Is WordPress HIPAA compliant in 2026? The answer most healthcare sites get wrong by HIPAA Vault

WordPress powers a massive share of healthcare websites—but as HIPAA enforcement expectations rise heading into 2026, many organizations are realizing that simply using WordPress isn’t the same as using it compliantly.

The short answer: WordPress can support HIPAA compliance—but only under very specific conditions. Compliance depends on how the site is hosted, secured, monitored, and maintained, along with how protected health information (PHI) flows through plugins, vendors, and cloud services. With proposed updates to the HIPAA Security Rule, safeguards once treated as optional are increasingly becoming baseline expectations.

As Gil Vidals, CEO - HIPAA VAULT put it in the discussion:
“WordPress itself isn’t the problem. It’s what you do with it—or don’t do with it—that determines whether you’re exposed.”

In this deep dive, we break down what’s actually changing for WordPress users in healthcare, why misconfigurations and third-party plugins remain one of the biggest risks, and which technical controls—like MFA, encryption, and security testing—organizations can no longer ignore. The topic is explored across a YouTube walkthrough, and an episode of the HIPAA Insider podcast, all designed to make the requirements practical—not theoretical.

📺 Watch on YouTube
🎧 Listen on Spotify

Industry News Roundup

The biggest healthcare data breaches of 2025—by the numbers

Healthcare data breaches didn’t disappear in 2025—but they did cool off compared to last year’s record-smashing chaos. So far, breaches reported to federal regulators show that nearly 57 million people had their data exposed across 600+ major incidents. That’s still a massive number—just not “Change Healthcare exposed two-thirds of the U.S.” massive.

Zoom out, and the trend makes sense. In 2024, one catastrophic breach skewed the entire year’s stats. In 2025, the damage was spread out instead, with 15 separate breaches affecting more than 500,000 people each—including insurers, hospital systems, vendors, and business associates deep in the healthcare supply chain.

The biggest names on the list include Aflac (22+ million records), Conduent (10+ million), Yale New Haven Health, Blue Shield of California, and DaVita, with ransomware, vendor risk, and tracking technologies emerging as repeat offenders. Some breaches are still being investigated, meaning the final tally could climb even higher.

👉 Which breaches were the worst, how they happened, and what patterns are emerging across healthcare—read the full breakdown.

Illinois accidentally left sensitive data of 700,000 people online

The Illinois Department of Human Services disclosed a major data exposure after discovering that internal planning maps were publicly accessible online—for far longer than anyone realized. Due to a misconfiguration, sensitive information tied to more than 700,000 individuals was exposed between 2021 and 2025, in some cases for up to four years.

The data involved primarily affected Medicaid and Medicare Savings Program recipients, with exposed details including addresses, case numbers, demographic information, and benefit program identifiers. A smaller group tied to the state’s rehabilitation services had more detailed information exposed, including names and case status data. While officials say there’s no evidence the information was misused, they also acknowledged they cannot determine who accessed the data while it was publicly available.

The incident marks IDHS’s second major breach in just over a year, raising renewed concerns about configuration errors, internal controls, and oversight in public-sector systems.

👉 What was exposed, how this happened, and why misconfigurations keep driving government data breaches—read the full story.

The easiest way to make WordPress a non-issue for HIPAA

Healthcare pros are ditching overpriced, under-secure form tools for HIPAA Vault, the all-in-one web form solution made just for medical practices. At $97/month, you get unlimited encrypted forms, unlimited users, and a signed BAA—without the nickel-and-diming of “per-user” pricing.

Unlike general form builders like JotForm or Google Forms (which isn’t even HIPAA compliant), HIPAA Vault is fully managed by security experts and designed to pass audits with flying colors. You’ll also get real-time audit logs, secure PHI storage, and <15-minute support if anything goes sideways.

What’s the catch? There isn’t one. Just clean, easy-to-use forms backed by security experts. According to users, setup takes under an hour, and it might even help you sleep at night.

Try it free for 14 days and see why 1,000+ healthcare providers have made the switch.

Trusted by 1,000+ Customers. 0 Violations. 22 Years of Experience.

When HIPAA compliance matters, healthcare organizations trust HIPAA Vault to get it right. For over two decades, we’ve helped teams secure patient data, reduce risk, and simplify compliance—without guesswork or shortcuts.

As the new year begins, it’s the perfect time to lock down your WordPress environment and start 2026 with confidence.

👉 Secure your practice the smart way—schedule a free compliance consult today.