Wix now has native HIPAA compliance! (and the others don't)
- Apr 13
- 4 min read
Ummmmm hmmmm! You read that right.
If you've been holding off on building or upgrading your practice website because you're not sure which platform to trust... wix has just made the decision for you!
In a landmark move for healthcare and wellness professionals, Wix launched built-in HIPAA compliance directly into its platform. This is not a plugin. Not a workaround. Not a third-party bolt-on. It is baked directly into Wix's infrastructure, which makes all the difference!
First, let's address the elephant in the room...
The Wix of today is a sophisticated, enterprise-grade platform that has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into its infrastructure, SEO capabilities, and most recently... healthcare compliance. Let's dig in.
Here are the things we'll go over today:
What does HIPAA compliance look like on my website?
If you're a healthcare or wellness professional, you've probably heard the term HIPAA compliance thrown around a lot, but what does it actually look like when it's applied to your website? It's more than a checkbox. It's a full set of protections that guard your patients' information and, as a bonus, signal credibility to Google.
What patients see (the visible layer)
The first sign of a HIPAA-compliant website is the little padlock in the browser's address bar. That means your site runs on HTTPS with an SSL certificate, and all data sent between a visitor and your site is encrypted in transit. Patients submitting their name, phone number, or reason for visiting through a contact or intake form need and want that protection. A standard, non-secure email or basic web form doesn't cut it under HIPAA , the form itself must encrypt the data before it goes anywhere.
You'll also need a dedicated privacy policy page that clearly explains what protected health information (PHI) you collect, why you collect it, and how it's stored and used. This isn't just legal boilerplate; it's a required notice under HIPAA and something patients genuinely look for.
What happens behind the scenes (the infrastructure layer)
This is where your hosting platform matters enormously. Wix's native HIPAA compliance means the platform itself handles:
A Business Associate Agreement (BAA) — Wix signs this with you, making them legally accountable as a business associate under HIPAA. Without this agreement, even the most beautiful website is non-compliant.
Encrypted data storage — any patient information collected through your site is stored using AES-256 encryption, the gold standard for data security.
Access controls — only authorized users can view or interact with patient data, preventing unauthorized access from within your own team or from outside.
The compliance safeguards layer
Beyond storage and access, a truly HIPAA-compliant site also maintains audit logs, records of who accessed or modified any patient data, and when. It restricts third-party trackers: that Facebook Pixel or Google Analytics tag you may have added? Those can actually be a HIPAA violation if they're capturing patient interaction data without proper safeguards. And if something does go wrong, your platform must have a breach notification process in place to alert you immediately.
"Your website should work as hard for your practice as you do for your clients. With the right platform, it absolutely can."
How HIPAA compliance directly improve my SEO?
This is where things get really interesting for practitioners who care about being found on Google...and you should.
Google's ranking algorithm has evolved to heavily reward websites that signal trust, authority, and security. A HIPAA-compliant site built on a secure, credible platform sends exactly those signals. Here's how it breaks down: and a secure, properly structured, HIPAA-compliant site sends all the right signals. Patients bounce less when they feel safe. Bounce rate affects rankings. Your domain authority grows when you're on a platform built with security infrastructure. It all connects.
Do Squarespace and Showit offer native HIPAA compliance?
Let's be direct. Both Squarespace and Showit are beautiful platforms. If you are currently on one of them, you are not working with a bad tool. But there is one critical gap that health and wellness practitioners cannot afford to overlook. Practitioners on Squarespace or Showit who need HIPAA compliance are forced to piece together third-party solutions, paying more, managing more, and still potentially leaving gaps in their protection. Wix has eliminated that problem entirely by building it in natively.
Read Wix's full breakdown of their HIPAA compliance feature, what it covers, and how to enable it for your account.
The bottom line
For health and wellness practitioners, your website is often the first point of contact a potential client has with your practice. It must do three things exceptionally well: make a strong first impression, build trust immediately, and be found by the right people on Google.
Wix, especially with its new native HIPAA compliance, is now the platform that checks every single one of those boxes. It combines professional design capability, a proven and improving SEO infrastructure, compliant data handling, and a built-in booking ecosystem that competitors simply cannot match right now.
Squarespace is beautiful. Showit is flexible. But neither of them is built for the specific compliance and credibility needs of healthcare and wellness professionals the way Wix now is.
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