SOC 2 and HITRUST Don't Prove Vendor Security Works

Healthcare buyers lean heavily on a familiar set of credentials when vetting vendors: SOC 2 reports, HITRUST certifications, and signed Business Associate Agreements. A MedCity News opinion piece argues that reliance is misplaced. These documents tell you what a vendor claims about its security controls, not whether those controls are actually working on any given day.

The deeper problem, the piece contends, is structural. The compliance industry profits from producing attestations, so the system optimizes for paperwork that satisfies procurement checklists rather than continuous proof that protections hold. A SOC 2 report captures a moment in time, often months in the past, and says little about the integrity of the evidence behind it. A BAA assigns liability; it does not secure data.

For health IT leaders, the takeaway is to treat certifications as the floor, not the ceiling. That means demanding ongoing visibility into vendor controls, real evidence over self-attestation, and verification that matches the sensitivity of the patient data at stake.