSA assesses PCI, and HIPAA evidence goes to whoever asks for it, from a customer's security team to OCR.
See Scrutineer scrutinize your posture
Connect your stack, and Scrutineer maps your controls to SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR and PCI, collects evidence automatically and returns a readiness report with per-control statuses, linked evidence and a prioritized gap list. AI scrutinizes, you decide.