How does NIST help healthcare organizations?

NIST assists healthcare organizations by accelerating development of reliable, secure, interoperable IT systems, providing measurement tools for medical devices and clinical diagnostics, advancing risk-based approaches to AI implementation, and developing cybersecurity standards and best practices that support HIPAA compliance efforts.

What NIST cybersecurity standards apply to healthcare?

NIST develops cybersecurity standards, guidelines, best practices, and resources to meet the needs of U.S. industry, federal agencies and the public. Healthcare organizations can use NIST frameworks to strengthen their security posture and support HIPAA compliance requirements.

Healthcare cyber attacks - HIPAA security and data protection

HIPAA Tip: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Q: What is NIST and what does it do?

NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) is a U.S. government agency that promotes innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology. It develops and provides standards, guidelines, and best practices, particularly in cybersecurity, to various sectors including federal agencies and the private sector.

Q: What is the NIST Privacy Framework?

The NIST Privacy Framework provides guidelines for managing privacy risks. NIST recently updated this framework, tying it to recent cybersecurity guidelines to help organizations including healthcare providers better integrate privacy and security practices.

August 12, 2025

Understanding NIST Standards and Their Role in Healthcare Security

Welcome to this week’s HIPAA Tip Tuesday! The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides critical cybersecurity frameworks and guidelines that healthcare organizations can use to strengthen their security posture and support HIPAA compliance. In this guide, Dawn Meglino explains what NIST is and how its resources benefit healthcare providers.

TL;DR – How NIST Supports Healthcare:

NIST is a U.S. government agency providing cybersecurity standards and best practices
Develops information technology standards for reliable, secure, interoperable systems
Provides measurement tools for medical devices and clinical diagnostics
Advances risk-based approaches to AI implementation in healthcare
Creates cybersecurity frameworks that support HIPAA compliance efforts

What is NIST?

National Institute of Standards and Technology or NIST is a U.S. government agency that promotes innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology. It develops and provides standards, guidelines, and best practices, particularly in cybersecurity, to various sectors including federal agencies and the private sector.

How NIST Assists Healthcare Organizations

Examples of how NIST can assist healthcare organizations are as follows:

Information Technology Standards

Information Technology. NIST accelerates the development and deployment of systems that are reliable, usable, interoperable, and secure, and conducts research to develop the measurements and standards infrastructure for emerging information technologies and applications.

Medical Device and Diagnostic Measurement

NIST provides measurement assurance for biomedical stakeholders through the development of measurement tools for medical devices, clinical diagnostics, imaging tools and the characterization of complex biotherapeutics.

Artificial Intelligence Guidelines

Artificial Intelligence. NIST advances a risk-based approach to maximize the benefits of AI while minimizing its potential negative consequences. NIST efforts focus on fundamental research to improve AI measurement science, standards, and related tools — including benchmarks and evaluations.

Cybersecurity Standards and Best Practices

NIST develops cybersecurity standards, guidelines, best practices, and other resources to meet the needs of U.S. industry, federal agencies and the broader public.

Recent NIST Updates

NIST Updates Privacy Framework, Tying It to Recent Cybersecurity Guidelines

HIPAA compliance isn’t a one-time checklist. It’s ongoing, programmatic in nature, and requires demonstrated reasonable diligence to stay in good standing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Anatomy IT can provide you peace of mind with our expert HIPAA compliance services. To learn more, contact us here.

About the Author: Dawn Meglino
HIPAA Compliance Specialist, CHPSE, CCSA, CCAP

Dawn Meglino is a certified HIPAA Compliance Specialist at Anatomy IT helping healthcare organizations navigate complex security and compliance requirements. She holds multiple cybersecurity and compliance certifications and regularly advises medical practices on breach prevention and HIPAA best practices.