Healthcare Cybersecurity, vCISO & HIPAA Compliance Services — protect PHI, pass the audit, keep care running.
Purple Shield gives medical, dental practices, clinics, hospitals, home health, telehealth, long-term care, and health-tech companies a senior, HIPAA-fluent CISO who owns your security and compliance program — protecting patient data and keeping you audit-ready, for a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
HIPAA-fluent
Vendor neutral
No products to sell
CREDENTIALS BEHIND THE ADVICE
CISSP
CISM
CRISC
AAISM
Healthcare vCISO & Fractional CISO, Explained
What are vCISO and fractional CISO services?
A vCISO (virtual CISO) and a fractional CISO are the same idea by two names: a senior security executive who owns your security and HIPAA program part-time, for a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. For healthcare, that means someone accountable for protecting PHI and keeping you audit-ready. Here is how Purple Shield delivers it.
Virtual CISO leadership for healthcare
Our vCISO services put a seasoned, HIPAA-fluent Chief Information Security Officer in charge of your security program, PHI protection, and compliance — delivered remotely and on demand. You get executive-level direction, OCR-ready documentation, and audit leadership without adding a six-figure salary to payroll.
HIPAA & HITRUST, owned end to end
We complete your HIPAA Security Risk Analysis, build the policies and safeguards, train your workforce, and stand up a program that holds up to OCR, HITRUST, and payer scrutiny — sized to a solo practice or a multi-site health system, and scaled up during an audit or breach.
Fractional & vCISO services vs. a full-time CISO hire
Full-time CISO hire
$300K+ a year — fixed cost, fixed headcount
Annual cost
$300K+ in salary, benefits & equity
Time to start
A 3–6 month executive search
Experience
Limited to one person's background
Scales with need
Fixed — you pay the same every month–
Independence
Internal mandate only
Purple Shield vCISO services
A fraction of the cost — pay only for what you need
Annual cost
A fraction of the cost, scoped to your stage
Time to start
Up and running in days, not months
Experience
20+ years across 200+ companies
Scales with need
Flex up for audits, down once it's steady
Independence
Vendor-neutral — nothing to sell you
Why Healthcare is a Target
Caring for patients is the mission. Protecting their data is the risk.
Healthcare is the most-breached industry there is — PHI is valuable, attack surfaces are wide, and regulators are watching. Without someone owning security, risk stays reactive until OCR, a payer, an insurer, or a ransomware attack forces the issue. A healthcare vCISO puts an accountable owner in place first.
Ransomware halts patient care
An attack that locks your EHR or imaging systems isn't just downtime — it delays treatment and puts patient safety at risk. Recovering without a tested plan is slow, costly, and dangerous.
EHR & connected device risk
EHRs, infusion pumps, imaging, and IoT devices expand your attack surface every year — often running software no one is patching or monitoring.
OCR fines & breach reporting
HIPAA breaches trigger mandatory notification, OCR investigation, and penalties that can reach into the millions — and the first thing they ask for is your Security Risk Analysis.
Payer & partner questionnaires
Hospitals, payers and enterprise partners send security questionnaires and demand a signed BAA before they'll contract. “We'll get to it” stalls the relationship.
Breaches erode patient trust
Patient records sell for far more than credit cards. A breach means notification letters, reputation damage, and patients who take their care elsewhere.
Business Associate/vendor risk
Your billing service, IT vendor, and cloud tools all touch PHI. A signed BAA isn't oversight — their breach becomes your breach, and your liability.
What's Included
What our healthcare vCISO services include.
One owner for your entire security and HIPAA program — from PHI protection through compliance, vendor risk, and breach response.
01
A clear, prioritized plan tied to how you deliver care — so security effort and spend go to what actually reduces risk to patients and PHI, in what order.
02
The documented risk analysis the Security Rule requires — and the first thing OCR asks for. We validate exposure against real threats and prioritize the gaps.
03
The Security & Privacy Rules, HITRUST CSF, HITECH and NIST 405(d) — mapped, evidenced, and walked through to certification, plus payer and partner questionnaire support.
04
Practical HIPAA policies your staff will follow, a program that runs on a cadence, and security awareness training that actually changes behavior at the front desk and beyond.
05
Know which vendors touch PHI and hold them to a standard — BAAs in place, due diligence done, and ongoing oversight of your supply chain.
06
A tested response plan for when it matters, breach-notification and OCR support, and leadership-ready reporting that turns technical risk into decisions.
How We Work
How our healthcare vCISO services work.
A senior security program, up and running in weeks — not the months a full-time search takes. You get a credentialed leader setting strategy, managing risk, and answering to your board from day one. No drawn-out hiring process, no six-figure salary, no learning curve while threats pile up. Just the experience you need, scaled to what your business actually requires, with the flexibility to ramp up or down as priorities shift.
01.
Access
We learn how you deliver care, map where PHI lives, and complete the HIPAA Security Risk Analysis against real threats and the frameworks that matter to you.
02.
Prioritize
You get a clear, ranked roadmap — what to fix first, what it protects, what it costs — with no jargon and no upsell.
03.
Execute
We drive the work alongside your team and IT — policies, safeguards, BAAs, audit prep, training — owning the program, not just advising.
04.
Report
Leadership-ready reporting on a steady cadence, so your owners, board, or partners always know where things stand and where they're headed.
Credentials That Back The Advice
Decades of hands-on security leadership
Most security advice comes with a sales agenda. Ours doesn't. That single difference changes everything about the guidance you get.
Our Numbers
Two decades of results behind every engagement.
200+
Clients Served
30+
Incidents Responded To
20+
Years of Experience
100+
Assessments Completed
What Our Clients Say
Trusted by leaders who can't afford to get this wrong.
Dr. Asif Rafi - Allergy Asthma Institute
"What sold us was the independence. Every other firm we talked to was really just trying to sell us their security stack. Purple Shield assessed our actual risk, told us what we were already doing right, and prioritized the handful of things that genuinely reduced our exposure."
Ralph Stokes - CC4U
"Purple Shield gave us the leadership we couldn't afford to hire full-time. They helped us tighten access controls, get our Security Rule documentation in order, and respond calmly when we had a phishing scare. Having someone independent—not tied to our MSP—made all the difference."
Joe Mobassernia - Mobassernia, P.C.
We were scaling faster than we could keep up with, constantly adding people and systems, and security was the thing nobody owned. We needed someone to just take it off our plate and keep us safe while we grew. Purple Shield stepped in and ran the whole program, set up the right controls, and grew the security side right alongside us.
What You Can Count On
How we show up for clients
Strategy
Tailored cybersecurity strategies built for your business.
Clear
Actionable guidance without unnecessary complexity or jargon.
Experienced
Real-world expertise in threat management and compliance.
Supportive
Ongoing partnership that integrates with your team and goals.
Future-Focused
We help you prepare for what's next.
Healthcare security leadership, on demand.
Start with a free, no-obligation consultation. We'll talk through where your PHI is exposed and the first steps that matter most — in plain English, with no sales agenda.