Getting ready for a HITRUST validated assessment: readiness work, scoping, incubation periods, evidence and sampling rules, N/A decisions, alternate controls and r2 tailoring.
What a HITRUST readiness assessment is and is not: no HITRUST QA, optional reporting, who may perform it (Readiness Licensees, External Assessors), what the assessor may still do afterwards, and how it differs from a targeted self-assessment.
How to draw a HITRUST scope that holds up in QA: primary and secondary scope components, the 90-day implemented system rule, facilities named in the letter, endpoint rules and bastion hosts, carve-outs, and what cannot be certified.
Why newly built or remediated controls cannot be tested until they have run for 90 days (60 for policies), how service provider controls and inheritance avoid the wait, and how incubation drives the date you can start fieldwork.
What evidence HITRUST QA accepts: more than inquiry, dates within fieldwork, final approved policies, MyCSF uploads linked per requirement and maturity level, English translations, Live QA when evidence cannot be uploaded, and how exceptions hit scores.
How HITRUST testing samples: time-based and item-based populations, testing automated controls with a test of one, populations that can actually reveal errors, zero-occurrence controls and minimum sample sizes.
When a HITRUST requirement statement can be marked N/A and when QA will reject it: rationale rules, third parties and carve-outs, non-occurrence, mixed applicability and requirements that can never be N/A.
What to do when you cannot implement a HITRUST requirement as written: submitting compensating controls and a risk analysis 30 days before fieldwork, the Alternate Controls Committee, and the alternative of a CAP or accepted risk.
How r2 factor answers about the organization, data, geography, technology and compliance obligations decide which requirement statements are in scope, what a combined e1 or i1 does instead, and why changing a factor later is a significant change.
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