# HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.308(a) — Security Management Process - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-security-management-process - Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [HIPAA Security, Privacy & Breach-Notification Rules](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa) › Security Rule — §164.308 - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)**·§ `164.308(a)`·medium·Component: **Security Rule** ## What this control requires > A covered entity or business associate must in accordance with 164.306: (1)(i) Implement policies and procedures to prevent, detect, contain, and correct security violations. > > — HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164), § 164.308(a) ### In plain English A covered entity or business associate must in accordance with 164.306: (1)(i) Implement policies and procedures to prevent, detect, contain, and correct security violations. In practice, this means you can prove you security management process-level controls on a defined cadence. ## Why it matters HIPAA non-compliance is a strict-liability matter: OCR civil monetary penalties are assessed per-record per-violation (up to USD 1.9 million per identical-violation calendar year as of 2024), and willful neglect can trigger criminal referral. ## What an auditor looks for HHS OCR investigators and SOC-2+HIPAA auditors look for the specific 45 CFR § citation, whether the safeguard is required vs addressable (and if addressable, the documented decision), the implementation specification, the workforce member responsible, and the records that show it runs. Within **Security Rule**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (§ 164.308(a)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Policy Management **Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA. ### Operational checklist - **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Business.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management process, security, procedures, business associate, policy, i, accordance. ## Evidence to collect - **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document. - **Infra Scan.** Continuous infrastructure-posture telemetry — AWS Config, Azure Policy compliance, GCP Organisation Policy, Wiz / Prisma findings. Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Security Management Process. ## Common pitfalls - Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced. ## How it maps to other frameworks Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit. - [**BSI C5:2020 SP-01** — Documentation, communication and provision of policies and instructions](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/sp-01-documentation-communication-and-provision-of-policies-and-instructions) - [**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CP-1** — Policy And Procedures](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cp-1-policy-and-procedures) - [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.15.1** — Policy and Procedures](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-15-1-policy-and-procedures) - [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.1** — Policies for information security](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-1-policies-for-information-security) - [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) P8.1** — Inquiry and Complaint Management Process](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/p8-1-inquiry-and-complaint-management-process) ## Related controls in HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) - [**§ 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(C)** — Security Management Process - Sanction Policy](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-1-ii-c-security-management-process-sanction-policy) - [**§ 164.308(a)(2)** — Assigned Security Responsibility](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-2-assigned-security-responsibility) - [**§ 164.308(a)(6)(ii)** — Security Incident Procedures - Response and Reporting](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-6-ii-security-incident-procedures-response-and-reporting) - [**§ 164.314(a)(2)(i)(C)** — Business associate contracts.](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-314-a-2-i-c-business-associate-contracts) - [**§ 164.316(a)** — Policies and Procedures](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-316-a-policies-and-procedures) - [**§ 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A)** — Security Management Process - Risk Analysis](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-1-ii-a-security-management-process-risk-analysis) ## References - [U.S. HHS Office for Civil Rights — HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/index.html) - Catalogue identifier: `§ 164.308(a)` Topics: governance riskpolicy management ## Related compliance guidance - [HIPAA compliance for SaaS: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa): Start with the full HIPAA implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs. - [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most covered-entity customers accept a SOC 2 Type II report as the independent evidence that your HIPAA controls operate, since no HIPAA attestation exists. - [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): NIST publishes mappings of the Security Rule standards and implementation specifications to SP 800-53 Rev. 5 controls alongside SP 800-66 Rev. 2, so an 800-53 control set doubles as a HIPAA crosswalk.